Parenting influencer Karissa Collins has responded after a video showing several of her 11 children hitting her belly in the midst of a miscarriage sparked backlash.
“I apologize. When I posted that video, what was on other people’s minds was not on my mind at all,” Collins, 41, said in a Thursday, July 17, TikTok video. “I never thought of it that way. It was a cute moment with me and my children. I didn’t think anyone would even watch it.”
Karissa announced in a since-deleted video earlier in July that she and her husband, Mandrae Collins, were expecting their 12th baby. Days later, she revealed that she had suffered a missed miscarriage and wanted to let the fetal tissue pass naturally without medical intervention. At the same time, Karissa uploaded a TikTok clip of some of her younger children playfully smacking her belly. (All of the posts mentioning Karissa’s pregnancy announcement and miscarriage have since been deleted.)
“I don’t do clickbait. I don’t like controversy,” Karissa said on Thursday, addressing the backlash to her belly video. “I don’t post offensive things for followers. I don’t want followers like that. I’m not all about a following. I am just about sharing the message that God has given me, and the ministry that I have, which is that you can trust God with your womb. … We encourage women to trust God with how many children he wants to give.”
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The online creator also offered context behind the now-viral video, claiming that her kids were “having fun” and showing off their own stomachs after a family meal.
“I said, ‘Y’all want to see a big belly, let me show you my belly.’ I have a big belly. I have extra chunk from being pregnant 15 times that I am currently trying to work off,” she explained. “I shared the video because my kids saw my stomach, and they just started laughing. They were squeezing it like slime and Squishmallows. It was the funniest thing. I never wanted to forget that moment of them finding so much joy in my belly.”
According to Karissa, her 4-year-old daughter did end up hitting her belly “a little too hard.”
@thecollinskids Apology and explanation. #family #faith #miscarriage
“I did say ‘ow’ in the video, but they were not hurting me,” she stressed. “They were not hurting anything inside of me.”
Elsewhere in her apology video, Karissa clapped back at online criticism of her big family in general.
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“If you haven’t had 11 children, I don’t feel like you have the right to say it’s impossible or that you can’t do it,” she said. “I used to say that when I had five children. … I had no idea that God had planned for a big family for us. We simply believe that we are to live life of faith, and that children are eternal [and that] they have value. Lots of value.”
Karissa further noted that she doesn’t understand how certain social media users can “degrade other families” by sharing online criticism.
“That’s called clickbait, and it is what it is,” she said. “I will not call out on my platform. My platform is just to share the messages that the Lord gives me and to share the blessings that he has given us, and to show other women that it is possible to trust God and to be joyful and enjoy motherhood.”
