For months, Kellyanne Conway’s growing conflict with her 16-year-old daughter, Claudia, has played out online, with the outspoken teen posting TikTok videos showing them arguing over her mother’s proactive role in Donald Trump’s administration, but also depicting her mother lashing out at her with insults and possibly worse.
The videos have taken an especially disturbing turn in recent weeks, with Claudia last week accusing her mother of being “physically, mentally, and emotionally abusive,” Vox reported. Her TikToks appeared to show Kellyanne Conway shouting, cursing frequently, belittling, and seemingly hitting her daughter.
Now, the conflict has reportedly drawn the attention of police and other authorities after a topless photo of Claudia was reportedly posted to Kellyanne Conway’s official Twitter account. The photo was posted as a fleet, Twitter’s version of Instagram stories. The posts automatically expire after 24 hours, but many users saw the photo and alerted Twitter and Claudia herself.
Police in the Conways’ hometown of Alpine, New Jersey confirmed to the New York Post that they were investigating the photo, which would appear to violate Twitter’s “zero-tolerance child-sexual-exploitation policy,” New York magazine reported. Possession of child sexual abuse images also is illegal in New Jersey and punishable by up to five years in prison and being added to a sex offender registry, BuzzFeed News reported.
“An investigation is being conducted. No additional information can be released,” an officer with the Alpine police told the New York Post. Four police officers showed up at the Conway mansion on Tuesday morning and spent about an hour inside before leaving, the Post added.
A spokesperson for the New Jersey Department of Children and Families told Buzzfeed News that the agency is “looking into all the concerns around the incident,” but the agency issued a follow-up statement saying it was “unable to confirm any investigations or pending investigations regarding alleged child abuse or neglect.”
Shortly after the graphic photo was posted, Claudia Conway told her 1.6 million TikTok followers that she was “literally at a loss for words.” She said her mother was “going to (expletive) jail” and explained her mom may have gotten ahold of the photo during one of their earlier fights when her phone was confiscated. Claudia said she assumed her mother took the photo “to use against me one day,” but also didn’t think her mother posted it deliberately.
On Tuesday, just as public outcry grew for authorities to intervene on her behalf and as hashtags, such as #SaveClaudiaConway and #JusticeforClaudia, went viral, Claudia seemed to walk back some of her more incendiary comments against her mother.
In a TikTok video she recorded and was shared by her father, George Conway, a Republican attorney and prominent Trump critic, Claudia said “I know that my mom would never, ever post anything to hurt me like that intentionally, and I do believe she was hacked.”
Our daughter Claudia asked me to tweet this statement for her. https://t.co/ilH7IFqERB
— George Conway (@gtconway3d) January 26, 2021
Claudia also expressed regret for making her conflicts with her mother public and announced she was taking a break from social media to repair their relationship. Her TikTok account is now private.
“My mom and I always fight like mothers and daughters, but we also love like mothers and daughters. And I do love her,” Claudia Conway said.
While Claudia insisted she was not compelled to defend her mother, many people following the drama raised concerns that her comments were, indeed, forced. Claudia has previously said that if she ever took a break from social media, it would not be by choice, Slate reported.
Twitter has yet to take any action against Conway, BuzzFeed News reported. Officials also may never make public the results of the police investigation or any inquiry by child protective services, because of confidentiality surrounding juvenile cases.
Claudia has a fervent online following, with people saying on Twitter they are concerned about her welfare and that they want her to be safe. Her fans have long expressed worry that she has put herself at risk by speaking out about her progressive beliefs and the dynamics in the Conway family where her famous Republican parents vehemently disagree on supporting Donald Trump.
I've told you on this platform for four years that KellyAnne Conway is a monster. Every video and every story that comes out only proves it further. I sincerely hope the appropriate authorities will FINALLY step in and thoroughly review the situations that have been made public. pic.twitter.com/NIUioGaStu
— Don Winslow (@donwinslow) January 26, 2021
Claudia began chronicling her difficult relationship with her mother last summer when she supported Black Lives Matter and repeatedly voiced her hatred of Donald Trump. She also was the first to reveal in October that her mother had signs of COVID-19 after attending a White House celebration for Amy Coney Barrett’s Supreme Court nomination.
One of her more recent videos, titled “a covid recap with kelly,” depicted her mother issuing a series of insults with the line, “You’re lucky your mom’s pro life,” Vox reported. Claudia commented underneath the video that “it’s scary how this woman held the position as one of the most powerful woman in this country like.”
Yesterday, former Trump counselor Kellyanne Conway was accused of posting nude photos of her 16-year-old daughter Claudia to Twitter’s temporary stories feature, Fleets. https://t.co/V7Cdm5Cswl
— Vox (@voxdotcom) January 26, 2021
The police visit to the Conway home Tuesday also wasn’t the first, according to Claudia. She said in recent videos that police and Child Protective Services had visited her house in recent weeks, but that nothing happened, BuzzFeed News reported. She said the lack of action by authorities left her feeling afraid.
“I don’t think any of you understand what it’s like to be in the situation I’m in,” Claudia said in the TikTok, BuzzFeed News reported. “I posted those hoping I would get some sort of help. But nothing is gonna happen so I deleted them in fear of getting gaslighted and manipulated.”
Slate columnist Evan Urqhart suggested that online pressure for authorities to intervene on Claudia’s behalf may ultimately do more harm than good in such a public case that involves a family’s private dynamics and the complexities of a child welfare investigation.
“We do not, cannot, and likely will not ever know the full picture of Claudia Conway’s home life and relationship with her mother,” Urqhart wrote. “By trying to help, strangers to the family bring more scrutiny and more pressure to bear, without offering anything of value to support them. In such situations, as hard as it might be, we must accept that the best thing we can do for Claudia Conway and her family is to leave them alone.”
