Tori Spelling's Son Liam, 12, Asked If He's 'Obese' After Getting Body Shamed Online
Dean McDermott is speaking out against the online body shamers who criticize his children’s looks.
The actor, who has five children with wife Tori Spelling, spoke out in January after commenters wrote on a photo Spelling posted of the family that their kids are “fat” and look “terrible.”
“I am absolutely horrified and disgusted by the comments being left about my children,” McDermott, 52, said. “Body shaming and bullying my children??!! What is wrong with you people??!!”
And now, the dad said that his kids — Liam, 12, Stella, 11, Hattie, 7, Finn, 6, and Beau, 2 — are seeing the hateful messages. Speaking on his new “Daddy Issues” podcast, which he hosts along with Adam Hunter and Nicky Paris, McDermott said that the oldest, Liam, was bothered by the comments.
“Liam picked it up, and that’s when I really went ballistic, because it’s like, you know, it’s gonna happen,” McDermott said on the podcast. “He said, ‘Dad, am I obese?’ I said, ‘Look buddy — there’s some sick people in the world … and they need to do stuff like this. They need to say bad things about people.’ “
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A post shared by Tori Spelling (@torispelling) on Jan 16, 2019 at 10:31pm PST
McDermott said that he told Liam that the rude comments said more about the commenters themselves.
“‘Think about it, son. You have a busy life,’ ” he said. “‘You have school, you got sports; do you think you have time to go on Instagram, scroll through the people that you’re following, and make a negative comment about somebody?’ I said, ‘No, you don’t. You don’t, and if you did, you’d fill your time with something else. So think about how sick these people are that they have to do that.’ “
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McDermott and Spelling have found themselves defending their children on social media multiple times before. Back in September, Spelling came after commenters who said her kids looked “disheveled” and “unfit” in a photo the mom shared of their first day back at school.
A post shared by Tori Spelling (@torispelling) on Sep 4, 2018 at 4:23pm PDT
“I am a proud mama bear and I enjoy sharing our family journey with my family, friends, fans and online supportive and loyal community,” the Beverly Hills, 90210 alum wrote. “For all the individuals on here that felt the need to #momshame and #kidshame me and my children I say ‘Shame on you!’ I was raised to believe that if you can’t say anything nice about someone then don’t say anything at all.”
“Lift others up and you in turn lift yourself up #endcyberbullying,” she concluded.