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‘Getting ready for my baby’s funeral’: US woman smiles and twirls in video, shocking millions
An American influencer has sparked a controversy with a video that shows her getting dressed for her baby's funeral.
An American influencer has sparked a controversy by refusing to conform to socially-acceptable norms of grief expression. Karissa Widder filmed herself getting dressed for her baby’s funeral and shared the video on Instagram, where it left millions of viewers shocked.
“Getting ready for my baby’s funeral where I got ready for my wedding,” she said in a text overlay on her video, which shows her twirling in a polka-dotted dress. “We had her celebration of life where we got married. No better place to celebrate our girl,” Widder explained further in the caption.
The video has racked up 12 million views on Instagram. Although the US-based influencer turned off comments, her video also reached Reddit, where people were shocked by her actions.
“I was enraged with this post. I also saw an Indian couple burying their infant (dead) on Reels ..who does that? Have people lost their conscience, mind and everything for a few likes and comments,” asked one Reddit user.
“Saw this yesterday, there are people supporting her and saying this is what apparently grief looks like. She was actually smiling and twirling while preparing for the kids funeral,” another noted.
“I saw this video and had the misfortune to go through her profile. She has a whole series. She has videos of the last time she held her daughter, she has videos saying 'I don't miss being pregnant’, her whole hospital experience is filmed, there are videos of her packing up her nursery," a Reddit user wrote. “It made me sick to my stomach as to how people can exploit such vulnerable moments in the name of raw content. Like shut the camera Karissa and heal.”
“Comments are savage”
Karissa Widder herself seemed well aware of the stir she created with her video. In Instagram Stories posted a day after she shared the controversial video on the platform, the American influencer seemed to make light of the barrage of hate she received.
“These comments are savage hahah,” she wrote. In a follow-up Story, she shared a mirror selfie and said: “Sorry to the haters that I still smile and get dressed. So crazy, I know.”
Widder’s newborn baby died two days after being born. She had shared the news of her daughter’s death on July 21.
In several posts since the first announcement, the US woman has spoken about dealing with grief and loss.
“I have never felt more whole or perfectly at peace than the moment my baby became an angel in my arms. Utter completion. It is finished! Giving her back to Jesus with my whole heart. Living a nightmare yet feeling so much hope for life,” she wrote a week after her daughter’s death.
Although her videos have been deemed shocking and distasteful, she also found support from a section of the internet.
“Her story is incredibly sad. And heartbreaking. The baby died a few days ago. She’s already healing and taking counselling for baby birth / loss and trauma. I understand that this was not needed but people cope different ways and she’s very vocal about being normal and trying her best during these difficult moments,” one Reddit user pointed out.
A comment on one of Widder’s Instagram posts reads: “Getting dressed and heading out into the world was the only way I could move through my grief. People will judge you no matter what you do. Prayers to you and your family.”
