Bachelor star Sam Wood criticised for posing naked in photo with his daughter on Instagram

'Life’s too short to take it too seriously'

Former The Bachelor Sam Wood has been criticised for posing nude in a photograph with his 18-month-old daughter on Instagram.

The black-and-white photograph shows Wood and his daughter Willow posing naked on a beach in Port Douglas, Australia, with their backs facing the camera.

Since sharing the image on Sunday, Wood's post has received mixed reactions from his 269,000 followers.

A number of people called out the fitness entrepreneur for sharing the photo on his Instagram account with one person calling it “disappointing”, while others took issue with the fact he was naked in front of his child.

“Do you need to do this with children around?” one person wrote.

Another suggested the image was inappropriate because Wood is a stepfather to wife Snezana Markoski's 13-year-old daughter, Eve, who might find it embarassing.

“So now his teenage daughter and potentially her friends are gonna see his a** lol imagine if that was our dads,” one follower commented.

However, others were quick to jump to Wood’s defence.

“I came here to read all the comments from the fun police,” one person wrote.

“Oh God, you just can't breathe anymore... this is a beautiful but funny pic.”

Another added: “The people thinking this is weird are the ones making it weird.”

After noticing the backlash his post received, Wood responded to the negative comments, writing: “Have just been reading through all the comments. Willow and I went to the beach and she was splashing around nudie rudie and said ‘Dadda nudie rudie’, so we had some fun and Snez took a photo.

“The beach was empty and Eve thinks it’s funny.

"Nothing comes before family and life’s too short to take it too seriously.”

Wood met Markoski, in 2015 after they met on the third season of The Bachelor.

Markoski and her daughter Eve relocated from Perth to join Wood in Melbourne.

In December 2015, just six months after meeting on the reality show, the couple became engaged before welcoming their new daughter Willow in October 2017.

Then, in 2018, they married in Byron Bay with their two daughters as bridesmaids.

This isn't the first time a celebrity has faced criticism for posting photographs deemed "inappropriate" with their children online.

In 2017, a photograph David Beckham posted on Instagram of himself kissing his then five-year-old daughter Harper on the lips sparked a debate about boundaries in parenting.

The image received 2 million likes, however some of the comments included: “David, to kiss lips of your daughter that’s wrong,” and “to be honest kissing your daughter on the lips is a little weird.”

Similarly, New England Patriots quarterback Tom Brady received negative feedback after he was shown kissing his son John Edward Thomas, then 10, on the lips in a documentary called Tom vs. Time in 2018.

Brady's actions provoked varied responses on social media, with many revealing the kiss made them uncomfortable.

One person wrote: “As someone who comes from one of those kissing families, I really wanted to be able to defend Tom Brady here, but… the kiss is pretty weird.”