Two months since the release of Avengers: Endgame, and we’re still saying ‘I love you 3000’.
However, for the actor who made the phrase famous – not Robert Downey Jr. but his onscreen daughter, played by Lexi Rabe – since the release of the film, her newfound fame and notoriety hasn’t all been plain sailing.
Lexi and her parents took to social media to address the bullying the seven-year-old has been experiencing since the release of Endgame, especially by fans who didn’t get an autograph or a photo from the young actor.
Posting on Instagram, Lexi’s mother Jessica wrote:
I hate that we even have to post this. But yet again Lexi’s getting bullied. And this kind of thing makes it celebrities never want to leave the house never want to meet people. Please keep your opinions to yourself so Lexi can grow up in the free world.
She’s a normal human being and she’s a child. We give her a talking and we give her timeouts but we don’t do that in public. Sometimes were [sic] rushing from place to place stressed like everyone else to get to set on time or work or whatever and we seem a little grumpy. I’m sorry if you see us this way but that’s life!
If you ask us for an autograph we always almost say yes. If we happen to be having a bad day that might put us right on the right! We are not perfect!
The post continued:
These perfect children are not being given the freedoms and the rights that they should. If your child is so scared to be themselves in public and mess up a little then you’re over parenting. We give our children plenty of rules and boundaries But then give them the freedoms to mess up and learn from their own mistakes. They would not be on set an on movies if they weren’t well behaved. Trust me they have no desire to hire kids like that!
And there were plenty of children that productions can work with. So if you see us in public and think you have the right to judge. Wait. Number one until you have children of your own, and Number two realize that we’re not perfect and we’re not claiming to be! But just try to realize the different strokes for different folks what you do with your kids may work for you and what I do with my kids works well for me.
My children love me and respect me even if they act out sometimes. Thank you! Jessica!
The video features Lexi offering an explanation for what’s gone down. But she’s seven years old! Whoever got annoyed she didn’t stop for an autograph and so decided to bully a seven-year-old girl really needs to rethink a few things about their life. They should be the ones posting an apology video, not Lexi.
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Charlie Cocksedge is a journalist and sub-editor at UNILAD. He graduated from the University of Manchester with an MA in Creative Writing, where he learnt how to write in the third person, before getting his NCTJ. His work has also appeared in such places as The Guardian, PN Review and the bin.