Emilie Kiser has apologized after footage from a family trip showed her 16-month-old son, Teddy, briefly sitting on a boat without a life jacket.
In a TikTok video posted Friday, Aug. 14, the 27-year-old influencer said she and her husband, Brady Kiser, made a mistake. She also said she believes the public discussion is important because it holds people accountable.
Kiser said the moment occurred during a June trip to Mallorca, Spain. Teddy had become fussy, she explained, so she and Brady removed his life jacket for a few moments while they tried to calm him. The footage appeared in a since-deleted vacation video shared by fellow influencer Madi Curtis.
The response has been especially sensitive because Kiser’s older son, Trigg, died at age 3 following a drowning in the family’s backyard pool in Chandler, Arizona, in May 2025. Since returning to social media after his death, Kiser has repeatedly discussed water safety and the precautions she believes families should take around pools and open water.
Kiser Says the Family ‘Made a Mistake’
@emiliekiserThanks for listening 🤍 Hope you all have a safe and good weekend.♬ original sound – Emilie
“I understand this conversation. I think it is important. It holds people accountable,” Kiser said. “I know that I am not perfect. I know that we make mistakes, and all I can say is that I’m sorry, and that I know we made a mistake.”
She explained that Teddy had been fussy during the boat ride and that she and Brady decided to take his life jacket off briefly while attempting to calm him. “We decided to take a few moments to calm him down,” she said. Kiser acknowledged that removing the jacket was the wrong decision. “We see now that that was a mistake, and that there is no reason ever why a child should be out of a life jacket,” she said.
The Aug. 14 video expanded on a shorter statement Kiser shared through Instagram Stories on July 28. In that first response, she said Teddy should have worn his life jacket for the entire ride and that the family “should have done better,” according to PEOPLE.
“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 wrote at the time. “We are painfully aware that in a matter of seconds, your entire life can change, and we should have done better.”
She Also Addressed the Family’s Water-Safety Measures
Kiser used the new video to answer questions about the precautions her family has taken since Trigg’s death. She said Teddy has been participating in infant swimming lessons for months and is currently in his second round of classes.
“He’s doing amazing, and I’m so proud of him,” she said. Kiser also said the family has installed a pool fence at home and does not use the backyard pool where Trigg drowned. “We have not, we will not, and we do not swim in our swimming pool where our child drowned,” she said.
Why the Boat Video Drew Renewed Scrutiny
@emiliekiserI hope sharing this helps people and educates people🤍 love you guys🥺♬ original sound – Emilie
Trigg was found unresponsive in the family’s backyard pool on May 12, 2025. He was hospitalized and died six days later, on May 18. The Chandler Police Department investigated the drowning and later recommended that Brady be charged with one count of child abuse, a Class 4 felony.
The Maricopa County Attorney’s Office ultimately determined that there was no reasonable likelihood of conviction and announced that Brady would not be charged. NBC News reported on that history while covering Kiser’s latest apology. Kiser has since described Trigg’s drowning as a preventable accident and has made water safety a recurring subject on her platforms.
In an earlier TikTok about water safety, she urged parents to consider pool fencing, swimming instruction and CPR training while acknowledging how painful the subject remains for her to discuss. “Our son’s death was very preventable,” Kiser said previously. “It was an accident, but it was a preventable accident.”
Kiser Says Talking About Water Safety Is Still Difficult
Kiser said the attention surrounding Teddy’s life jacket has put her back in the difficult position of publicly discussing water safety after losing Trigg.
Kiser said she intends to keep talking about water safety because she believes doing so can help other families, but she asked people to understand why those conversations remain difficult. “I know how many families we can help, but it is hard. It is hard to talk about,” she said. “It’s not because I don’t want to talk about it. It’s because it’s hard.”
She nevertheless accepted responsibility for the decision shown in the Mallorca footage and said she intends to continue trying to do better as a parent. “I know we made a mistake,” Kiser said.
Life Jackets and Swim Lessons Serve Different Safety Roles
The CDC’s drowning-prevention guidance says life jackets reduce the risk of drowning while boating for people of all ages and swimming abilities. It recommends that children wear them during activities in and around natural water.
The agency separately recommends swimming and water-safety lessons but stresses that children who know how to swim still need close and constant supervision around water. It also recommends four-sided fencing around residential pools and learning CPR.
Those precautions are designed to work together. The CDC notes that drowning can happen within seconds and can occur whenever a child has access to water.