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24th Jun 2015

Proud Mom makes the ULTIMATE embarrassing gesture

Katie Mythen-Lynch

A US mom has taken the concept of mortifying your teenagers to new heights, hiring a €647 billboard near her son’s school… to tell the world just how proud she is of him.

Ovella O’Neil’s 18-year-old son Aljelani ‘AJ’ Igwe was celebrating his graduation, presumably with friends, in a nice, low-key fashion, when the gigantic billboard was unveiled, complete with a butter-wouldn’t-melt photograph. The billboard reads:

‘A mother can’t raise a man, but I raised a gentleman. We have the total package. Love, your family. Congratulations 2015!’.

Speaking to ABC News, the beaming New Jersey mum, who doesn’t allow her children to use mobile phones or have girlfriends, which she labels “distractions” said: “He has always been a super kid. He is always on the right track.”

And AJ won’t even be getting a phone as a graduation gift before he heads off to college to study engineering this autumn: “My kids can have those things when they are done with school and have a job to pay for them.” said the single mom of six.

Bizarrely, it looks like her plan is working; speaking to a reporter about his plans for the future, Aljelani said: ‘I know I want my own house and my mom wanted a BMW so I’m going to try and get her that too.’