A mother who came under fire for posting a photo of herself 'straddling' her teenage son following an American football game has shared another controversial snap.
Amber Wright, a single mother from Utah, was criticised after she hugged her 16-year-old son Brixton by wrapping both her arms and legs around him when his team won a home game.
Posting her initial now infamous clip of Brixton holding her in the air on Instagram on 18 August, she wrote: "This boy will forever and always have my entire heart. Gina captured the end of this moment, and I’m SO grateful.
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"When I walked up to hug my baby boy after his game, he immediately picked me up and just held me. It may have been 20 seconds, 30 seconds, a minute, I have no idea. But in this moment, time stood completely still."
Amber went on: "I honestly don’t know what I did to deserve you @brix_wright but I am thankful every second of every single day for you."
The post attracted a lot of negative attention, with one person professing on social media: "I'm a single mom and very close to my sons. I hug them in public without hesitation - but straddling them in high heels would cross a line neither of us would be comfortable with. To each their own, but this appears to be an unusual relationship."
Another wrote: "It would’ve been cute if it was his girlfriend, but not a mother."
Amber later defended her actions by sharing the text messages sent by her son to someone who messaged him about the viral video.
“My mom is my hero,” the teen’s response began. “I was just giving her a hug after the game and I did pick her up she did not jump on me. My mom’s been the only person there for me my whole life.
"I grew up with an alcoholic dad who would just come and go when he wanted he was great when he was sober but he wasn’t he was just so dark and different.”
Posting the screenshot online, Amber wrote: "For those who are ‘concerned’ about the welfare of my son and the relationship he and I have… here’s just a tiny tiny tiny snippet of a response he sent to someone about the viral 4 second video of he and I hugging.
“Attack, judge, criticise, ridicule, try and break me down. You won’t ever be able to because I am beyond blessed to have THIS. I will take allllllllll the negativity in the world thrown my way and I will continue to hold my head high and raise this incredible young man to overcome any and all adversity.
"Little does he know, he is MY hero."
But Amber has recently found herself in hot water again after sharing another post on social media - a photo of her legs wrapped around a man, not her son.
"Oops... did it again," she captioned the new pic which showed the pair dressed up for Halloween, seemingly poking fun at her original post.
Though some social media users were - again - quick to criticise the mum, with one writing: "AND THIS PICTURE IS THE PERFECT EXAMPLE OF WHY IT WAS SO WRONG TO BE DOING THIS TO YOUR SON..."
To which Amber replied: "If you don't see the difference in this pic vs how I hugged my son, then you my dear have issues. I would dare bet that you enjoy looking at my content WAY more than you should. Knock yourself out luv. Just don't get carpal tunnel."
If you’ve been affected by any of these issues and want to speak to someone in confidence, please don’t suffer alone. Call Samaritans for free on their anonymous 24-hour phone line on 116 123.
Topics: Parenting, Social media
Rhianna Benson