entertainment

Waleed Aly asks Roxy Jacenko about "commodifying" and "commercialising" her 4-year-old.

 

PR empresario and budding momager Roxy Jacenko appeared on The Project last night to discuss her four-year-old daughter Pixie’s social media presence.

Jacenko, 35, notified police and the media after images of Pixie obtained from Instagram were doctored to place her in sexually explicit situations.

According to Jacenko, the pictures were made by people known to her in her own industry and were apparently circulated by a fashion designer.

“You’re absolutely right to be disgusted,” Aly told Jacenko, before asking her about the separate issue of turning her daughter into a “commodity” and the evolution of the Instagram account into a money-making enterprise.

Pixie has more than 100,000 Instagram followers and a company that sells hair accessories. Image via Instagram.

“I think the reality is everyone’s going to have an opinion on how you parent and what you do do and what you don’t do. For me, I am very very confident in the way she is on social media in the sense of I don’t put pictures of her in the bath with no clothes on,” Jacenko responded.

“Does it make it right that these people, who are nothing more than paedophiles, can utilise those pictures?”

 

Carrie Bickmore pointed out that the “commercialisation” of her daughter is a separate issue to the images created and circulated.

“I am sorry to see her in this situation. But let me tell you, one of the two photos that was used was from my personal Instagram. So the question is, am I to live my life as recluse and not share pictures of my child?”

Mamamia founder Mia Freedman was also on the panel last night and said that once a parent shares photos of their children online, they have very little control over what happens to them afterwards.

“We have battled with that exactly,” said Aly. “We made the decision never to do it for those sort of reasons.”