Tan mom begs America to leave her alone

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After being charged earlier this month with child endangerment for allegedly putting her 6-year-old daughter on a tanning bed, an alarmingly bronzed New Jersey woman came to national prominence, and she hasn’t had a moment’s peace ever since.

Now the butt of endless jokes, Patricia Krentcil, 44, is getting a little sick of it all. She’s been featured on late night talk shows, had an action figure made in her likeness, and even endured a ribbing by Saturday Night Live.

Speaking to NBC’s Today on Tuesday, Krentcil said she wants America to know that despite her appearance, she’s still a good mother.

I’m up at 3:00 in the morning making sure all the wash is done, my husband goes to work at 4:30,” she explained. “[He] works on wall street, and then I make pancakes, pack [the kids'] bags, and they’re all off and gone, and then I work all day inside and outside of this house.”

Krentcil added that her daughter, Anna, got a sunburn after playing in a pool on a sunny day — and not from going into a tanning bed with her mother. “She’s a redhead,” she said. “She got sunburnt.”

“We’re fighting these charges because I’m not guilty,” Krentcil insisted. “Every allegation was completely wrong, and I just want people to leave us alone.”

This video is from NBC’s Today, broadcast Tuesday, May 22, 2012.

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