07 November 2023 , 20:13
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Love Island star Shaughna Phillips has hit back at online trolls who criticised her for driving with her baby daughter in the passenger seat.
The 29-year-old reality star was a contestant on Love Island during the 2020 winter edition of the show where she remained in the villa for a little over a month before she was dumped. Away from the show, Shaughna found love with a real estate agent named Billy Webb - only for the romance to be thrown into chaos when the 30-year-old was arrested in January following a drugs raid.
Shaughna welcomed their daughter, Lucia Phillips-Webb, in April this year although the new mum announced that Billy 'isn't around' following his legal troubles. Shaughna, however, has been under fire from aggressive social media users who have seemingly been waiting for her to share photos of her and her daughter just so they can lash out at her with cruel comments.
Earlier this year, the reality star was targeted by online trolls who criticised her for driving with her baby daughter in a car seat in the passenger seat of the car. But now Shaughna has broken her silence on the bitter backlash to insist she was in the right.
Shaughna Phillips has hit back at mum-shaming critics (Instagram/shaughnaphillips)
The reality star has defended her choice to keep her baby daughter at her side while she drives (Instagram/ @shaughnaphillips)She told Heat magazine: “There was one comment about having Lucia in the car seat in the front. Now, I’m always on my own with her and I had a little bit of postnatal anxiety, so there’s no way I could have driven with her in the back.
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“It would have been more dangerous than her being in the front. I found out that you can take a baby in the front if you turn the airbag off. So, that’s what I do.
“And some woman said, ‘That is so bad, just because it’s legal doesn’t mean it’s OK.’ And I replied, ‘Well, how is she going to be able to turn the radio over if she doesn’t sit in the front?’”
The Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents gives advice on travelling safely with a newborn child - and confirms what Shaughna suggests. On their website, they advise: "If the car does not have airbags in the front, or if they can be deactivated, or if the car has sensors which switches the airbag off automatically when you fit a child seat, then you can legally carry a rearward facing baby seat in the front."
But the organisation adds: "However, it is still better to fit it in the rear."
In August this year, Shaughna left social media followers in tears as she emotionally explained why she had decided to give her daughter her double-barrelled last name. She explained on Instagram: "Interested to know everyone's thoughts on this. I decided I wanted to keep my surname after my dad passed away. I just felt like it was a part of him I never wanted to give up." She further added, "So when I found out I was pregnant, Lucia's surname was always going to be double-barrelled because mine will be if/when I get married."