Andy and Candis Meredith: Our Kids Are Getting Bullied Over ‘Home Work’ Controversy
Published Feb. 12 2022, 10:38 a.m. ET
The renovation show Home Work was pulled off the newly-launched Magnolia Network and Discovery+ just two days after its linear-TV debut, amid accusations of substandard work. And as the controversy intensified, Home Work stars Andy and Candis Meredith said that their kids were getting bullied at school.
“No matter what your opinion, I’m asking the bullying [of] my kids to stop,” a tearful Candis said in an Instagram video on Jan. 12. “Whatever your side is, please tell your kids who go to my kids’ schools to stop. We’re not OK, and whatever you think of me is fine, but please leave my children out of this.”
Andy, meanwhile, told Instagram followers that day that he and Candis pulled their daughter from school “because we don’t think she’s safe.”
So who are the Merediths’ kids? Here’s more info…
The Merediths have six sons and one daughter, having “Brady-Bunched” their families.
Candis gave readers the scoop on her and Andy’s blended family in a 2015 blog post for The Lettered Cottage.
“First of all, you should know that we have seven kids. Seven,” Candis wrote. “We basically Brady-Bunched our cute little families,” she wrote. “Andy had three boys and I had three boys, all the same ages. We had our sweet baby Kit (our only girl) together. We work so hard and our kids are so patient with us… They really are the best.”
Andy and Candis bought a 1907 schoolhouse to house their blended family.
Andy and Candis showed off their own home on Instagram last year, months before the Home Work controversy. The family lives in a 20,000-square foot building that was once an abandoned school, a property worth approximately $1,545,075, according to the Daily Mail.
“It’s more than exciting for us to share the whole journey of this school building that has become our home,” the couple wrote on Instagram last July. “It started its life as an incredible 1800s red school building … and was used piece by piece to build this 1907 beauty. It was a school until the 1950s and then a family home and business. We bought it several years ago with a dream in mind for our seven kids.”
Two months later, after multiple Instagram posts devoted to the schoolhouse renovation, the couple wrote, “Overall, there have been a lot of ups and downs, but we are so glad we did and so happy to call this place home! What a journey!”
They teach their kids to “be kind and not to bully,” lessons that people should follow online, Candis says.
In an interview with Glamour last month, Candis said that Instagram “can be a really, really great thing” until bullying gets to be a problem.
And Candis said that social media users aren’t following the lessons that parents like the Merediths teach their kids. “We teach our kids to be kind and not to bully at school, but then we forget those simple rules when we’re on the internet.”
She added: “Just like with any of your friends, if your friend says something, you take that as truth. And I think that’s where it can become dangerous. Just because someone posted it on Instagram, and you’ve been following them or you’ve been kind of friends for years, it’s just really important to take an objective look at the situation and think to yourself. There might be two sides here.”
