Jason Bigg’s ex Jenny Mollen addresses backlash over photo in bed with 12-year-old son
Jenny Mollen has spoken out amid the backlash stemming from a post she shared with her 12-year-old son on social media.
The 47-year-old actress, who recently separated from her husband and fellow actor Jason Biggs, was criticised after sharing two pictures of herself between the legs of the couple's eldest son Sid in bed with the caption: “Your eldest son will be the most toxic guy you ever date.”
The caption was later deleted. TMZ reported that photos shared to Facebook also featured audio from Beyoncé and Jay-Z’s song 03 Bonnie & Clyde.
People were outraged by the post, with some social media users calling it ‘super weird’ while someone else said, ‘Your child is not your boyfriend’.
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Mollen's representatives reportedly addressed the backlash last week, with a source close to the mum-of-two telling TMZ: "The picture is nothing more than a mother hugging her 12-year-old son. Anyone inferring anything else should be ashamed of themselves."
The mum-of-two has now addressed the controversy herself by defending the photos in a new Substack post.
“Last week, the internet called me a child molester for posting a photo of myself holding my son,” she wrote.
She defended her original photo caption in her Substack article by claiming it was a ‘joke’.
“The joke that offended people was: ‘Your eldest son will be the most toxic boyfriend you ever have.’
"And he is,” she doubled down. “Parenthood has demanded a level of commitment and self-sacrifice from me that, in any other context, would be considered pathological.”
“I’d never accept this kind of relationship under any other circumstances,” she continued. “And yet here I am, jumping through fire, constantly striving for affection and approval, waiting by the phone for a guy who can’t even drive.”
She said she has been ‘making some version of this joke for over a decade’ but acknowledges that her humour is ‘not for everyone’.
“When I look at that picture, I see a 12-year-old boy who still wants his mother, and a woman trying to hold on to closeness and connection at a time in her life when everything else is changing,” she said, referring to the responses the post received online.
“Children can feel like our one opportunity at redemption in this lifetime,” she explained. “They offer us the chance to become the very thing we need to save ourselves, instead of spending our lives waiting to be saved. But redemption is not the same as relief.”
“When my kids were young, I was so overwhelmed. There was so much they needed that it felt almost impossible to catch my breath. I spent the last decade begging for five minutes alone, only to get exactly what I asked for. And it has broken my heart. It will break your heart, too. Don’t let anyone shame you for holding on while you still can,” Mollen said.
Greg Harris