Leah Messer ... she tries her best, right?
And when you think about it, the pride of West Virginia come a long way in the years since she's been on Teen Mom 2.
Sure, there's that thing where she's in a cult right now, one that's said to have led to the death of more than one member.
And yeah, there's the whole thing in which she's been trying to get her fans involved in said cult, which is beyond sketchy.
But she's not on drugs anymore, and that's really great!
It's hard to say that she's making better choices these days when you consider all the scary cult stuff, but it's clear that she's personally in a much more positive place than she's ever been.
That's why it's unfortunate that the haters came a-knockin' after she did something as innocent as share a new photo of her daughter.
Well, okay, here's the picture that's got people in such a state:
That's little Gracie, one of her 10-year-old twins, at a cheerleading event with one of her coaches.
In her caption, Leah wrote about how grateful she is for those coaches who support her daughter so much, but you know that's not what anyone paid attention to.
Nope, the same thing happened that always happens when Leah shares photos of the cheerleading stuff.
She got ripped apart.
"I would not let my young girl wear that," one of her followers commented.
Another wrote "This is ridiculous. Her face looks harder than concrete with all that makeup and fake tan. What is going on in America? This is why they have so much problems with their kids."
One person brought Ali, Gracie's twin, into it with "Her twin sister is beautiful without all that makeup on that is too much to wear on a little girl!"
"Y'all making them grow up too fast," another comment read. "That makeup is horrible on little girls, be careful what you wish for. And Corey where the hell are you?"
And believe it or not, many people thought it was acceptable to suggest that because she's wearing makeup and a skirt like this, she'll end up being a teen mom like her mother before her.
Leah hasn't responded to any of the criticism, but she doesn't really have to say anything because there's an easy response to all of it.
And that would be something along the lines of "this is just the way it is."
It's not like Gracie is going to school looking like this - she does competitive cheerleading, and this is apparently just what that looks like.
She has to have a short skirt on to be able to do her routines, and she has to wear makeup like this because she's on a stage under harsh lighting, and if you don't wear heavy makeup, your features essentially disappear.
As several less negative commenters pointed out, this is just the standard for these kinds of competitions, and apparently the team could actually be penalized if she didn't look like this.
Besides, if you've seen the kind of cheerleading Gracie is doing, you know it's pretty active, and there's no way a long skirt could work with what she does.
And when was the last time you heard anyone say anything about all those photos Briana DeJesus posts of her daughters doing gymnastics in leotards?
Just saying. The hate is a little overblown this time around.
There are plenty of things about Leah Messer and her life choices that you can dislike ... again, the cult stuff is really just bizarre.
But let's lay off her about this cheerleading stuff, OK?
