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Hollywood Mom Blasts Jenny Mollen’s ‘Creepy’ Essay About Son

Jason Biggs’s ex-wife faced a barrage of criticism, including pointed remarks from a fellow Tinseltown mom.

Roosa RahkonenReporter, The Looker

PublishedJun 3, 2026, 2:01 PM EDT

UpdatedJun 3, 2026, 2:01 PM EDT

Updated Jun 3, 2026, 2:01 PM EDTPublished Jun 3, 2026, 2:01 PM EDT

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When author and former actress Jenny Mollen published a controversial Substack essay about her sons—and later posted equally controversial photos with her 12-year-old—thousands of people shared their outrage, confusion, and revulsion on social media, including fellow Hollywood mom Valerie Bertinelli.

On May 25, Mollen, 47, posted two Instagram pictures of herself lying in bed on top of her 12-year-old son, Sid, her hands in his hair.

The now-deleted caption read, “Your eldest son will be the most toxic guy you ever date.”

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Mollen, who shares her two sons with her ex-husband, American Pie star Jason Biggs, quickly faced criticism over the “weird” post.

The buzz around the post also resurfaced an essay that Mollen wrote earlier in May on her Substack, The Best Friend Experience with Jenny Mollen.

In the post titled “Please. Stay. I want you. I need you. Oh, God,” Mollen reflected on being a mother to two boys. “Call me old-fashioned,” the essay begins, “but I only want my sons to marry women with dead mothers.”

Mollen also shared her thoughts about her son texting a girl his age.

“She was bossing him around and using big words, and he was utterly spun,” she wrote, adding, “I complained to Jason that I wanted to intervene before he got hurt and that she wasn’t even hotter than me.”

On Tuesday, Food Network star and regular guest of The Drew Barrymore Show, Valerie Bertinelli, 66, shared her opinion on the essay on Threads.

“I love my son dearly,” the One Day at a Time actress began her post.

She continued, “One of my happiest days was watching him marry his person. I adore her. And her mother. Like, what am I missing here? Why do you have to make it so effing weird? Jesus Christ that essay [so much hate].”

Bertinelli is the mother of Wolfgang Van Halen, whom she welcomed in 1991 with her then-husband, the late rock legend Eddie Van Halen.

Wolfgang married his long-time girlfriend, Andraia Allsop, in October 2023.

In addition to writing her opinion, Bertinelli also liked a comment under her post.

The comment read, “Yeah, I love my son more than life but he’s also a grown-a-- man and I too love my daughter-in-law and now I have a grandson to love on. These women that treat their sons like romantic partners creep me the hell out.”

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According to Entertainment Weekly, Mollen wrote in her Instagram Stories—which are only available for 24 hours—that she felt the criticism stemmed from her divorce.

Mollen and Biggs announced their separation in May after 18 years of marriage.

“It’s like because I’m getting separated, because I’m not protected by the institution of marriage, I’m suddenly like a different kind of target in what I’m posting,” she wrote, according to the outlet.

Adding, “Like this is absolutely jaw-dropping. A photo of me hugging my 12-year-old child is getting ridiculed.”

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Hundreds of commenters have expressed concern about Mollen’s essay online.

But some defend the New York Times best-selling author, pointing out that she writes comedy and that the essay may have been meant as satire.

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Roosa RahkonenReporter, The Looker

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