Kristin Cavallari: Anti-vaccine stance to single parent joke, the reality TV star has raked up quite a storm
Let's face it, reality stars love stirring up controversies everywhere they go. What's short-lived fame without scandals? It would have more holes than swiss cheese.
Kristin Cavallari who had her humble beginning as a cast member of the MTV reality show 'Laguna Beach' and its spin-off 'The Hills.' went on to become one of the most celebrated reality TV stars in Hollywood. She had a high-profile marriage with an NFL quarterback, her own jewelry line 'Uncommon James' and her very own reality TV show on E! titled 'Very Cavallari'.
Her marriage to NFL star Jay Cutler, however, has now crumbled with the couple announcing their impending divorce just days ago. And while Cavallari has been a trending topic on internet discussion forums, we're looking back at the times she's found smack in the center of controversy.
Self-isolation in the Bahamas
Cavallari become the subject of social media backlash when it was revealed that the reality star and her now ex-husband Jay Cutler had been self-isolating in the Bahamas, with their children and close friends. In late March, Cavallari was berated by fans and others alike for posting pictures of themselves traveling to New York and then going on a "modern family spring break" to the Bahamas, just two days after President Donald Trump declared a state of national emergency in the US, in March.
Vacationing alongside her family, was her confidante and hairstylist, Justin Anderson who didn't escape unscathed from all the berating. However he took to his Instagram to make some things clear, "Being stuck on an empty island and forced to quarantine could be worse. Thankful for my wolf pack during these scary times. This is where we are, this is us staying positive. We couldn’t be social here if we tried. I am afraid of what we will go home to when they let us back into the States."
However, Claire Downs, a TV critic who kept up with Cavallari's updates pointed out that the US imposed travel ban didn't apply to the Bahamas at the time, so they should have been able to fly back home. It became apparent that Cavallari was in face vacation-isolating with her family, Anderson and his partner while staying in a lavish modern villa on the Bahaman island.
9/11 Instagram post
In September 2019, Cavallari posted a picture of herself in New York on her Instagram, and the caption didn't sit well with her followers. The post seemed to be a tribute on the anniversary of 9/11 and read "NYC for 24hrs. And what a time to be here... always remember." Nevertheless, it elicited mixed responses from her followers who were confused by her need to relate a picture of herself, adorned in a black Alexander McQueen ensemble to the 2001 World Trade Centre tragedy.
"You look fire but as a New Yorker, this really isn't the pic you should be posting to 'always remember,'" an Instagram user commented. Her caption just didn't do and after several scathing comments from her followers she edited the caption, leaving it at "NYC for 424hrs."
However, according to Page Six reports, Cavallari and her team sent the photograph to her social media staffers and asked them to simply caption the picture as "24 hours in New York City," but the staffer changed it to acknowledge the 18th anniversary of the terror attack but did so poorly. Cavallari had the social media manager fired for the insensitive caption.
Unclogging her milk ducts
In a teaser for the second season of her series on E! 'Very Cavallari', the 'Laguna Beach' alum felt the need to tell her friend at a dinner party the unusual way that her husband helped her unclog her milk ducts. Talk about TMI. "I had major clogged ducts. Jay had to get them out for me, sucking harder than he’s ever sucked," Cavallari explained the trouble that has found her whilst she was breastfeeding. "And you know what? Saved my life."
The clip went viral on social media, and the response to it was insane. The mom of three subsequently went on to explain to E! News, "I knew that it was gonna be a little controversial." However, she never anticipated "that it would be as big as it has become."
'Single Parents' joke
In 2017, Cavallari incited ire among single parents after a comment she made about being one. On a Facebook Live segment with Entertainment Tonight, she talked about her recent permanent move to Nashville, Tennessee, and how her NFL quarterback husband went down to Florida with his team, Miami Dolphins for a period of five months. She also made a joke saying, “So, I’m a single parent for the next five months. It’s a little chaotic but in the best way. My kids are great. They’re good kids for the most part."
In addition, she said " Of course we have our stuff, but it actually hasn’t been as hard as I thought it was going to be, being a single parent. AND I have an amazing nanny. My mother-in-law is there with my kids right now, so I couldn’t do it without them." At the time her three children were all aged under 6, and while looking after them without your partner around can get overwhelming, her 'single parent' comment was not relatable to actual single parents.
Many took to Entertainment Tonight's Facebook page to share their opinions on Cavallari's comments. “This is a joke and a slap in the face to real single parents,” said one user. “Yeah a real single parent,” another added. “The kind without a nanny, cook, maid, person to run errands, secretary kind of single parent. She will have to drive her own car. Heavens, she will really be slumming it now.”
Goat milk baby formula recipe
In 2016, the former 'The Hills' star shared a recipe for "homemade goat's milk baby formula recipe” in an article for People Magazine, which stirred controversy. She told the publication that she wanted to avoid "heavily processed store-bought formula" and switched to using goat's milk because her sons were sensitive to cow's milk, per TODAY. The article was later removed from People Magazine's site after it received several complaints.
It is optimal that children are breastfed for the first six months of their life, according to the American Academy of Pediatrics. Parents should not be feeding their babies cow's milk or goat's milk until they turn one and the latter is considered to be lacking in iron, vitamins, and other nutrients essential to a child's growth.
Anti-vaxx stance
Cavallari told Fox Business in 2014, that she and her husband Chicago Bears alum, Cutler, didn't intend to get her sons vaccinated, because she feared its side effects like autism. When she appeared on 'Watch What Happens Live' later on, Bravo's Andy Cohen asked her to explain her controversial stance on vaccines to which she said, "Here's the thing, at the end of the day, I'm just a mom, I'm trying to make the best decision for my kid."
"There are very scary statistics out there regarding what is in vaccines and what they cause -- asthma, allergies, ear infections, all kinds of things. We feel like we are making the best decision for our kids," she added, saying that it was a personal decision and that she wasn't telling other parents to do the same. However, to debunk her theory, in 2004, the Centres for Disease Control and Prevention and the Institute of Medicine concluded that there is in fact no connection between vaccines and autism upon careful examination of medical and scientific studies on the same. So, Cavallari's findings were way off.