Dancing With the Stars pro Witney Carson is glad she publicly shared that her two-year-old son was shamed on a recent long-haul flight.
Taking to her Instagram Stories in the late hours of Sunday, January 25, Carson, 32, stated that she felt “very validated” after revealing that her toddler, Jet, was asked to be quiet several times during her family’s return to the U.S. from Australia. (Carson lives in Florida when she’s not filming DWTS.)
“Seems I’ve reached the right side of Instagram,” Carson, who shares two sons, Jet and Leo, 5, with husband, Carson McAllister, wrote over a photo of herself flashing a thumbs up while seated on another flight. “I feel very validated. Thanks for letting me vent.”
She concluded the message with, “We ride at dawn,” to suggest a unified fan condemnation of her child’s shaming.
The reality TV star, who won season 34 of DWTS with partner Robert Irwin, who lives in Australia, followed the post with a photo of Jet sleeping in a chair presumably between flights. “Angel boy!!!! Almost there little dude,” Carson wrote over the snap.
Carson, who caught up with Irwin, 22, during her family’s trip, alerted fans to her son’s experience via an Instagram Story shared earlier on Sunday. “Question for you guys, and be honest — is it appropriate to ask for a child to be quiet for the entire 13-hour flight?” she posed. “[My son] Jet was playing and giggling with me and we were asked to be quiet because a man up in front said he was trying to rest.”
She continued, “I totally get if there needs to be a certain time where we need to sleep, but it’s in the middle of the day. I’m a big advocate of, ‘Worry about things that are in your control and put some freaking ear [plugs] in.’ Am I being crazy?”
A second Instagram Story detailed that a flight attendant “kept shushing Jet” which got Carson out of her chair to take action. “I got up and asked him [the flight attendant] if there were certain times on the flight we needed to be quiet and we’d respect that,” Carson wrote. “If not, I don’t expect my children to sit quietly for 13 hours. OK, bye, I’m done.”
Fans were quick to share their support of Carson and her family in the hours that followed, with many commenting directly to Us Weekly’s Instagram reporting of the news. “Wow I can’t believe the flight attendant got involved!! Horrible! That’s what headphones are for!” wrote one follower, while another commented, “I think the fact that your child made it through without a major meltdown after 13 hours is a win. Clearly the shusher’s don’t gots kids.”
Carson had documented her family’s visit to Australia across social media during the weeks prior. In one particularly adorable post, Carson and her clan were seen visiting Irwin’s Australia Zoo, located on the Sunshine Coast, Queensland, where the family wore Irwin’s signature khaki shirt to demonstrate their love of wildlife conservation.
“The gang is back together,” Carson captioned the carousel, which included videos and photos of her family engaging with lemurs, a giraffe, and a (glass-caged) snake.
Carson has been a target for critical moms in the past. She exclusively told Us Weekly in February 2021, prior to Jet’s birth, “I mostly get positive things and it’s amazing, but [I do get] one or two negative comments like, ‘You shouldn’t do that with your baby. You shouldn’t hold your baby that way. You shouldn’t let your baby sleep like that.
She continued at the time, “Small stuff like that … I haven’t [responded] so far, but if anybody were to comment on Leo, I think my mama bear [would come out].”
