Stacey Solomon found the best way to respond to an Instagram follower who claimed she had "staged" a photo of her partner Joe Swash and her younger son Leighton, six. The snap showed the former EastEnders actor reading a book to Leighton, while the pair wore matching animal print jumpers. Stacey clarified that her boyfriend was in fact borrowing her bright pink jumper in the caption that read: "Coming home to this actually hurts my heart. It was so cute I didn't even moan at Joe for stealing my jumper... it could probably do with a stretch right now anyway."
The pregnant TV star, who is expecting her first child with Joe, was met with one nasty comment from a follower who replied, "Omg this is so staged. The jumpers are being advertised" alongside a rolling eyes emoji. But Stacey, 29, was quick to defend herself and wrote: "If I was advertising something it would suggest I was being paid… I just love the photo, and the moment and everything it stands for." She added a yellow love heart emoji to her response.
© Photo: InstagramStacey shared a lovely photo of Joe and son Leighton
Fans leapt to Stacey's defence, with many claiming she didn't need to explain herself. "This is a lovely photo hun. Ignore the hate and carry on being you," one fan told Stacey. Another wrote: "This just looks like any regular dad chilling with his son. Lush and natural." A third agreed: "Wow what an odd thing to say. It's clearly a gorgeous family moment captured. I love moments like these, so precious." "So cute. You have a lovely family, don't listen to negative comments Stacey," another fan added.
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Stacey and Joe are set to become parents again later this year. The Loose Women panellist opened up about her baby news to HELLO!, revealing that both she and Joe were nervous to tell their children about the pregnancy. Stacey has two sons Zac and Leighton from previous relationships while Joe, 37, is also a proud dad to son Harry.
We go behind the scenes with Stacey:
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"We've got three boys between us and they were all over the moon," said Stacey. "You worry that you don't want to affect the dynamics. It's hard enough having a blended family and making sure everyone's happy and feels valued, and feels like they're getting the right love and attention, so we were nervous to say, but actually they all reacted in such a positive way it was really incredible. Both of us were like, 'The kids are happy, as long as the kids are happy, we don't mind what anyone else thinks!'"
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