‘Call me a child abuser again’: Hilary Duff anticipates backlash to piercing daughter’s ears

The ‘Lizzie McGuire’ actor was criticised when she pierced her first daughter’s ears in 2019

Hilary Duff has pre-empted an online backlash to her recent announcement that she has pierced her younger daughter’s ears.

On Monday (8 October), the Younger actor shared a picture of seven-month-old Mae James with her new piercings on Instagram.

Duff captioned the Instagram story: “Yes! I pierced her ears today. Can’t wait for the internet to call me a child abuser....again. Lesss go.”

Duff was referencing being criticised in 2019 after she revealed she had pierced older daughter Banks’s ears in 2019, when she was eight months old.

Social media users were critical of Duff’s decision, with some even branding it “child abuse”.

Threatening to unfollow Duff at the time, one person wrote: “Just wondering how she gave you consent to pierce her ears?”

Hilary Duff shared a picture of her daughter Mae James with ear piercings (Instagram/@hilaryduff)

Another user questioned why babies need their ears pierced, while a third wondered why Duff would inflict “unnecessary pain” on her baby.

Earlier this year, Duff reflected on the experience of being called out for being an irresponsible parent in an interview with Yahoo.

When asked whether the shaming and trolling affects her mental health, the Disney alum said she is learning to “zoom out” and not take things too personally.

The mother of three said: “At first I want to be defensive, but when I zoom out, I’m like, ‘It’s one person. That’s not how everybody feels. That doesn’t really matter. That person’s, like, a keyboard gangster who just needs to be heard or seen.’”

Duff shares Banks and Mae with her husband Matthew Koma, who she married in December 2019.

She is also the mother of nine-year-old Luca, her son from her first marriage to Canadian ice hockey player Mike Comrie.