'Block and delete': Jennifer Hawkins' message to mum-shamers

Jennifer Hawkins may have celebrated her daughter Frankie Violet’s milestone first birthday a few weeks ago but the former Miss Universe Australia is still on a high.

“Oh we had the best weekend!” she gushes during a chat with Yahoo Lifestyle on Wednesday.

Frankie was all smiles on her first birthday on October 17. Photo: Instagram/jenhawkins_.
Frankie was all smiles on her first birthday on October 17. Photo: Instagram/jenhawkins_.

“We had about 20 family members there and I fully decorated and did all the balloons. Frankie had a ‘smash’ cake. It was so much fun, loved it,” she adds.

Jen, 36, welcomed her first child with husband Jake Wall, 37, on October 17, 2019, and mum and bub have been inseparable ever since.

“She’s like another limb,” she jokes. “I don’t have a lot of alone time, you know, you get a bit of mum guilt. Once a week I’ll have a pilates class but that’s pretty much it!”

Not that she would change it for the world.

“It’s been really lovely, I’ve just really enjoyed the one-on-one time while I’ve essentially been on maternity leave,” she says.

One aspect of parenting that’s taken Jen somewhat by surprise is the enormous amount of love she gets back from Frankie every day.

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The family of three celebrated Jake's birthday together during lockdown in April. Photo: Instagram/jenhawkins_.
The family of three celebrated Jake's birthday together during lockdown in April. Photo: Instagram/jenhawkins_.

“It’s so mind-blowing and special, like when she’s giving you a cuddle I’m like, ‘Oh my god I can’t handle this!’ I didn’t prepare myself for that,” she admits.

Since becoming a mum Jen has been more selective with the projects and brands she works with, one being Aussie baby and children’s food brand, Bubs. Frankie was already a fan of Bubs’ organic baby cereal and puree pouches when the brand approached Jen to become a spokesperson.

“It was so bizarre as I was already using the product,” she laughs.

For now, Jen is enjoying breastfeeding her little girl but is planning on incorporating the brand’s new vitamins range, Vita Bubs, once Frankie turns two.

From sadness to joy

The road to motherhood hasn’t always been smooth for the Newcastle-born beauty, who tragically suffered a miscarriage during the early stages of her first pregnancy back in 2018.

After an extremely tough year, Jen and Jake announced they were expecting. In a candid interview with Stellar just weeks before Frankie was born Jennifer opened up about feeling ‘so scared’ second time around.

Jen Hawkins has opened up about being mum to her baby girl Frankie Violet. Photo: Instagram/jenhawkins_.
Jen Hawkins has opened up about being mum to her baby girl Frankie Violet. Photo: Instagram/jenhawkins_.

Happily, the pair welcomed a healthy baby girl shortly thereafter. When Frankie was just three months old, however, Jen had her first taste of online mum-shaming after posting a snap to Instagram of her holding her bare-headed bub at the beach.

A few of Jen’s followers left pointed comments about Frankie’s missing sun hat which she quickly shut down, explaining that her daughter was “under a beach umbrella 2 seconds after this picture”.

“It was such a storm in a teacup,” she recalls. “It was literally one comment.”

“Not that I get a lot of [negative comments] but usually they’re just fake accounts, I just block and delete. It really doesn’t play on my mind. It wasn’t a big deal.”

Jen had some advice for mums when it comes to snarky social media interactions.

“Women just need to know that they’re doing the right thing for their own child, because every child is different, and just literally brush it off because it doesn’t matter in the whole scheme of things.”

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