North West, the 12-year-old daughter of Kim Kardashian and Kanye West, faces backlash after clips of her with grillz, fake piercings, and fake tattoos are posted online. This isn’t the first time North and her mom have been criticized for her choice of clothing either. With two parents in the public eye, it almost seems impossible to avoid the backlash, but is the hate justified?
Effects of being a child star
For years now we have seen how constant criticism and being famous from a young age has affected children. Many child stars who are now grown up have spoken out about the damage done, or some have even had serious breakdowns. One example of this is Lindsay Lohan.
Lohan was signed to a modeling agency at the age of three and acted in multiple successful films throughout her childhood, such as The Parent Trap and Freaky Friday. However, by the time she reached adulthood she was known to be struggling with addiction.
She was arrested multiple times and as she received more critique, the issues only seemed to get worse. Fortunately, in this case, Lohan has been able to improve upon herself and rebuild her career, and now she has recovered. This is just one of many times where the pressure of being famous has caused issues later in life.
The reaction To North West
Most of these child stars were forced into the spotlight at a young age, but North was truly born into it with both her parents being notable public figures. She has faced critique before but one of her most recent looks really shocked the internet.
Everyone saw the TikTok clip of North with fake tattoos and piercings, grillz, and blue contact lenses and immediately started commenting. It was later revealed by Kim during her appearance on Complex’s GOAT Talk series on YouTube that it was all for a costume. Both Kim and North were shocked by the reaction.
Kim has also spoken about how difficult this has been, and she feels she is learning how to handle this as she goes. During her appearance on the “Call Her Daddy” podcast she stated that, “as a mom you’re kind of like learning at the same time.”
Where does the blame fall?
With this situation it’s hard to decipher whether it is anyone’s business how a 12-year-old girl dresses. Most people don’t seem to have a lot of empathy for either of them on the internet. It’s important to remember that while it may be seen as inappropriate for a kid to dress like this, it’s also important to try our best to understand what North must go through when she sees all the comments.
Ultimately, right now, it is more of Kim and Kanye’s responsibility than anyone else’s to protect their daughter the best they can. Kim has also said before that everything North posts on TikTok is off her phone and only with her permission.
The reality is that North always will be a public figure, at least until she is an adult. Until she is older, we should keep reminding ourselves that she is just a kid trying to express herself how she wants. Hopefully as she grows up, both her and Kim can figure out the best way to deal with the repercussions of being a child growing up in the public eye.