No time for haters. Coco Austin and Ice-T have sparked backlash for their parenting choices numerous times — and they’re never shy about defending themselves from the trolls.
The couple, who wed in 2002, welcomed their daughter, Chanel, in 2015. Ice-T is also the father of two children from prior relationships: Letesha, born in 1976, whom he shares with his high school girlfriend Adrienne, and Tracy Jr., born in 1991, whom he shares with Darlene Ortiz.
Austin and Ice-T had wanted a baby for a while by the time Chanel was born. During a 2012 episode of their reality show Ice Loves Coco, the glamour model cried after learning her blood pressure was too high to safely conceive. But after getting her health under control, Austin announced her pregnancy via Twitter in 2015. Shortly after Chanel was born in November of that year, the Law and Order: SVU actor talked about his baby girl on his podcast, “Ice T: Final Level.”
“We’re just proud parents and [nowadays] you can put it all on the net for everybody to see. We’ve had all this response, as much as there’s haters out there, 99.99 percent are nothing but love,” the rapper said at the time.
He continued, “At this point, I didn’t really know what was going to make me excited. Like, another hit record? No. Another show? No.I’ve been really fortunate but this was something that really made me say, ‘Wow.’ It’s a beautiful thing.”
Austin reacted to the emotional episode via Twitter in December 2015. “When I listened to Ice’s podcast on Chanel I actually teared up to hear him talk about her,” she wrote at the time. “He is such a proud father. I couldn’t ask 4 better.”
Fans have often been quick to point out how much the New Jersey native’s little girl resembles him. After one particular photo of Chanel made headlines in July 2021, Austin told Us Weekly, “It was weird because I post so many pictures and that particular one kind of went viral. That was strange to me. She’s looked like her daddy since day one. [She was] coming out of the womb looking like him. And now [people] are just noticing after five years? Like, that’s so weird to me.”
The actress added that personality-wise, Chanel is more like her. “She gets on the stage and she rocks on [like Ice-T], but then she, like, has a modeling side too,” she told Us. “She has a lot of personality. She tries to act like me. I don’t allow her to do all the poses though. … We like just the cutesy ones.”
Despite their love for their daughter, Coco and Ice-T have often found themselves in the line of fire of the parenting police.
Scroll through for a look at all the times the Ice Loves Coco alums have clapped back at the haters: