Mother of the Bride Strikes Back: Nikki Haley Tells Critics Her Dress at Daughter’s Wedding Was Gold, Not White
- The 51-year-old presidential candidate sparked a debate on social media after a Newsweek report accused her of upstaging the bride.
A week after presidential candidate and former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley celebrated her daughter’s wedding, she blasted her critics who slammed her choice of dress. Haley’s outburst was prompted by an article Newsweek published on April 21, about a debate she “inadvertently sparked” on social media “about wedding no-noes on her daughter’s big day.”
The story, headlined “Nikki Haley’s White Dress at Daughter’s Wedding Sparks Fierce Debate,” detailed how a photo Haley posted on her family on the wedding day “ignited the age-old wedding debate about guests wearing white—should anyone other than the bridesmaids wear colors similar to that of the bride?” The 51-year-old expressed criticism at the Newsweek reporter Gerrard Kaonga’s request in a tweet, sharing a screenshot of an emailed comment “P.S. The dress was gold,” she added.
Twitter was divided over Haley’s response. Rik Mehta, 2020 nominee to the U.S Senate from New Jersey called it a “weakness,” Minnesota attorney Francis White wondered “When did it become acceptable again for men to comment on a woman’s wardrobe choices.” User Daniel Boone, who described herself as a “conservative,” tweeted that Haley’s “choice in dress was terrible. Disrespectful of your daughter’s day.”
On April 15, Haley’s daughter Rena Haley married her college sweetheart Joshua Jackson at Kiawah Island Golf Resort on Kiawah Island off the coast of Charleston, South Carolina. Rena Haley majored in nursing and minored in psychology at Clemson University, according to her LinkedIn profile. She works as a pediatric nurse in South Carolina, while Jackson played wide receiver on the former Clemson football team. He currently works as a middle school Mathematics teacher at Christ Church Episcopal School in Greenville, South Carolina. The two were engaged in July last year.