Emilie Kiser is again facing scrutiny after a video began circulating of her 16-month-old son Teddy sitting on his father Brady Kiser's lap without a life jacket during a recent boating trip.
This comes after the couple's 3-year-old son Trigg died on May 18, 2025, after a drowning incident at the family's Chandler home.
Fellow influencer Madi Curtis posted the since-deleted video during the group's Mallorca trip in June.
On July 28, Emilie responded to the backlash with a statement on her social media accounts.
"Our child should have been in his life jacket for the entirety of that boat ride, not even for the few moments that he was out of it," she posted. "We are painfully aware that in a matter of seconds, your entire life can change, and we should have done
better."
Emilie Kiser boat life jacket statement
The statement went on to recognize and appreciate the care people have for the couple's children.
"There has also been a deep level of anger and hurt directed toward our family, and we understand the basis of those feelings as well," Kiser continued. "It comes from the belief that Trigg should still be here, and we share that same belief more than can be expressed. He was only three years old, and should have lived a lifetime more."
Kiser said that reality lives with them "every moment of every single day" and that they will continue to do better and advocate for better. She added that they will still make mistakes, despite trying to avoid them. She promised that they will never stop learning from their mistakes and "continue loving our children with everything we have."
Water safety advocates recommend that anyone participating in any boating, paddling or towed water sport wear a life jacket, regardless of swimming ability. U.S. federal law requires children under the age of 13 to wear a life jacket while a vessel is underway, according to the U.S. Coast Guard.
What happened to Emilie Kiser's son?
Trigg Kiser died in the hospital six days after he had tripped into the unfenced pool at the Kisers' Chandler home while playing with an inflatable chair. Trigg was in the water for nearly seven minutes before his father found him, according to police reports.
Brady Kiser was home with Trigg and their newborn son, Theodore, at the time of the drowning. Emilie Kiser was out with friends, and Brady knew his son was outside, the report said.
"You can't even describe that feeling of when your child passes away from a preventable accident, a preventable tragedy," Emilie Kiser said in an interview with Jay Shetty. "All that’s going through your mind is, 'Where did I go wrong? Where did we go wrong? How did this happen? Why did this happen?' Hindsight is playing in your head 24/7."
Emilie Kiser loses support on Reddit
A Reddit thread titled r/Emilie_Kiser was made as a "space for supporters of Emilie Kiser." As of July 21, the thread has evolved from being a support-only space to one for "respectful, nuanced discussion about Emilie."
"Over the past few weeks, we’ve seen many of our members’ perspectives change," @Spiritual-Sky-90 posted on the thread. "After talking as a mod team, we’ve also realized that our own perspectives have changed. Like many of you, we had a lot of sympathy for Emilie and gave her the benefit of the doubt for a long time. However, the recent life vest situation, along with the blocking and deleting of respectful comments raising genuine concerns, has been disappointing to us.
"It has made it difficult for us to continue moderating this as a dedicated support sub."
The post went on to say that this will not be a snark sub and that comments of harassment, personal attacks, misinformation, doxxing or anything else that crosses the line, will continue to be removed.
Who is Emilie Kiser?
Emilie Kiser became famous on TikTok for vlogging about her life, especially after becoming a mom. As of the end of July 2026, Emilie Kiser has 5.1 million followers on the platform. She is 27 years old.
On July 3, over a year after her son Trigg's death, Kiser shared a post to her more than 7 million combined followers on Instagram and TikTok announcing her third pregnancy.
"We are so grateful and excited to share that we will be welcoming another baby into our family," Kiser wrote in the post. "This news feels very surreal and has already been such a bright light to us during some of our darkest days."
Citing privacy concerns, Kiser added that she was unsure how much she would share publicly about the pregnancy or her family’s next phase of life. Kiser did not share a due date or how far along she was in the pregnancy.
"This baby has already brought so much hope and joy into our home, and we are treasuring every moment of it together," Kiser said.
She ended the post by thanking everyone for their love, well-wishes and support.
Do you have a tip or a question you need answered? Reach the reporter at dina.kaur@arizonarepublic.com. Follow @dina_kaur on X, formerly known as Twitter, and on Instagram @dina_kaur.
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This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: AZ influencer Emilie Kiser again under scrutiny after boating incident
