Tori Spelling and Dean McDermott have five children (Dean has another son with ex-wife, Mary Jo Eustace). We’ve watched Tori and Dean’s kids grow up because they have put their kids front and center, both in their reality show and social media. Usually, Tori shows her family in some sort of idealized family tableau. But on Sunday, she posted a very much less than ideal post to Instagram. Using the throwback photo above of her two oldest children, Liam and Stella, Tori announced that they’d been bullied so much at multiple schools, that she, “can no longer not share and express ourselves.” Her full caption read:
My two 1st born… they have been thru so much bullying I can no longer not share and express ourselves
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Stella is 11. She was 1 in this pic. Innocent little being that only knew unconditional love, honesty, exploration, & kindness. Her beautiful heart, full of hope. Between her last year at her elementary school or the 1st year at her middle school this human has endured enough bullying for a lifetime. Her old school in Encino, we were told she is acting like “Patient zero” and “she’s playing the victim” & “ we are talking to the parents of that said bully” and “he is trying to change”. He never did! Never any consequences for his actions towards my daughter and other kids. This child’s parents are on the board of the school. They give a lot of money to this school. Financially, we aren’t able too. So, they won. We then moved kiddos to another school. One, that professed feelings and kindness as a priority. This time, my daughter was bullied so bad (including comments about her weight and sexual things he said that my daughter didn’t even know about.). This school did the right thing and expelled the boy but the damage had been done. She now associates her education with boys that have been so horrific to her. She wanted to empower others girls and be a business leader. She now has panic attacks and doesn’t want to return to school. This girl, 2 years ago told me she wanted to be President or work to empower women daily.
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Liam, my 1st born, is a fiesty funny guy. 2 thumbs up in this pic at 2 years old. He graduated last year from Encino but not without the principal telling us he was “ unmotivated “ & lazy. Poor guy thought from way he was treated by her that he was “stupid”. Beyond not the case. He is a hilarious, smart, outgoing, and a creative kind guy! Then, he started his new middle school. Same school as Stella. He was bullied to the point that he developed severe emotional based headaches and stomach aches. This school (who did help with Stella’s situation) did not help with Liams. He continued to be bullied so bad we had to leave. Was hesitant to post this bc as celebs we are sometimes judged for having problems others have 😢#worriedmomma
Bullying is a very real issue. And there are schools who do not address bullying in any sort of productive way. No child should be bullied, especially to the point that they are afraid of returning to school. If that is what happened to Stella and Liam, then I am truly sorry for the both of them and I hope they are able to work through their traumatic experience with therapy and the proper support.
Obviously, Tori’s post was fueled by emotion and maybe she didn’t think her words all the way through, but I don’t think she should have given such specifics, especially given Stella and Liam’s ages (11 and 12). Bullies should never be allowed to win, but most of us know how they operate, and Tori just handed them insults such as, “Patient Zero” and “Lazy Liam.” People know who her kids are, she made sure of that, and this story is everywhere so all of the information she just shared will get back to them. I sincerely hope they signed off on this post before she sent it. Honestly, I don’t think anyone will judge her “for having problems others had,” but we might question if this was the healthiest way to handle an excruciatingly emotional situation.
And I’m not even going to touch her comment about not being able to financially contribute to her kids’ school.
Photo credit: Instagram and WENN/Avalon
I feel so sorry for her kids. My heart aches for them. I don’t know the answer, but I do hope Tori is sincere in looking out for their mental and physical health.
No child should be bullied to this point, period. It’s devastating- I was bullied around Stella’s age and while it didn’t end up “ruining” my adulthood or future (wounds do heal with time), it absolutely ruined my childhood. I view the ages of 11-16 with just fear and sadness and it breaks my heart that Tori’s kids are going through this.
That said, no child deserves to be overfed to the point of being visibly overweight. Our eating and exercise habits we are taught in childhood are carried over for our whole lives- and many of us were not “set up for success” (myself included!!) which leads to a lifetime of struggling with food. Bullying is unacceptable, but Tori should reconsider how she approaches nutrition and fitness with her children to allow them to grow to be healthy, active adults.
I agree with you. Bullying is horrendous and unforgettable. Feeling so badly for these children. I really feel they aren’t receiving the support they need at home, as well. Tori and Dean TRY to paint a picture of happiness and support but it feels like one gigantic ad campaign to scrape up some cash. These kids aren’t getting anything they need. Seems pretty clear.
Are you seriously using a post about a child being bullied to call her fat?
Wow. You have no idea what type of nutrition those kids receive, or what their medical needs are, and yet you take this opportunity to concern-troll middle school kids? You’re awesome. Really great.
I do believe she is.
@runcmc Do you know how presumptuous your post comes off? Are you a doctor? Are you related to them? How can you say how bad bullying is in one sentence and then call them fat the next? Sorry we can’t all be perfect like you.
As someone who works at an AltEd school, I’ll say this: when you have parents that don’t accept responsibility for their actions, play the victim, and act entitled, it muddies the waters of what actually is going on. Children learn from their parents. I can’t tell you the number of students that are victims of bullying but are ALSO bullies themselves. Rarely are the issues (or solutions) as clear cut as they are portrayed.
This. Bullying issues aren’t cut and dry, and while parents should absolutely report concerns to the school, the school alone can’t “fix” it. Even if a child is the “victim”, the parent of that child has the responsibility to address it through getting the child into therapy or another self esteem building activity. I get that they’re not flush with cash, but I bet Meemaw Candy would pitch in for the copay. I get that Tori is upset. She should be. But this is unproductive.
I was bullied in 6th grade and my stomach would be in knots, because I had no idea what I would face that day. It wasn’t just a few kids, it was the whole class. That time it wasn’t thought as a big deal. Thankfully we moved the next year and next year was way better. After all these years and becoming a successful adult, I’d love to come across the asshole who made my whole school year miserable. Bullying is serious and it can crush a person’s self esteem.
I do wonder how much of this is truthful, considering the messenger. I feel bad for the kids, and don’t think that they’re lying or anything. I just wonder how much was embellished on Tori’s end based on her track record, and how much
Does Tori herself not play the victim card whenever possible? Nothing is ever her fault. She scams the system constantly. The bullying is absolutely something no child should ever have to deal with, period. But Tori is the kind of person who tends to never take any responsibility for her choices, and who is always the victim of some horrible circumstance so I wouldn’t really be surprised if some of that has rubbed off on her kids. Again – absolutely no excuse for any bullying – that’s a whole separate issue. But the example that these two set – I’m sure that’s not helping the kids out either, and I don’t really think that her kids have been taught to be accountable… because she’s never had to be.
I do wonder what the teachers had to deal with when it comes to Tori. She says that her son graduated, “but not without the principal telling us he was “ unmotivated “ & lazy.” – I find it interesting that she only put unmotivated in quotes and tacked on lazy as if that was her addition. I’m not sure if that’s a mistake because this whole thing seemed to be written by two different people or if that was on purpose. If he WAS unmotivated, and not putting the work in during class time… isn’t that something you’d want to know about as a parent? Like, if you’re hearing your kid is unmotivated, I feel like that’s a great chance for some early intervention to prevent this from becoming a bigger problem later in life. A teacher or principal telling a parent that their kid is unmotivated in class is nowhere in the realm of bullying. Unless that person was making comments directly to the child that weren’t constructive… that’s not bullying.
I don’t know. Kids can be horrible to each other the same way adults can be horrible to each other. And we all know that there are schools out there who have MASSIVELY dropped the ball. I don’t doubt that her kids have gotten picked on, but a few of the quotes from that post were … questionable I guess. My heart goes out to the kids, because I really don’t think they’re going to have an easy life. It’s hard having famous parents, even harder when they’re sharing information about you to make sponsorship money.
I believe Tori. Many times teachers/administrators look the other way on bullying because they don’t want the hassle of dealing with the bully’s parents and also because they don’t like the victim or his/her parents. All things can be true at the same time:
Tori Spelling is an entitled drama queen
The McDermott children are being bullied
The teachers/administrators called the McDermott children lazy and unmotivated
The McDermott children are actually lazy and unmotivated
A lot of bullying victims are not likeable people and/or worth the trouble of being defended and this allows other students/coworkers, teachers and bosses to look the other way. I’m not saying this is right, but it is what it is.
Middle school is a tough time anyway. Tori may want to look into home schooling or other educational options instead of keeping her kids in this school, especially since they really can’t afford it.
Under normal circumstances I’d believe this 100%…but somehow I can’t shake the idea that she went public with this after seeing the outpouring of public/celebrity support and $$$$$ (over $500,00) for Quaden Bayles who was bullied mercilessly.. it just seems, convenient for Tory to be coming out with this now?
Ding ding ding!! It’s not a coincidence that the Bayles story (and attendant $$$) comes out and now her kids are being bullied and she drops the hint about money within the story.
Boys his age suffer from the range of different growth, for example, my son pointed out to me in 9th grade he didn’t like to shower with the team after sports and some boys his age were like full grown men (body hair, deeper voice) others still hadn’t developed. And the fast majority of boys that age want to be man sized because they don’t want to be bullied. Boys have it really bad at this time their life. They need someone to listen to them. They need someone to show them how to be a strong person who doesn’t over react stays calm in a confrontational situation. My heart and prayers for all the single moms trying to deal with this.
I sincerely hope these children are okay, I’m just cynical when it comes to anything concerning Tori Spelling.
She is not doing her children any favors by drawing even more *public attention them..
Those kids are going to go on to write some great memoirs.