Every Time ‘Teen Mom’ Alum Farrah Abraham Has Defended Her Controversial Parenting Decisions With Daughter Sophia

Doing things her own way — despite the drama. Farrah Abraham has never been one to listen to criticism over her controversial parenting choices. The former Teen Mom star has been a single parent to daughter Sophia since her 2009 birth after Sophia’s father, Derek Underwood, died in a car accident during Abraham’s pregnancy. Despite hitting some personal road bumps over the years — from her tumultuous relationship with her mom, Debra Danielsen, to feuds with her fellow Teen Mom stars — being a parent to Sophia has always been of the utmost importance to the former reality star. But being a single parent comes with its fair share of difficulties. “The biggest challenge of being a single mom right now is doing all of these companies and projects … and balancing being there a lot for my daughter,” Abraham exclusively explained in an April 2019 interview with Us Weekly. “Throughout the year, I’m probably gone, like, two months out of the year away from her, if not more.” She continued: “Even though we’re always together, it seems, I still wish I could spend more time with her, and I think quality time is good right now.” Abraham has also dealt with frequent online backlash when it comes to her parenting decisions. In February 2023, the MTV alum came under fire after sharing a video of Sophia getting a lip piercing for her 14th birthday — one of six the teen got that day. “HAPPY 14TH Birthday!” Abraham captioned an Instagram video featuring pictures of the procedure. “#snakebite & earlobe piercing party! 6 piercings later #snakebitepiercings you match your snake. Can you even eat your cake?” The Midwest native’s followers immediately flooded the post’s comments section with their thoughts. “Y’all are wild thinking this is normal behavior between a mom and a 14-year-old… all these piercings on her face are too much at 14,” and another commented, “As if you need 1 more reasons not to be mother of the year.” The “After Prom” singer responded to backlash hours later in an interview with In Touch Weekly, stating, “I won’t be shaming my daughter, I LOVE and support Sophia 100 percent on who and what she wants to become. The mom shamers should recognize what some kids will grow out of and what they [will not]. That’s part of a teen journey as I don’t have my belly button piercing anymore.” Back in 2019, Abraham exclusively told Us that the way she and Sophia deal with haters online is to simply "ignore them,” adding, “I really think Sophia has learned about cyberbullying at a very early age, so she’s already ahead of being traumatized or being affected or being depressed about those things which many other kids get affected by,” she added. “I leave up, and I do not block the negativity. I let it be known and shown.”Sign up for Us Weekly's free, daily newsletter and never miss breaking news or exclusive stories about your favorite celebrities, TV shows and more! Scroll below to see every time the reality star has defended her parenting choices: