The mother of Louis Tomlinson’s child Freddie has reportedly branded bizarre conspiracy theories about her son “cruel and morally wrong”.
Briana Jungwirth, a stylist from Los Angeles, has been targeted by spurious fan theories surrounding her baby with the One Direction singer since giving birth in January.
The fan theories that underpin “Babygate” were broken down in a post by BuzzFeed and alluded to in an Instagram post shared by MTV News, which included the caption: “Where's Freddie?”
The convoluted theories boiled down to the suggestion that their son is a doll which forms part of an elaborate cover-up. The obsession around Babygate reached fever pitch over the past few days, culminating with the gossip site TMZ filming Tomlinson leaving a restaurant with his child as “proof” of his existence - even showing Freddie crying in slow motion.
Screengrabs appear to show Jungwirth responding angrily to MTV's Instagram post on Friday, writing: “Sorry but that is just cruel. I don't usually speak out much, but I'd like to know how would you feel as a new proud mother reading something like this?
”How dare anyone call my child fake. That's sick and morally wrong. Say all you'd like but I won't let anyone take away the happiness I have for my baby son. I know Louis won't either.“
MTV has faced a backlash over the ”disrespectful“ post and demands it remove the image from its page. The network posted a second image suggesting it might delete it, but the original remains on the site.
“This is actually disgusting of MTV to post this and it needs to be deleted,” wrote one user. "Bringing an innocent baby into all of this is disgusting.”
Jungwirth, 25, has been plagued by online abuse since her pregnancy was announced and branded her treatment “sickening” in February.
The Independent has contacted representatives for Tomlinson and Jungwirth for comment.
