‘Little Women: LA’: Terra Jole Accuses Elena Gant of Not Supporting Fellow Little People

Elena Gant’s good-intentioned children’s book is causing drama in the Little Women: LA friend group.

In Thursday’s episode of the Lifetime reality show, Terra Jole bristles upon hearing her friend’s book teaching children that anyone can do anything they set their heart to doesn’t feature a character who is a little person like they are.

“I don’t wanna tie [the message] only to height,” Gant says, defending her concept after Jole asks why she would choose not to raise awareness about little people’s abilities specifically.

“Elena has never been OK with being different, and I think that this book is an example of that,” Jole explained to the camera. “The whole premise of Elena’s book is ‘stand out and to show that anyone can be anything,’ so why not make the book stand out … and make one of these [characters] little? And she didn’t, she chose to fit in with everyone else.”

It was an awkward moment, but one Gant explained goes much deeper later in conversation with Jasmine Sorge.

“In the average-sized world, I feel like an outsider because I am so much shorter,” she confessed. “But in the little people world, I feel the same way sometimes, because I am much taller than most little people and more proportionate. A lot of people can be very judgemental. Just look at Terra.”

Jole, meanwhile, had been seething over something Gant said to her in the past, when daughter Penelope was in the hospital due to hydrocephalus, asking if she would have gone through IVF if she knew her daughter would be facing the health problems common in little people.

“Every little person at some point in their life feels like they’re not enough,” Jole said, crying as she hypothesized that the hurtful comment came from a place of insecurity and projection in her friend. “And it hurts me that Elena feels that way, because every mother should instill in their child that being different is a good thing.”

When confronted about what her costars perceived as deep-seated self-loathing, Gant had no problem admitting she was unhappy with her height, telling her stunned friends, she wasn’t “happy” being little, saying that even though most of the people in her life were connected through little people circles, “I’d prefer to be tall.”

Jole was outraged at what she was hearing, but Gant accused her of judging just as much as she was being accused of judging.

“Why are you judging me right now?” she shouted back. “I know I said that, that’s how I feel. … Stop f—ing pressuring me!”

Little Women: LA (produced by Kinetic Content) airs Thursdays at 10 p.m. ET on Lifetime.

Photo credit: Lifetime