Hilary Duff has a message to all the mom-shamers who criticized her parenting skills last month: Stay in your lane!
During a chat with romper, the "Younger" actress addressed the controversy that enveloped her and husband Matthew Koma earlier this year after their 3-year-old daughter, Banks, was caught on video in the backseat of a moving car without a car seat.
"The other day—my publicist would absolutely kill me if I brought this up," Hilary told romper. "There was this huge story that came out because my friend Molly [Bernard] was in the backseat of our car with Banks without her car seat. It's not like I'm driving on the 405 [freeway] with my kids in the backseat without a car seat. You have no context. You don't know where I am."
Hilary noted that her kids like sitting in the front seat of the car as they pretend to drive.
"You're telling me you've never put your kids in the backseat to drive a bock before with an adult back there?" she continued.
Video from that day, Jan. 2, is still posted to Molly's Instagram feed, but she disabled comments after a flurry of shaming.
Social media critics immediately bagged on Hilary, Matthew and and Molly for what they felt was a clear safety breach, as Banks wasn't fully strapped in with a seatbelt, nor was a car seat visible. Several media outlets noted that in California, where Hilary and Matthew live, children under 8 must be secured in a car seat or booster seat in the back seat, per the law.
At the time, Hilary didn't comment on the backlash, but Matthew took aim at several haters.
"You truly are a hero for speaking up," he jabbed one person who recommended a car seat company. He told another, "You're the kind of person who cuts up a kid's Apple sauce, hey?"