Swedish-British television presenter and model Ulrika Jonssonhad a pretty wild night out last night it seems. Speaking on Instagram, she said she and her 20-year-old daughter Beau went out for a drink and bumped into a group of girls they had never met before. ‘We kind of hijacked their evening, for which I apologise, and then drank and danced and I fell over three times.’ The 54-year-old TV star said she had possibly been barred from a club after she got kicked out of it during her night out on the town.
She shared the antics of the night in a series of pictures on her Instagram stories, starting with ‘so about last night, there’s just so much I can’t remember’. She then revealed that she had home with a ‘bruised, swollen, sore wrist and a sore arse' from falling over. She put a picture of her injuries on Instagram stories with the caption ‘I just don’t know what happened #liability’
“I was drunk but I’m also shit at balance and I got marched out by security and barred I think,” she said.
In another picture, she wrote ‘I lost my handbag. Found it again. Got a maccies on the way home. I’m dying RN. There are two men sleeping in my house. Dunno who they are.’ She continued ‘I'm thinking this is a good result for a 54-year-old. It shows I've still got a bit of life in me.’
While Jonsson seems to be happy laughing off the (probably blurry) events of last night, she’s facing a lot of backlash for this boozy outing. ‘Disgusting behaviour, imagine what her children feel like?’ writes one Twitter user. ‘Ulrika Jonsson has 4 kids by 4 dads and thinks it alright to do something like this?’ writes another.
In our society, mothers are put on a pedestal but, at the same time, their experiences beyond motherhood are denied. Women who have children quickly lose visibility and have to fight for any further existence. Every move they make is judged as a mother, not as a person. Their children are brought into conversations and debates where they don’t belong. And any ‘bad decision’ (as this night out is being viewed) brings their ability to parent into unfair questioning.
This isn’t the first time Jonsonn has faced hateful comments about her private life. Earlier this year, she received a rude comment from a follower about her children having different fathers, for which she hit back saying ‘we have a Karen amongst us - one with an asshole for a mouth’ on her Instagram stories.
These judgmental comments are something Jonsson has had to deal with for a while. Often, Jonsson’s previous nude hotoshoots are brought into question regarding her children, to which she’s publicly said she doesn’t care. ‘‘This is my life. I’ve dedicated my life to them. Yes, there are probably times when they’re unhappy, but they don’t voice it. ‘I have more years behind me than I have in front of me and I have shown more than my dedication to them and that will continue. Sometimes, they go, ‘oh cringe’ but that’s the role of the parent to embarrpass the children,’ she says.
Considering Jonsson has publicly shared how nudity helps her body confidence, and the severe impact her previous relationships have had on her confidence, we should just be happy she’s proud to strip off!
Her past relationships have been difficult - two years ago she shared that her sexless marriage had left her feeling depressed and lonely. Yet, instead of celebrating her leaving and finding a better situation for herself, she is regularly scrutinised for her children having multiple fathers, and for behaving sexually while being a mother. Many women who are mothers experience a loss of identity and a pressure to be a ‘perfect mother’, resulting in anxiety and depression. Perhaps we should lay off the mums, including Ulrika?
Women shouldn’t have to endure hard relationships for the sake of their children, and we shouldn’t conflate a woman’s desire to have casual sex, meet new people, drink some booze (or whatever it is that people are bothered by in Ulrika and Beau’s night out) with their ability to parent their own children. They are not at all related.
Since Beau is of legal drinking age and was on the night out with Ulrika getting drunk, eating Mcdonald’s and meeting new people, we imagine her children are just fine with Ulrika’s lifestyle. But it doesn’t have anything to do with us.