Jason Biggs‘ ex Jenny Mollen has spoken out after the backlash over photos of her with her son, 12.
The controversy in question began when Mollen, a writer and actress, posted a couple of pictures of herself cuddling her child Sid. In the Instagram post’s original caption, which she later deleted, the mom of two had written, “Your eldest son will be the most toxic guy you ever date.”
Commenters lost their collective minds over this.
“Hugging your kids: Healthy and encouraged. Calling your child your boyfriend and posting photos of you lying between their legs on a bed: Not healthy or encouraged. Your child is not your boyfriend. A boyfriend is a romantic partner,” one person wrote.
“Hey as a general rule, parents shouldn’t be putting their genitals near their teenage child’s g*****,” said another.
“I hug my son. I DON’T LAY g**** to g**** with him. Weird. Block,” added a third.
In a new blog post on Substack, published June 8, Mollen wrote, “Last week, the internet called me a child molester for posting a photo of myself holding my son.”
Defending referring to her son as a “toxic” boyfriend, she added, “Parenthood has demanded a level of commitment and self-sacrifice from me that, in any other context, would be considered pathological. I’d never accept this kind of relationship under any other circumstances. And yet here I am, jumping through fire, constantly striving for affection and approval, waiting by the phone for a guy who can’t even drive.”
The two photos, Mollen explained, were “taken on a Monday night after he returned from a weekend away. There’s something devastating about realizing your children can survive without you, that they can be content somewhere else. Happy, even. And that the security you once felt in being their entire world was never meant to last.”
The writer went on to describe her feelings about the photos in question.
“When I look at that picture, I see a 12-year-old boy who still wants his mother, and a woman trying to hold on to closeness and connection at a time in her life when everything else is changing,” she shared. “I spent the last decade begging for five minutes alone, only to get exactly what I asked for. And it has broken my heart. It will break your heart, too.”
She told her readers not to “let anyone shame you for holding on while you still can.”
Mollen and Biggs announced their separation in May, with a source telling People at the time, “They are very much connected. I have no doubt that they will remain on excellent terms.”
The two got married in April 2008 and share Sid, 12, and Lazlo, 8.