6:18 pm - 08/20/2012
Remember little Maddy Verst from "Toddler's & Tiaras"? No? Well, let us refresh your memory.
The now 6-year-old's mother dressed her as Dolly Parton, complete with figure-enhancing padded bra and sculpting underwear, on a now-infamous episode of the show. If that sounds outrageous to you, you're not alone -- the stunt sparked plenty of controversy back in September of last year. And now it looks like it could cause Maddy's mother Lindsay Jackson to lose custody.
Jackson's estranged husband Bill Verst is seeking full custody of Maddy after claiming that his ex-wife sexually exploited their daughter by dressing her in the scandalous outfit and allowing her to participate in beauty pageants. According to reports, Kentucky court proceedings on Saturday got a little heated when the judge closed the hearing, throwing reporters out of the room and placing a gag order on Jackson.
The judge also made sure to ban Jackson from signing up her daughter for any pageants until the proceedings are finished. Just before the gag order, Jackson told "Fox News" that she hasn't done anything "illegal" to warrant losing custody and expressed concern for the future of beauty pageants:
We could really open up Pandora’s Box to set a precedent all over the world. What if years ago Gabby Douglas’ father said, ‘She’s not going to be a gymnast. She’s not going to move away from home and practice gymnastics because I won’t allow it,’ and he and Gabby’s mother got into a fight? We wouldn’t have gold medal winners, we wouldn’t have Miss America, we wouldn’t have Miss USA.
Hm, we doubt Gabby Douglas' parents would throw a padded bra on their child for national television, but that's just us. To make matters worse, Maddy's father is a convicted felon currently on probation for a DUI and child endangerment. While we were certainly a little... shocked after seeing a young child in a significantly padded bra, Jackson isn't the only pageant mom outfitting her child in racy clothes. People were equally as incensed after "Toddlers & Tiaras" featured a 3-year-old dressed like Julia Roberts' prostitute character in "Pretty Woman" just one week later.
Source
Maddy Verst's Padded Bra On 'Toddlers & Tiaras' Might Cause Her Mother To Lose Custody
Remember little Maddy Verst from "Toddler's & Tiaras"? No? Well, let us refresh your memory.
The now 6-year-old's mother dressed her as Dolly Parton, complete with figure-enhancing padded bra and sculpting underwear, on a now-infamous episode of the show. If that sounds outrageous to you, you're not alone -- the stunt sparked plenty of controversy back in September of last year. And now it looks like it could cause Maddy's mother Lindsay Jackson to lose custody.
Jackson's estranged husband Bill Verst is seeking full custody of Maddy after claiming that his ex-wife sexually exploited their daughter by dressing her in the scandalous outfit and allowing her to participate in beauty pageants. According to reports, Kentucky court proceedings on Saturday got a little heated when the judge closed the hearing, throwing reporters out of the room and placing a gag order on Jackson.
The judge also made sure to ban Jackson from signing up her daughter for any pageants until the proceedings are finished. Just before the gag order, Jackson told "Fox News" that she hasn't done anything "illegal" to warrant losing custody and expressed concern for the future of beauty pageants:
We could really open up Pandora’s Box to set a precedent all over the world. What if years ago Gabby Douglas’ father said, ‘She’s not going to be a gymnast. She’s not going to move away from home and practice gymnastics because I won’t allow it,’ and he and Gabby’s mother got into a fight? We wouldn’t have gold medal winners, we wouldn’t have Miss America, we wouldn’t have Miss USA.
Hm, we doubt Gabby Douglas' parents would throw a padded bra on their child for national television, but that's just us. To make matters worse, Maddy's father is a convicted felon currently on probation for a DUI and child endangerment. While we were certainly a little... shocked after seeing a young child in a significantly padded bra, Jackson isn't the only pageant mom outfitting her child in racy clothes. People were equally as incensed after "Toddlers & Tiaras" featured a 3-year-old dressed like Julia Roberts' prostitute character in "Pretty Woman" just one week later.
Source
Poor Maddy. :(
did she make those kid boobs herself, or did she buy them?
like
are there people that SELL that?
child beauty pageants should be illegal, idec.
Gabby has talent.
Paisley's mother does way worse (the Pretty Woman and Slave Leia costumes).
I don't know, this doesn't seem like the best time to white knight for pageants tbh
No one's excusing the disgusting predators. People are saying that because of the nature of the world out there, they wouldn't want their kids dressed in sexualized ways. Your body is YOURS, but children don't know any better and can't make those decisions for themselves. You're supposed to protect your kids.
I'm sure every parent or good person in the world would want to rid the world of people that make this a problem in the first place, but they can't, and therefore have to protect their kids however they can.
should we HAVE to try to pre-emptively protect our children from assault, by any ridiculous means necessary? No. But the world is messed up. You never know. I'll do anything reasonable to try to prevent the potential pedo at the community pool from noticing my daughter.
The problem isn't so much that ohhh everyone will sexualize them, it is that those garments have sexual connotations and being worn in a *beauty* pageant. Frankly, there's no age where wearing a corseted top is hunky dory and not noticed. And there is no need to expose your child in those garments. Talking about sex and respecting/loving your body is one thing. The fact is these clothes are used for merely sexual purposes. If she was 15/16, honestly I would find it more exploratory and playing with sex, but as a 4 year old? Hell no. Half of the four year olds I watch can't even tie shoes.
The next time my niece visits I'll be buying her some longer dresses and stuff to go under. I might sew her some longer shorts too since I did not feel comfortable taking her out in what looked like booty shorts and stuff so tight that I couldn't imagine being comfortable. On top of that, she was cold most of the time last time she visited but her father hadn't packed long pants or sleeves for instances where it was a bit cooler or she was going to be in AC like we have in our house.
what kind of argument is this? dressing your child in sexual outfits is not the same thing as gymnastics