Who knew that a Beauty and the Beast group costume could be so controversial? Paris Hilton recently took to social media to share some adorable photos of her family dressed up for Halloween.
Paris, her husband, Carter Reum, and their children, Phoenix and London, all dressed as different characters from Disney’s Beauty and the Beast. But the internet is collectively freaking out over their costume choices, largely because Paris dressed up as Belle, while her children were dressed as other characters from the film.
Critics tried to tell Paris that she should not be the “main character” anymore.
From their perspective, dressing as the princess when you have a daughter is “diabolical.” While there were plenty of people who saw nothing wrong with the family’s costumes, the photos Paris shared also garnered a ton of negative comments from people who acted like she should do a better job of prioritizing her children.
“This is sad!” someone wrote on X. “You are not the main character anymore. Let your kids have a childhood.”
Several viral posts called Paris out for dressing London as Mrs. Potts. In reality, London dressed up as Chip. “What on Earth?” another critic commented. “Did you really want (to) make yourself the princess and your daughter the matronly teapot?”
People even accused Paris of using her children as “props” or accessories for her own costume, which they thought seemed to be her actual priority, based on the quality of her costume and the quality of theirs.
“Mom gets a fancy ballgown and the kids get spirit halloween,” someone else said. “Totally gross to use ur kids as accessories on Halloween,” a critic added. “Diabolical.” These critics all argued that Paris should’ve let London be the princess.
But what if London didn’t want to be a princess?
All of these critics seemed to assume that dressing up as Belle is preferable to everyone. But other parents called them out for assuming this. For all they know, London could’ve chosen her costume herself. Perhaps she had no desire to dress up as Belle.
“I genuinely think that these people haven’t been around children,” someone wrote on Instagram. “I worked with kids and I knew SOOO many little girls who couldn’t care less about the princesses, but were obsessed with random side characters.”
And parents in the comments could confirm: kids don’t necessarily choose conventional costumes for themselves. “My daughter genuinely wants to be the crocodile from peter pan while I get to be Wendy,” one parent wrote. “Kids are funny like that.”
“My daughter chose all of our costumes this year..I’m Dora and she’s Dora’s backpack lol,” another mom added. So, to many parents, the idea that London would want to be Chip for Halloween seemed entirely plausible. “My daughter would want to be the beast,” a third parent commented.
Paris later addressed the criticism.
In doing so, she also confirmed that her daughter does, indeed, love Chip. “Beauty and the Beast is one of their favorite movies, and London said she wanted to dress up as Chip,” Paris wrote in the comments of an Instagram video about the backlash. “She said it was her favorite character in the movie.”
The Beauty and the Beast costume controversy also sparked a larger debate about motherhood. Because what’s so bad about moms having fun and dressing up as princesses for Halloween? Several people pointed out that no one was complaining about Paris’s husband dressing up as a “main character” (the Beast).
While a lot of critics told Paris it was “sad” and self-centered to make herself the main character and “center of attention,” others thought the group costume was adorable. And a mom should still be able to dress up as Belle if she wants to do so. “Just because you’re a mother doesn’t me you stop getting to have fun,” someone wrote in Paris’s defense.
“Who said a mother can’t live out her dream?” another person questioned. “Life doesn’t stop at motherhood.”
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