Actor and singer Zendaya turned 30 on September 1. Her mother, Claire Stoermer, marked the occasion on Instagram with a message and childhood photo of her only child.
Stoermer wrote:
"happy 30th birthday to the love and light of my life!!"
"even tho you’re not on socials anymore, and you won’t see this!! we just got off facetime!!"
You can see her post here:
The comments were overwhelmingly positive, although some questioned why Zendaya's posts are now primarily work related and not about her life, referring to her mother's note that her daughter was unlikely to see the birthday post because she's "not on socials anymore."
The next day, Stoermer took to her Instagram story to share a glimpse of what life is like being adjacent to a star as big as her daughter. A fan account shared a series of online photos of Zendaya and her mother through the years.
The tribute to a person they admired was sincere, but the comments on the post were often attacks on the star's mother over her appearance not matching her daughter's.
Stoermer wrote:
"This is a screenshot of an Instagram post that came up in my feed. I totally get why people have to give up Instagram for their mental health."
"If I was to go and read all the comments on this post about myself, I could feel really bad. There are some terrible, horrible comments, I did read some of them. And thank goodness I don't take that sh*t personally."
"Once upon a time I may have. And if I was a young person, I know I definitely would have. It's sad and frustrating."
You can see her post here:
@claire_maree64/Instagram
On the pop culture subReddit Fauxmoi, people questioned why anyone on social media felt it necessary to insult someone's parents.
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Fans clamor for glimpses into the private lives of celebrities. But more and more are choosing to keep their private lives private for good reasons.
If a simple photo of a star with their family is going to lead to attacks on their loved ones' physical appearance, why would anyone want to share?
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