Married at First Sight alum Jamie Otis took some advice from Taylor Swift to help her daughter deal with a bully.
The MAFS star, 39, posted a sweet TikTok with Henley Grace, 8, on Thursday, August 28, where the mom and daughter duo lip synced to Swift’s 2019 track “I Forgot That You Existed” as a way for Jamie to “teach [her] daughter how to deal with bullies / haters.”
In the caption, Jamie elaborated on Henley Grace — whom the family call “Gracie” — recently coming to her with concerns over another student singling her out in front of their whole class.
“My daughter was in tears bc there’s a girl who doesn’t like her,” she explained. “This girl told her (in front of everyone) that she ‘hates’ that she has to sit next to her.”
Jamie then admitted, “At first I wanted to scream for my daughter and tell her that little girl is just a meanie…but I kept my composure & calmly said, ‘That’s ok. Not everyone is going to like you. You should still be nice to her, but you can politely avoid her. Spend time with the kids who do like you!’ Henley cried [and said] ‘But she said I’m annoying & loud in front of everyone! I wasn’t trying to be mommy!’”
Henley Grace joined her mom to lip sync some key lines from “I Forgot That You Existed” as a way to put her bullying problem in context. They sang: “I forgot that you existed / And I thought that it would kill me, but it didn’t / And it was so nice.”
When a follower commented that “there is a song for everything,” Jamie replied: “Taylor never fails.”
Other commenters praised Jamie’s calming and polite approach to a very painful experience, in addition to offering their own advice on how to deal with bullying.
“It’s so hard for girls to keep their spark,” one fan wrote. “Usually school manages to dull it somewhere along the way. Between the bullying, and the girl drama it’s really hard. Hope she keeps hers nice and proud! You are doing the right thing to help her keep it!! ✨ Good job momma!”
Another viewer replied, “Raising intellectual, kind, and happy people is so very important. It’s hard work bc the parents must be actively involved. Thank you for loving your children. They are your gift to the universe.”
Jamie and her husband Doug Hehner met on the first season of MAFS and tied the knot in March 2014. They share Henley Grace, son Hendrix Douglas, 5, and twins Hawkins Tyler and Huxley James, 11 months.
Following the twin’s arrival in September 2024, Jamie candidly admitted it was difficult to tell the newborns apart. During a YouTube vlog, Jamie held Hawkins on her lap and pointed out a few differentiating features.
“There’s a couple really good features,” Jamie explained in January. “First things first is this little boy’s nose. He has a little red spot right there, and that’s our best identifying factor.”
Her husband Doug, 41, pointed out that Huxley’s “elvish” ears come to “more of a point than Hawkins,” as well as noticing a red mark on the back of one of Huxley’s legs.
“Those are the only ways we can tell them apart,” Jamie confessed. “Especially because [Hawkins] is chunking up nice and good. He was smaller for a long time but now he’s getting a little chubbier. Now his face is about as round as Huxley’s, so it’s really hard to tell them apart. They are very identical.”
The former Married at First Sight: The First Year cast member previously spoke out in May to condemn people’s “sensitized” reactions to breastfeeding in public.
“The amount of people who get offended by a breastfeeding mom will forever shock me,” she admitted via Instagram. “A woman FEEDING her baby — however she can — should be supported. No questions.”
Jamie explained that she was combo-feeding the twins, which involved the parent giving their newborn a combination of natural breast milk and infant formula.
“Breastfeeding is the most natural and primitive way to care for your infant, but yet I guarantee I’ll get comments about how inappropriate it is to pump my breastmilk out in car line pick up or nurse my twin babies in public,” she complained. “And honestly, the reason society feels so strongly about a woman not breastfeeding in front of people is bc they don’t see enough of it. A hundred years ago there would be no issue at all bc that’s was the only way to provide nutrients for your baby.”
After sharing her own breastfeeding experience, Jamie expressed hope that her message would “desensitize the most primitive, natural way a mommy can feed her baby.”
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