21-year-old with 3 children reveals she gets 'hate comments every day' as trolls assume she is 'a terrible mom'
PHOENIX, ARIZONA: A young mother who already has three children at age 21 has spoken out about the hate she regularly receives from online trolls who tell her she should have had an abortion. The influencer, who goes by the name Vanity on social media, has more than 330,000 followers on TikTok, where she documents her life with children Greysyn, 3, Nalaia, 2, and TJ, 1.
Vanity found out she was pregnant when she was just 18 and had only been with her boyfriend for three months. She has now opened up about what life is like as a young mother with three children, including the constant harassment from online critics, on the latest episode of the Truly series 'My Extraordinary Family'.
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'Felt sad and lonely'
"People think that because I'm young, I'm a terrible mom to my three children, but they're wrong," Vanity told the show's producers. "I've been in a relationship with my children's father for five years." She bemoaned how her friends turned their back on her when she needed them the most, remembering that she "felt sad and lonely" at the time. Vanity's mother Shannon said she realized her teen daughter was pregnant when they went out to dine at a seafood restaurant, one of her favorite cuisines. "She got there, and she's like, 'Oh my God, everything stinks,'" Shannon recalled. "I'm like, 'Okay...' So I knew automatically."
Online trolls
Vanity, whose social media handle is @mamavanityyy, said she started posting content on TikTok shortly after welcoming her son Greysyn to the world. "It just blew up instantly," she said. The young mom went on to have two more children in the next couple of years. Now, her videos document her life as a mom of three at 21, and her content often attracts cruel messages from strangers who make their own assumptions about her. "The judgment that I have [gotten] from online trolls is really ridiculous — hate comments every single day," she said.
Vanity said she regretted posting photos and videos of her children sometimes "because people out there are weird and harsh." She recalled one instance when a fake Instagram account posted pictures of her children with "crazy captions." The worried mom said she changed her privacy settings to ensure the impersonator couldn't steal any more of her content. "I did not think I would be a mom to three children at this age. I didn't see it coming," she said, adding she thought she wouldn't have children until she was in her mid-20s at least. Vanity admitted she wants to have more children in the future, but thinks it will take eight years or so for her to become ready for a fourth baby.
'She's a really good mom'
Vanity is still in school and finds it difficult to raise three young children while keeping up with her schoolwork, Daily Mail reports. While her mom is always willing to help her out, she says a part of her "feels guilty" thinking she "should be able to do it [by herself]." Shannon chimed in, "I would say it's not a burden at all because I love it. I'm a mom. I have 11 kids myself, so I like to have the grandkids," She said of her daughter, "When she was younger, of course, she wanted to party and hang out with her friends, but as soon as she found out she was pregnant, everything just snapped on like a light," adding, "She's a really good mom, and I knew she would be."