A mother from the TLC show Toddlers and Tiaras finds herself in a heated custody battle that could change the future of kiddie pageants altogether. INSIDE EDITION has the story.
It's the legal battle that's casting a shadow over the world of kiddie beauty pageants.
The central issue is: does putting your daughter in an outfit that makes her look older and sexy amount to child abuse?
The case involves a scene from Toddlers and Tiaras when mom Lindsay Jackson famously dressed her four-year-old daughter, Maddy, in fake boobs and padded butt to make her look like Dolly Parton.
When INSIDE EDITION spoke to Lindsay and Maddy last year, the mom defended the much-criticized get-up.
"I am going to have critics if I put her in Madonna's coned bra, or in Lady Gaga's outfits," said Jackson.
But her estranged husband is now suing for custody of the little girl. He claims their daughter is being emotionally harmed by her involvement in pageants.
A court-ordered psychological evaluation reportedly condemns Lindsay Jackson for putting the girl in the Dolly Parton outfit. The psychologist is said to have recommended that the father be named "primary custodian" of little Maddy.
On Good Morning America, George Stephanopoulos and legal analyst Dan Abrams discussed the wider consequences of the case.
Abrams said, "The psychologist is recommending that the dad become the primary custodian. If the only reason for that is the pageants, I think that's a very dangerous precedent."
Lindsay Jackson told Fox News she's a good mom and added, "If the judge decides that Maddy needs to live with her dad because she does pageants with me, then that opens the door for any parent to challenge anybody on activity that a kid does."
She also claimed her husband has anger-management issues and a lengthy police record.
Little Maddy has been banned by the judge in Kentucky from participating in pageants while the case is being resolved.
