Jake Quickenden defends giving newborn own Instagram account amid horrific trolling

Following heinous trolling of his newborn baby, Jake Quickenden has defended setting up a social media account for the baby.

According to the star, little Leo has a bright future ahead of him in showbiz, should he want, with the tot already boasting tens of thousands of followers on Instagram.

Jake previously hit out at cruel comments directed at his 13-week-old, who he shares with girlfriend Sophie Church, including one nasty comment that told them to drown the baby.

However that’s not turned him against creating the feed for Leo, which currently has more than 50,000 followers – despite previously pondering shielding images from social media.

He explained to Vicky Pattison on her The Secret To podcast: ‘We made him an Instagram. He has got nearly 30,000 followers now.

‘People are like: “Does he really need an Instagram?” I am thinking, what I look at this as what an amazing gift to give to Leo.

‘If he chooses to have Instagram when he’s 16, with already a bit of a platform, he will have a few followers which is lovely.’

Jake added: ‘With all these memories of growing up, from a baby to one, two, three, four, five…He will see me and Soph getting married, hopefully; he’ll see [his brother] Freddie growing up.

‘I wish I could look at picture after picture of me growing up. I have got like 10.

‘I just thought it was such a nice thing.’

In setting up the account, Jake enthused his son ‘has got to be an athlete or a model or something’.

He went on: ‘If he wants to be anything. If he wants to do ballet, dance, acting… I can’t wait to support him in anything he wants to do.’

In responding to the hateful message, the new dad previously called for laws around social media to change, telling New magazine: ‘It hurt, but you have to ask yourself, “Why are people doing this?” Sophie received one saying, “Why don’t you drown your baby.” Something must change with the online laws.’

The singer also shared he has been told that Leo ‘needs Botox’ and has been called ‘ugly as f**k’.

Blasting the people who hide behind anonymous accounts to spew hate, Jake added: ‘It’s so baffling to me that I should have to stay off social media if I don’t want my four-week-old trolled.

‘I don’t mind people giving me s**t, as sad as it is I’ve had to get used to being called “irrelevant“, “ugly“, “attention seeking“ and the list goes on but to troll an innocent child is so wrong and the people doing it seriously need to seek help.’