The Happiest Baby company is taking accountability.
Four months after influencer Brooklyn Larsen and her husband Tanner Larsen tragically lost their son Rocky right before his birth, the Happiest Baby brand sparked backlash after allegedly asking her to return a $1,700 bassinet they had sent her in exchange for tagging them in related content. In response, the brand has issued a formal apology.
“We cannot express more emphatically our deepest sympathy for what she and her family have been through following the loss of her son,” a spokesperson for Happiest Baby told Today in a March 24 statement. “What was intended to be an effort to provide assistance clearly was a mistake that added to Brooklyn’s grief, for which we are truly sorry.”
“We have taken internal steps to make sure it never happens again,” the statement continued. “What Brooklyn faced was a tragedy beyond comprehension, and we are heartbroken for her loss.”
E! News has reached out to Happiest Baby and Brooklyn’s rep for comment but has not heard back.
According to the So You Think You Can Dance alum’s sister Kenna Bangerter, Happiest Baby requested the bassinet’s return after Brooklyn informed them she was unable to provide the content they had agreed upon in their promotional agreement. Outraged on Brooklyn’s behalf, Kenna went on to share her story on social media.
“Super disappointed in a certain brand during this unimaginable time for my sister,” Kenna wrote on a since-expired Instagram Story. “After sending an email regarding the content she wasn’t able to send—because her baby passed away. They demanded she send the bassinet back. The empty baby bassinet, still sitting next to her bed. Because she didn’t ‘deliver the content.’”
“I want you to think about why she couldn’t deliver the content,” she continued. “I’m absolutely disgusted by a BABY brand who promotes support for moms & babies—that doesn’t even have the decency to give her the space to grieve the bassinet she never got to fill.”
After all, Brooklyn—who is mom to son Rome, 4, from a past relationship—was mourning the incredibly tragic loss of her baby boy after experiencing a stillbirth, having also previously suffered a miscarriage in December 2023.
“Our hearts are completely shattered,” Brooklyn, 29, and Tanner, 30, wrote in a joint November Instagram post. “Our perfect little boy didn’t make it. Late Sunday evening, at 40 weeks and 2 days, Brooklyn went into labor on her own. We arrived at the hospital, full of excitement, only to be told the devastating news that they couldn’t find his heartbeat.”
“We were blessed to spend the next 12 precious hours with him, surrounded by our family, pouring all of our love into him,” the couple continued. “We can’t fully express the depth of the pain we feel losing our son and Rome losing his little brother.”
(E! and Today are both part of the NBCUniversal family.)
