Mom’s confessions. 7 Little Johnstons star Elizabeth “Liz” Johnston revealed the “hardest” part about raising her daughter, Leighton Drew Bolden.

“My mom kind of warned me that since we’re already LPs [little people] in the public eye, when you have your baby in a stroller or a carrier and they’re hidden, it’s definitely the curiosity that gets to people,” Liz, 23, told Parade in late January, before recalling an awkward encounter with a stranger.

“We were just doing a little shopping, really just to get fresh air and get out of the house and take Leighton out of the house,” the TLC star explained to the outlet at the time. “And we were just walking out of the parking lot, and somebody just wanted to run up and just come see before even saying, ‘Hey,’ or anything.”

When the person got too close for comfort, Liz had to tell them, “’No. No, we don’t do that.’”

“That’s just been the most kind of hard part to deal with because just people who just don’t have that respect to like, hey, just come up and ask and not just bombard your personal bubble. That’s been the hardest thing,” Liz continued.

That said, Liz realizes strangers will be curious about her average-sized daughter, Leighton, whom she shares with boyfriend Brice Bolden. Liz has achondroplasia, a common form of dwarfism, while Brice does not.

“I think that’s going to be kind of a little bit of the struggle is when we have to explain to her that mommy’s different from you because of this reason,” Liz admitted. “But we will make sure that she grows up knowing that everybody in this world is different.”

After Leighton’s birth, Liz admitted that she was happy that her daughter was born at an average height, as newborns with dwarfism experience complications during birth.

“Personally, I was a little bit relieved that she was [average height] because hearing my mom’s stories about her pregnancies with me and my older brother, there was a little bit of fear in that,” Liz told People in June 2024, explaining that babies with dwarfism “have a bit more respiratory issues.”

Liz and Brice, 25, are high school sweethearts who started dating in 2018. They welcomed their first child together on November 3, 2023, who weighed 5 pounds 9 ounces at birth.

However, their road to parenthood hasn’t been a smooth one and they hit a rough patch in their relationship prior to their daughter’s birth.

The couple sparked split rumors in February 2023. However, they did not address the speculation at the time. Fans were shocked when Liz announced her pregnancy in September 2023 in an interview with People, because their relationship status had been unclear.

Fans later got the clarity they were looking for and had an inside look at Brice and Liz’s relationship timeline when season 14 aired in March 2024, when she revealed to her parents that they separated.

“So, Brice and I are no longer living together. We have separated. Us living together, it felt more like roommates when we were actually in a relationship,” Liz admitted during an episode which aired that month. “And I could not live like that because I am not a person who wants to be in a relationship where it doesn’t feel like there’s any love or any just, I don’t know, spark.”

However, the split was short-lived, and cameras captured the moment she told her parents they were back together. Liz was 21 weeks along during that May 2024 episode. “It’s just the honest truth that there’s something growing in me and it’s a part of me and it’s a part of Brice,” the expectant reality star said during the episode, revealing that they reconciled.

Leighton has since been raised in a loving household alongside her parents, who are still together as of publication. In fact, Liz’s dad, Trent Johnston, teased when they are going to tie the knot.

“I would hope that they continue this relationship and one day get married. Do I see it next year? I don’t know,” the family patriarch said in a June 2024 confessional. “Do I see it two years from now and Leighton being the little flower girl standing in the middle of her mom and dad, when she’s two years old at their wedding? That would be fine too.”