Beloved HGTV star Jenny Marrs has had enough. The mom of five, who has starred with her husband Dave Marrs on “Fixer to Fabulous” since 2019, let her Instagram followers know on May 7, 2024, that she is fed up with people harassing and criticizing her children online.
In a heartbreaking series of Instagram Stories, Jenny exposed “online hatred” aimed at her eldest daughter and said that the harassment has gotten so bad, that she has come close to quitting her TV show “multiple times,” tempted to go back to living a private, quiet life on their Arkansas farm.
“I’ve been dealing with this harassment since season one,” she wrote over a screenshot of a recent snide comment from someone about her daughter Sylvie’s hair, which Jenny said they’ve received an unimaginable amount of cruel comments over. Though Jenny has not quit yet, she said Sylvie will no longer appear on the show very often.
“My job is to love and protect my kids,” she wrote, “and this world is so cruel and I’ll never be able to fully protect them from it but I am damn well not putting them in the lion’s den.”
Jenny Marrs Says the ‘Online Hatred’ She’s Received About Her Eldest Daughter Has Been ‘Abhorrent’
The Marrs are parents to five kids — 13-year-old twin boys Nate and Ben, 12-year-old Sylvie, almost-10-year-old Charlotte and four-year-old Luke. After issues with her first pregnancy carrying the twins, which Jenny wrote about on Instagram recently, she and Dave decided to expand their family through adoption, something they’d always planned to pursue, they told People. They fell in love with a little girl born in the Democratic Republic of Congo in 2012.
But the path to bringing Sylvie home to them was long and painful, Jenny told Better Homes & Gardens (BHG). Just as their adoption paperwork was finalized in 2013, a Congolese government shutdown put a halt to all adoptions, per BHG. A local doctor and her husband fostered a dozen children who were in limbo, including Sylvie, the outlet reported, and she did not arrive in the U.S. until 2014 — 600 days after the Marrs’ adoption process began.
Video from the emotional day Sylvie arrived and footage of the Marrs’ family over the years was recently turned into a music video for J.J. Heller’s song celebrating adoption, called “Love It Here.” But sadly, Jenny says people have scrutinized and belittled their journey and their young daughter ever since their family began appearing on TV.
The comment that Jenny highlighted in her Instagram Stories on May 7 came from someone who recently wrote on a post from October 2022, which showed the Marrs family celebrating the final day of filming “Home Town Takeover” in Fort Morgan, Colorado.
“Please find someone to do Sylvie hair,” the person wrote. “She always looks sad. May I suggestion finding an African Braiding Shops. Her braids are all grew out.”
Over a screenshot of the comment, Jenny wrote in her Stories, “I am DONE with these comments. D O N E. I’ve been dealing with this harassment since season one when I mistakenly let sylvie be in a scene on hair day before her hair was styled. She ran outside into the barn and we had just taken her braids out so we did a quick bun and let it go. (I actually told our producer that I couldn’t let her on camera like that and she said I was overreacting — I’ll never do that again).”
“The online hatred that has been spewed at me because of that one moment is abhorrent,” Jenny continued, adding that the comment she shared was “extremely mild” compared to others she’s received.
Jenny Marrs Replied to Latest Comment, Explaining How Much Care They’ve Taken With Sylvie’s Hair
Though Jenny said she typically doesn’t reply to mean comments, she felt compelled to respond to the one she posted on May 7 about Sylvie’s hair.
She shared her response via her Instagram Stories, explaining, “We have her hair done professionally by an African American stylist every 4-6 weeks depending on Sylvie’s schedule. She plays basketball every day and is an active kid so sometimes her hair gets messed up even though we try to ensure it’s always well taken care of.”
Jenny went on to say Sylvie’s asked to try doing her own hair recently, with help from a friend and YouTube videos, and that as her mom, she would “never knock down her confidence by not letting her style her own hair. She loves doing it.”
As for the person’s comment that Sylvie “looks sad,” Jenny explained that her daughter is “shy and does not like the cameras and never wants to be on the show so we never make her.”
“Do you remember being twelve years old?” Jenny asked the commenter. “Did you want to be on national television for strangers to see you and JUDGE your hair for goodness sake???? I’m so fed up with having to scroll my social media to ensure no one is saying mean things about my kid. And to do it on an old post means you are specifically trolling and not trying to engage in a healthy or helpful conversation.”
Over her response, Jenny added further explanation in her Instagram Story, saying that she could “write a twelve chapter novel about this subject and the way the enemy has attacked our family through this one area.”
“I have wanted to quit the show MULTIPLE times because of this,” she continued. “I almost didn’t show up for this current season because of a really horrible article online about my kid. If you don’t like a paint color I choose, fine. Talk about my kid and I’m going full momma bear.”
From here on out, Jenny wrote, “You won’t see sylvie on the show very often and this is why.”
Fans Rally Around Jenny Marrs After Sharing Her Family’s Pain Around Online Bullying
In the last Story Jenny shared on the morning of May 7, she wrote that none of her kids have “social media or smart phones or computers,” but their friends do.
“I know there will come a day when they’ll come across this garbage,” she wrote. “That’s why I constantly scan my comments to block and delete.”
Adding that they have many friends praying for Sylvie, Jenny wrote, “I know God is protecting her heart but if we could all just be a little kinder online and consider the ramifications of our words, then maybe my rant this morning was worth it. 🙏🤍”
Later that day, Jenny posted another message in her Instagram Stories, thanking everyone who reached out with love and kindness in response to her “rant.”
“Y’all did my heart good,” she wrote. “This wasn’t an isolated occurrence — the amount of comments I receive on a daily basis related to one of my kids would blow your mind. This is the reason I said no to doing the show originally. As a transracial adoptive momma, I knew what was in store if we opened ourselves up to the world.”
“But, God,” she continued. “He knew all along what was to come and He prepared my heart. And, even in moments when I’m fed up (like this morning), He rushes in by sending so much love and kindness my way. So thank you for being that today. There is absolutely still good in the world and light will always drive out the darkness.🕯️”
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