Dancing With the Stars pro Witney Carson is clapping back after her kids were shamed during a recent flight.
“Question for you guys, and be honest — is it appropriate to ask for a child to be quiet for the entire 13-hour flight?” Carson, 32, wrote via her Instagram Stories on Sunday, January 25. “[My son] Jet was playing and giggling with me and we were asked to be quiet because a man up in front said he was trying to rest.”
Carson and her husband, Carson McAllister, recently took their two sons — Leo, 5, and Jet, 2 — on a vacation to Australia to visit her Dancing With the Stars season 34 partner, Robert Irwin. (Carson and McAllister, 32, live in Florida in between DWTS seasons.)
“I totally get if there needs to be a certain time where we need to sleep, but it’s in the middle of the day,” Carson said on Sunday. “I’m a big advocate of, ‘Worry about things that are in your control and put some freaking ear [plugs] in.’ Am I being crazy?”
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In a follow-up slide, Carson revealed that a flight attendant allegedly “kept shushing” her son throughout the flight.
“I got up and asked [the aircraft employee] if there were certain times on the flight we needed to be quiet and we’d respect that,” the pro dancer added. “If not, I don’t expect my children to sit quietly for 13 hours. OK, bye, I’m done.”
While Carson did not reveal how the flight attendant reacted to her follow-up question, she and McAllister didn’t let the interaction sour their dream getaway Down Under.
“You guys… I’m a little emo writing this while driving away from the zoo. Our time here at @australiazoo can only be described as magic,” Carson wrote via Instagram earlier this month. “From meeting these incredible animals, to walking out of our cabin and seeing kangaroos every single morning, to experiencing so many firsts together as a family, this is something I’ll never forget.”
Carson further praised Irwin, 22, for “putting so much energy and time” into planning her family’s adventurous excursions. (Robert, along with mom Terri Irwin and sister Bindi Irwin, runs the Australia Zoo in late dad Steve Irwin’s honor.)
“It was so fun to see you in your element, we are incredibly proud of you and everything you stand for,” Carson continued at the time, referring to Robert. “The food + stay at @crocodilehunterlodge was outstanding on every level [and it was] officially a bucket-list experience.”
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Carson, who gave birth to Leo and Jet in 2021 and 2023, respectively, has frequently stood up to mom-shamers through the years.
“I mostly get positive things and it’s amazing, but one or two negative comments like, ‘You shouldn’t do that with your baby. You shouldn’t hold your baby that way. You shouldn’t let your baby sleep like that,” Carson exclusively told Us Weekly in February 2021. “Small stuff like that. … I haven’t [responded] so far, but if anybody were to comment on Leo, I think my mama bear [would come out].”