Generally speaking, Chelsea Houska is the most popular and best-loved of all the stars in the Teen Mom franchise.
Sure, her storylines might not contain as much drama as the other moms’, but that’s part of what her fans love about Chelsea.
In life, and on TV, constant drama can be exhausting.
Chelsea offers an alternative to the Jades, the Kailyns, and the Leahs of the world by being an aspirational figure and showing that happy endings are possible, even for those who have been dragged down in the past by abusive relationships and other obstacles.
So it should come as no surprise that Chelsea is a major hit on social media, and she’s probably the mom who’s most attractive to brands that are seeking a collaborator or an endorsement.
But at the end of the day, she’s only human, and Mrs. Houska-DeBoer certainly isn’t immune to messing up.
Back in June, Chelsea lost thousands of followers when she declined to comment on the police murder of George Floyd and the Black Lives Matter protests that followed.
Now, it seems Houska has once again alienated her fan base, albeit in a much more innocuous way.
If you follow her on social media, you’re probably already aware that with the help of her husband, Cole DeBoer, Houska recently launched the aptly-named Chelsea and Cole line in collaboration with fashion brand Itzy Ritzy.
The items are available on Amazon, and Chelsea has mostly received praise for her designs — but her price tags have attracted some major criticism.
One piece in particular — a diaper bag that retails for $185.
"Crazy price point for a diaper bag," complained one potential consumer.
"I love it but don’t love the price," another added.
"Overpriced," a third chimed in.
In Chelsea’s posts about the bag on Instagram, the comments have been overwhelmingly negative.
"I love love Chelsea my fav teen mom but why are these bags soo expensive?" one follower wrote.
"Does it walk itself ? I want to support her financially with this purchase but I live among the poor. This isn’t affordable," another observed.
One fan got personal with a comment about Chelsea’s past, writing:
"I find it so disappointing how expensive you have these items to buy. You’d think as someone who "struggled" in the past you would market these to be a cost for all moms to buy."
There’s some serious shade in those quotes around "struggled"!
It seems the issue is not that Chelsea is selling a premium-priced item as part of her fashion line, but that said item happens to be a diaper bag, a sort of universal symbol of harried moms who have a lot on their plates and little time for luxuries.
To make a diaper bag prohibitively expensive, fans seem to feel, is to show a lack of understanding for the plight of moms, single moms, in particular.
Sure, it may be a tad absurd for Chelsea’s fans to expect so much of her — after all, this is a woman who’s pregnant with her fourth child and running an empire almost single-handedly — but in the end, they’re the reason she’s famous, and her down-to-earth relatability is one of the things the public loves about her the most.
But fear not, Houska Hounds, there are several pieces in her collection that are considerably more affordable than the controversial diaper bag.
For example, there’s a faux leather studded jacket that’s retailing for $80, a $54 black sweatshirt, $34 torn leggings and a $15 cuffed beanie.
Not exactly bargain basement stuff, but not wildly expensive, either!
So there you have it.
For just 15 bucks, you can begin to adopt the look of everyone’s favorite Teen Mom.
You just might need to tote your soiled diapers in a slightly cheaper vessel!