Hilary Duff defends letting her 3-year-old ride without a car seat after facing backlash: 'You don't know where I am'

• Hilary Duff defended a video that showed her 3-year-old riding in the backseat with no car seat.
• The video, posted by her friend Molly Bernard in January, drew criticism that it was unsafe. 
• "You have no context. You don't know where I am," Duff said to Romper, addressing her critics.

Hilary Duff responded to controversy over a video that showed her 3-year-old daughter Banks in the back seat of a car without a car seat, saying that people who criticized her didn't have "context."

In January, as E! News reported, Duff's "Younger" costar Molly Bernard (who is also Banks' godmother) shared a video of herself with Banks in the backseat of a moving car, with Banks appearing to not be seated in a car seat or buckled in with a seatbelt. While comments on Bernard's post appear to have since been turned off, E! News reported that some fans left comments expressing concern for Banks.

Duff didn't publicly respond to the backlash at the time but recently addressed it in a new interview with Romper.

"The other day — my publicist would absolutely kill me if I brought this up — there was this huge story that came out because my friend Molly was in the backseat of our car with Banks without her car seat," the "How I Met Your Father" star told Romper.

"It's not like I'm driving on the 405 with my kids in the backseat without a car seat. You have no context. You don't know where I am," she continued.

Duff has three children, including 9-year-old son Luca, whom she shares with ex-husband Mike Comrie, and 3-year-old Banks and 11-month-old Mae, who she shares with current husband Matthew Koma.

Romper reported that Duff's neighborhood, as writer Danielle Pergament described it, was a "small, lovely gated community" with "lots of trees, a smattering of gardeners, and zero traffic." Duff said that at times, she allows her kids to sit in the front seat close to the driveway so they can "pretend like they're driving home."

"You're telling me you've never put your kid in the backseat to drive a block before with an adult back there? I'm like, 'Happy new year to you, too,'" Duff said of the controversy.

Koma previously commented on the backlash in the comments of Bernard's original Instagram post, E! News reported, telling one user who brought up an organization focusing on car safety laws that they were "truly a hero for speaking up," and asking another user if they were "the kind of person who cuts up a kid's Apple sauce."