Emilie Kiser said her son Teddy should have been in his life jacket for the entire boat ride after a video showed the 16-month-old on a boat without one, and she said the family should have done better. Her response came on July 28, after the footage drew anger and disappointment from fans.
The video was posted by Madi Curtis as a compilation of a day the families spent together on the water in Mallorca, and it has since been deleted. That is why the backlash landed so hard: viewers saw a toddler without a life jacket, then watched the clip disappear after the criticism began.
Kiser’s apology went further than the boat ride itself. She said there had been a deep level of anger and hurt directed toward her family, and that she understood why, because many people believe Trigg should still be here. She said he was only three years old and should have lived a lifetime more.
That grief is what gives the criticism its force. Emilie Kiser and Brady Kiser lost Trigg in May 2025, and Kiser has spoken before about how the loss reshaped her view of the people around her. In June, she told Jay Shetty on On Purpose that she had felt angry at Brady Kiser after Trigg died, before realizing that the tragedy could just as easily have happened to either of them.
What remains unclear from the posted video is whether Teddy was wearing a life jacket before or after the brief moments shown. Kiser said the family will continue to do better and advocate for better, but the larger question now is whether that promise changes anything beyond the apology itself.
