Liz Johnston‘s past statements about hoping her unborn baby will be a little person did not go over well with some fans, prompting her (ever-present) mother Amber to jump in to defend her daughter. Last week, Liz and her husband Brice Bolden announced they were expecting their second child, with Liz telling the world that this will be the couple’s last baby. Liz has stated multiple times in the last few years that she hopes to give birth to a baby who is a little person. (The couple welcomed daughter Leighton in November 2023. Like her father, Leighton is average height. The toddler’s mother and the rest of the Johnston family have achondroplasia dwarfism.)
In the comments section of the pregnancy announcement posts, some fans took issue with the fact that Liz wants her baby to be a little person, despite the health challenges little people often face. During an episode of “7 Little Johnstons” that aired last season, Liz spoke to her friends about her desire to have a little person baby. “I would just try one more [time] and try for a little [person baby],” Liz said during the scene. “Yes, I’ve been through a lot of struggles in my life when it came to surgeries, and that just kind of comes with being an LP. But I would love to have a little [person] kid, and Brice would too. You have to always remember that health things doesn’t just affect little people. It affects average-sized people. I think that would just really complete our family, if we just had one tall [kid] and one little [person kid],” she added.
In a 2024 interview with People, Liz said, “One more try for a little person is what I tell [Brice]. Just for us to try, because we would definitely be stoked about having one average and one little someday.”
Fans in the comment section came for Liz, particularly because she acknowledged that a baby who is a little person will likely have health struggles, but that she still wants them to be born little. Amber hopped in at one point to stick up for Liz. “I hope it’s an average size since she and Amber want a [little person],” wrote one follower, to which Amber replied “When you look at it from a perspective and mindset of abilities, you may see it differently! Don’t most individuals want children like themselves? There is absolutely no reason why that is selfish. Trust me, there are far more individuals in hospitals having surgery, challenges, etc in this world than little people.”
On the show, Amber’s husband Trent shared a similar sentiment regarding the height of his future grandchildren when Liz was pregnant with Leighton. “The biggest challenge would be adjusting to an average-sized granddaughter because Amber and I have never had an average-sized person in our family,” he said. “However, it’s gonna be our grandbaby, it’s gonna be our daughter’s daughter and we’re gonna love it the same.”
Liz and Brice haven’t shared details yet on the new baby’s height. According to the Cleveland Clinic, when one parent has achondroplasia and the other doesn’t (as is the case with Liz and Brice), there’s a 50% chance their baby will have achondroplasia.
While hoping to one day have a baby who’s a little person, Liz did share she felt reassurance during her first pregnancy after learning Leighton would be average height. “Personally, I was a little bit relieved that she was [average height] because hearing my mom’s stories about her pregnancies with me and my older brother, there was a little bit of fear in that,” Liz told People. (Liz and her brother Jonah are Amber and Trent’s biological children; the couple adopted Anna, Emma and Alex.) In that same interview, she told the outlet carrying Leighton was “just more bearable because she was so little and she was a lot easier to carry than a little person baby would have been able to” due to babies with achondroplasia sometimes having “larger than normal” heads.
In addition to commenting on the new baby’s height, fans have also been talking about Anna, her estrangement from the family and what that’s meant for their long-running reality show, including many stating they know longer watch the show now that she’s not a part of it. When a fan suggested that Liz got pregnant again because the family “needed a new storyline because their lives are boring”, Anna chimed in with “I wasn’t going to say it.”
As The Ashley has reported, Anna is no longer speaking with her parents or siblings. That broken relationship was covered on the last season of ‘7 Little Johnstons,’ and will surely be a focus in the show’s 17th season, which debuts this Tuesday and will feature Liz’s wedding, a celebration (which Anna wasn’t invited to.) The Johnston siblings were once close and Anna even got to know her niece Leighton.
Last month, Anna shared on TikTok live that she does miss her family and wishes to reconnect, as The Ashley reported. “That’s the tough thing,” she said. “You kind of just got to hide it and just keep to yourself. If we all made up now, and were once again family, that would literally make my day. It would make my whole year, but it’s tough.”
The 17th season of ‘7 Little Johnstons’ debuts Tuesday at 9 p.m. on TLC.
