Love Island's Montana Brown mum-shamed after sharing she keeps son home over school run fears
Topics: Love Island, Parenting, TikTok, Reality TV
Ben Williams
Featured Image Credit: Instagram/@motanabrown1
Topics: Love Island, Parenting, TikTok, Reality TV
Influencer Montana Brown has found herself at the centre of a parenting debate after sharing a candid update about motherhood.
The former Love Island star, who rose to fame on season three of the ITV2 dating show back in 2017, has often spoken openly with her followers about life as a mum.
Montana, 30, welcomed her first child, Jude Isaiah O’Connor, with partner Mark O’Connor in June 2023, later writing: “Welcome to the world Jude Isaiah O’Connor. We’re so smitten with you little man 23.06.23.”
The reality TV star has since become a mum-of-two, also welcoming daughter Miley with Mark in January 2025.
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Although, her latest TikTok has a thread of mum-shaming online, with social media users rushing to weigh in on her comments.
In the video, filmed from her car, Montana explained she had been feeling anxious about the thought of sending Jude to school, saying the idea of being tied to the school run had left her feeling panicked.
She began: “I don't know if any other parents can relate to this. I mean, I say parents, but I'm going to target this at mothers because I feel like this is a mother's issue.
“People keep asking me ‘Oh, why don't you have Jude in school?’. I am petrified of him going to school because it means I'm tied to the school run.”
Montana went on to admit that the thought of her children entering the school system had made her question what the next stage of her life might look like.
She said: “And I don't know why, but I'm having like a freak out. I feel like I'm questioning everything, and I feel really unsettled at the minute because I feel like all my possibilities are coming crumbling down”.
The mum added: “I'm like, what if I want to study something. What if I want to become a doctor or something? What if I want to travel to South America?
“All my possibilities are gone, and I know that they're not gone and I can still do those things, but it feels like I can't because, quite frankly, my kids need me.”
Montana continued: “I don't know if anyone else can relate to this or if I sound clinically insane, but I just feel really young, and I've got two children, and I've got dependables.”
The TikTok video’s comments section was quickly flooded with reactions, with some viewers criticising the reality star’s take on this side of parenting.
One person wrote: “Most people think about this before having kids.”
Another asked: “Was none of this considered [before] having the kids?”
A third commented: “If your biggest concern in life is not being able to go on holiday to South America, then you have ZERO problems. Genuinely you’ve won the game - congrats.”
Meanwhile, others were more sympathetic, with one writing: “I know what you mean to be fair, it’s like the freedom to just drop everything & go is gone once they’re in school. I think that’s what you mean lol maybe not.”
A second said: “The school run is absolutely horrendously draining and claustrophobic.”
And someone else penned: “I don’t allow my brain to go there but I try remind myself they won’t be this young forever so let me enjoy every good, bad & ugly of it. Just embrace it. I’m in their season, not my own.”
It's not the first time Montana's comments have , previously sparking debate after sharing her thoughts on school dinners.
In a TikTok posted in March, she said: “Why do children need desserts every day at school?
“Like why do they need a sticky toffee pudding every day?
“That would be strange if you went to work and one of your colleagues was like tucking into a sticky toffee pudding and like custard every lunch.”
Claiming that this would be 'excessive', Montana added: “You’d have pudding after pudding after pudding and I am a firm believer that just kids shouldn’t have pudding.”
Instead, Brown suggested that pupils should be given ‘yogurt and fruit and if they’re still hungry’, and that ‘extra protein’ should be on hand to fill them up.
She later shared a follow-up, admitting she was 'shocked' at the response to her original video.
“It wasn't meant to offend anybody,” Montana said. “I constantly try and share issues that I really truly care about and I genuinely care about children's nutrition, the same way I talk about women's issues, trans issues, all because I genuinely really care about them.”
She explained that her post ‘was not out of malice at all’, adding: “I hope you can understand that.”