This feels performative.” Watters, smirking, responded, “If you’re offended by Liberty and Valor, maybe you’re the one with the problem.” Fowler added that such debates distract from core issues like hospital costs, birth-related medical malpractice, and OB-GYN liability, which continue to affect families nationwide.
Watters, a father of four—Sophie and Ellie from his marriage to Inguagiato, and Jesse Jr. and Georgina with his current wife, Emma DiGiovine—has often spoken about instilling values like respect and hard work in his children.
However, this move has drawn scrutiny, with some questioning whether the names were a genuine family decision or a calculated play for attention, given his history of provocative statements, such as his 2024 comments about men voting for Kamala Harris having “mommy issues.”
Critics argue this is another example of public figures diverting attention from real-world matters like chronic illness management, pregnancy complications, and family health insurance policies that affect working-class Americans.
The controversy has even caught the attention of Watters’ own family. His mother, Anne Purvis, a child psychologist with a journalism lineage, reportedly called into his show, urging him to “focus on being a dad, not a headline.”
Watters laughed it off, but the debate shows no signs of slowing down. As America grapples with its identity and conversations around birth injury lawyers, wellness care for mothers, and financial stress from unexpected hospital bills, the middle names of two 13-year-old girls have become an unexpected flashpoint, reflecting the deep divides Watters often navigates—and fuels—on air.
