June 27, 2024 • 34 mins
Shani Grimmond was living out her dream. The 18-year-old was working full time as a YouTuber and signing lucrative deals with the world’s biggest makeup brands. She’d fallen head over heels for 23-year old accountant Johnathon Sauer and things were moving fast. A new friendship with fellow beauty Vlogger, Michael Finch was blossoming and she was just about to head up one of Australia’s hottest influencer cliques… But it wasn’t long before the downfalls of fame struck with Shani facing her first online controversy and personal dramas In this series we explore the phenomenon of Shani Grimmond.
Follow Outspoken on Instagram and TikTok, plus join in on the conversation in our Facebook Community. Podcast hosted by Amy Taeuber, Kate Taeuber and Sophie Taeuber.
Subscribe to Outspoken Plus
Outspoken Plus is our subscription offering that provides subscribers with exclusive access to BONUS weekly episodes. Every week, we’ll be dropping content so juicy, we’ve had to put it behind a paywall. A monthly Outspoken Plus subscription costs $5.99 a month, or save with our annual package, for just $49.99 a year*.
There are three ways you can become an Outspoken Plus subscriber. Apple users can subscribe via Apple Podcasts here: apple.co/outspoken, while Android users can subscribe via Spotify here: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/outspoken-plus/subscribe or Patreon here: https://www.patreon.com/outspoken_plus. * An annual subscription is only available on Apple Podcasts.
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
We want to jump in before the episode starts to
point out that this isn't part of our regular Friday programming.
We are having a couple of Fridays off to spend
with our new nephew Jack, So in the meantime we
have put together a deep dive series on Shany Grimman.
This is episode two. Shannie Grimmond was living out her dream.
(00:22):
The eighteen year old was working full time as a
YouTuber and signing lucrative deals with the world's biggest makeup brands.
Speaker 2 (00:29):
Pretty much only been using this threat right here. It
is the Morphy Arshadow Pale. In three five zero.
Speaker 1 (00:35):
She'd fallen head over hills with twenty three year old
accountant Jonathan Sower and things were moving fast. A new
friendship with fellow beauty blogger Michael Finch was blossoming and
she was just about to head up one of Australia's
hottest influencer clicks. But it wasn't long before the downfalls
of fame struck, with Shanny facing her first online controversy
(00:55):
and personal dramas after her home was targeted by thieves.
In this series, we explore the phenomenon of Shanni Grimmond,
Hello and welcome to Outspoken. I'm so excited to get
into part two of our Shany Grimmin deep dive. We
had such a great reaction to the first episode. Yeah,
we got a lot of messages from people saying they
felt so nostalgic listening and that they really miss SHARNI. Yeah,
(01:19):
that seemed to be an overwhelming response, and it is
testament to the fact that Shanny really felt like a
friend to so many people growing up watching her YouTube videos. Now,
when we left you, Sharny had just gotten into a
very new relationship with Jonathan Sour and after four months
of dating, Shanny and Jonathan officially moved in together. I
didn't know that things moved that quickly. So Sharny had
(01:42):
just moved out of her family's house and into a
townhouse when Jonathan thought, well, I'm sick of traveling forty
five minutes to see you, let's just move in. Here's
how Shany broke the news to her YouTube audience.
Speaker 3 (01:55):
Have something very serious to talk about.
Speaker 4 (01:57):
This little bug full fact little lunchkins moved into my
house about when I moved in pretty much because you
haven't been living in your own place. Now that he
like officially moved in like last week for me. Bought
all his stuff there except his golf clubs because they're
not going to fit in my house.
Speaker 3 (02:14):
They can set his old house.
Speaker 1 (02:15):
With the young couple now living together, Jonathan became a
permanent fixture on Shanni's channel, and viewers loved seeing them
navigating living together for the first time.
Speaker 2 (02:26):
I was so scared to fight in front of you,
Like I would literally get cramps in my stomach because
I was holding your fart in for that long.
Speaker 1 (02:32):
Shani also admitted to occasionally needing space from Jonathan and
getting fed up from being together too often. She said
that she values having me time and likes to chill
by herself or with her friends. And this made me
remember that she was only eighteen at the time. She
just moved out of home for the first time, and
she was in this serious relationship that went from one
(02:54):
to one hundred in the space of just four months.
And at the time, Jonathan was working full time as
an account and in a video, he admitted to being
jealous of Shanes's YouTube channel. Here's what he said.
Speaker 3 (03:06):
I'm jealous. I'm kind of jealous about the whole YouTube thing. Yeah,
because I can work from home. Yeah, I like you.
I never knew anything about YouTube until I met Shani,
and I still don't know a lot of things. That's literally,
it's like a whole other world. Hey it is, It
really is, and you can meet so many people.
Speaker 5 (03:20):
I think everyone should starty YouTube channel.
Speaker 1 (03:22):
Ironically, after this admission, it wasn't long until Jonathan left
his full time job to become Shanese manager and also
launch his own social media career. And it did make
sense because he did attract a large following just from
appearing in a couple of Shanese vlogs. At the height
of his fame, he had close to two hundred thousand followers,
and as Shannes's manager, one would assume that he took
(03:44):
a lucrative cut from her deals. Do you think they
would have been together as long as they were if
he hadn't made the move to a career in social media, Well, potentially,
I actually think the opposite. Maybe they could have been
together for longer because you know, early on, Shany was
already talking about feeling that she needed time to herself,
So with him quitting his job, presumably they saw even
more of each other and potentially got on each other's nerves. Now,
(04:07):
if you think back to this time, one of Shanny's
most famous catchphrases, and I think Michael Finch also had
a lot to do with his catchphrase becoming so popular,
was Bindy.
Speaker 2 (04:19):
Ah fucker dark Bindi.
Speaker 1 (04:24):
Bindi is the name of the puppy that Shanny got
in twenty fifteen, and she is still a regular fixture
on Shiny Grimman's social media accounts. But ironically, the catchphrase
almost didn't happen because when I was scrolling through the archives,
I was shocked to discover the Bindi's first name was
actually Audrey.
Speaker 3 (04:45):
You guys are gonna love her. Look how little she is.
This is Audrey. She's so beautiful.
Speaker 2 (04:51):
She's a toy poodle across Shipsy, across maltees, and she's
just so little.
Speaker 1 (04:56):
I was so confused at first, thinking is this a
different dog? But I can and confirm this is in
fact Bindi. Underneath the YouTube video, one follower wrote, your
puppy is adorable, and I personally think Bindy would suit
her more. It's not clear if this comment inspired the
name change, but I like to think that it did.
Speaker 2 (05:15):
Now.
Speaker 1 (05:15):
Shani purchased Bindy right as she moved into her new
home with Jonathan, so they were immediately this cute little family.
Speaker 2 (05:23):
Good morning, guys, I'm going to be logging today, and.
Speaker 3 (05:27):
Bindy says, good warning, Binny. Hey, Oh, she's so cute.
I let her sleep with me every night and she
like cuddles up into my chest. It's so cute. Look
at her.
Speaker 4 (05:42):
Oh, Louie, baby, when is your one over there?
Speaker 1 (05:52):
After a couple of months of Jonathan and Shanny living together,
without warning, Shanny disappeared from YouTube over too, and this
was a huge shock to her followers. This absence led
to a lot of confusion and speculation from her followers. Yeah,
and Shanny did eventually make an anticipated return to YouTube
(06:13):
with a dramatic tell or video revealing that she had
been robbed. Here's what she said.
Speaker 3 (06:20):
So my house was broken into one month ago.
Speaker 2 (06:24):
So I was in New Zealand with my boyfriend on
a holiday. I honestly, never, ever, ever would have thought
something like this would have happened.
Speaker 1 (06:34):
This incident really rocked Shanny. She no longer felt safe
being on her own or being in this house. The
robbers had actually stolen her house keys and car keys.
Luckily they didn't end up taking the car, but it
did lead to a lot of anxiety that the robbers
could be back at any moment, so Shany and Jonathan
only lasted a few days in the rental before moving
(06:57):
back in with Shanni's family. Positive to come out of
the ordeal was that it brought Shanni and her family
a lot closer together. The downside for her followers was
that at her mom's house she could film, so her
camera and makeup had been stolen and her mom had
no backdrops to film in front of. Shannie did preface
that she also wasn't emotionally stable during that time to film.
Speaker 2 (07:21):
I remember asking mom how much did they take? And
she said everything? And at this point I didn't really
know how it happened. I didn't know anything about it.
All I knew is that they took absolutely everything I had,
like no idea who it could have been, because no one,
or not many people at all, knew where I lived.
(07:42):
I never told anyone where I lived after the break in.
I have trust issues. I can't trust anyone. I honestly
question the littlest things, like if someone wants to be
my friend, and I'm like, do they really want to
be my friend or are they using me like for
followers or something like. I honestly just I can't trust
anyone and I have trust issues now, which really sucks.
Speaker 1 (08:02):
This ordeal really shaped Shanny as a person going forward,
and it made her question a lot of her interactions
with people. She has spoken a lot about suffering from anxiety,
and this incident really exacerbated that. What also led to
a lot of debates about influencer privacy. So months earlier,
Sharni had shared an extensive house tour, showing her followers
(08:24):
through every room of the house, even the garage where
her car was parked, and the different entry points into
her house.
Speaker 3 (08:31):
Let's start with my landroom.
Speaker 2 (08:33):
So my front door is right here, and this is
the first thing that you see when you walk into
my house.
Speaker 3 (08:38):
It's all black and plain. I need to add some
color and staff the laundroom.
Speaker 2 (08:41):
We have a staircase that goes all the way up
to my three rooms and my bathrooms and staff by I'll.
Speaker 3 (08:47):
Show that later.
Speaker 1 (08:49):
The public began questioning whether influencers were putting themselves in
danger by oversharing. Now. Following the incident, Sharni released another
vlog urging her followers for privacy, and it came to
her new rental.
Speaker 2 (09:03):
So on a serious note, a few people have been
commenting on my Instagram photos so for everyone to see
and saying I.
Speaker 5 (09:09):
Know where you live.
Speaker 3 (09:10):
I saw you drive into a new place there.
Speaker 2 (09:13):
It's honestly so disrespectful and so frustrating.
Speaker 3 (09:18):
How would you like if I went around telling people
where you lived?
Speaker 2 (09:22):
Like this is probably how I got broken into people
seeing me drive into my house and telling their friends,
and then it gets around to other people, like it's
so annoying, Like you have to let.
Speaker 3 (09:32):
Someone have their privacy once in a while.
Speaker 2 (09:34):
Just because I have followers on Instagram or YouTube, it
doesn't make me any difference for you guys.
Speaker 1 (09:40):
Even eight years on, influencers are still facing the same
issues when it comes to their privacy. Johnnie's best friend
Chloe Zepp had the same issue when she and her
now fiance Mitch brought a property on the Gold Coast
because as soon as they posted a photo in front
of the Soul sign, which I want to preface did
actually have the address blurred out, it didn't take long
(10:03):
for followers to track down the address on real estate
dot Com, and Mitch said that he even had followers
messaging him the address saying we know where you live.
A year on and the couple were also dramatically robbed
in a home invasion. So we're still at a point
where influencers have to be so careful about their safety.
(10:23):
It's a hard one because obviously Molly May as well
in the UK, she got robbed, and I know that
stopped her from posting a lot, but then suddenly she
was just sort of like, well, fuck it, I'm going
to share my home account. Like it sort of restricts
a lot of influencers from being able to do their
job when they do have to really consider, you know,
parts of their life that they're sharing online. Yeah. Now,
(10:45):
five months on from the robbery, Shannie ended up posting
a YouTube video revealing she knew who broke into her house.
So she explained that straight after the robbery, she received
a message from a random girl saying she does to
note the truth now. The girl was fearful that the
robbers would come after her if they found out she
(11:06):
told Shanny. Shanny ended up convincing her to confess, and
she revealed that a group of eighteenagers had committed the robbery. Now,
the kids were aged sixteen to seventeen, with half of
them guys and half of them girls. Now, Shanny took
this message to the police, who said the message wasn't
enough proof to convict them. So Shanny started doing some
(11:27):
investigating of her own. So she and Jonathan jumped online
and at this stage they knew the names of the robbers,
so they trolled through their social media accounts and found
photos of the robbers wearing their clothes. One of the
robbers even brazenly captioned his post, I robbed you Now.
After that, Shanny started receiving an influx of messages from
(11:49):
followers saying the group had been bragging at underage house
parties that they stole Shany Grimmin's makeup. Now, Sharny chose
not to reveal the robbers' names in her videos. She
said it was clear they were after airtime and attention.
Now that she had photos of the robbers, though wearing
her clothes, she took that information to the police, who
(12:09):
again said they couldn't do anything about it. They said
they needed a confession. Isn't this just so ridiculous? Like
I understand that this is how the justice system works,
but you almost got to catch people in the act
robbing your house or have CCTVD vision of it.
Speaker 3 (12:25):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (12:26):
Now, shortly after the robbery, the gang ended up breaking
into her house for a second time. Luckily, Shanny and
Jonathan had moved out of the townhouse and they were
staying at her mum's house. Sharnie arrived at the townhouse
to discover a note on the door from police saying,
your door was left wide open. This street has been
(12:46):
broken into. So again, this group had targeted Shanny and
it was easy for them to do so because they
still had her house keys and car keys, so they
were coming and going as they pleased. Now, months after
the incident, when Sharni posted her video revealing that she'd
been robbed that night, she received a Facebook message from
(13:07):
one of the female robbers. Here's what she said.
Speaker 2 (13:11):
Love your new video without emoji. Hope you look after
your makeup a bit better next time. Splantyr face emoji
if you want to drag me into it deep the
person that the main person that did it is going
to be more than happy to continue the drama.
Speaker 3 (13:29):
Excuse me, is.
Speaker 2 (13:31):
She literally threatening me that she's going to like break
into my house again? She literally just dobbed that person
in and said that he's the one that did it
and I've got it in writing.
Speaker 1 (13:42):
It quickly became apparent that the girl was incredibly jealous
of Shanni's success and lifestyle, so she had been following
Shanni for some time and was training to become a
makeup artist herself, so in a follow up message, she
told Shanni to get a real job and stop bumming
around home making YouTube video like it's an actual job.
She then asked Shani why she doesn't do a makeup
(14:04):
course and said she wasn't smart enough and that it's
harder than it looks now. These robbers kept popping up
in random places, with Shany confronting one of the robbers
brothers at a music festival. The robber's friends also continued
to dob them into Shanny, confirming they used Shany's car
during the robbery to take car loads of her belongings
to a house and it had been planned for a
(14:26):
very long time. To me, this just confirms that they
were scouting out her house through her YouTube videos, and
they also knew that it was a good time to
strike because they could see on her Instagram that she
was away in New Zealand with Jonathan. It's just so
messed up that the police couldn't do anything about it.
It wasn't just some random robbery. These people were clearly
(14:48):
targeting her, as we said, because they were jealous. I mean,
imagine if it had escalated further.
Speaker 2 (14:53):
Well.
Speaker 1 (14:53):
I think because the role or the job of an
influencer was perceived so differently at the time, I don't
think that the police took her level of fame seriously enough,
and if anything, they probably blamed her for putting that
information readily out there.
Speaker 2 (15:09):
The first question is did you do it to fit
into the Kylie Jeda trend?
Speaker 1 (15:13):
In this series, we touched on the shiny grimm and effect,
but what about the Kylie Jenna effect that was simultaneously
happening In twenty fifteen, at seventeen years old, Kylie started
setting the beauty standards when she went public with her
lip fillers. At the time, she denied getting the procedure done,
but after intense public scrutiny and backlash, she was forced
(15:35):
to reveal the truth on an episode of Keeping Up
with the Kardashians Now. The day she revealed the news
to the world, the number of Google searchers for the
procedure shot up by seventy percent. I remember at the
time she just kept saying, Oh, no, I've just been
overlining my lips and I was like, no, Well. It
really did spark an obsession with her lips, and she
(15:58):
used that to her advantage because she launched her Kylie
lip kits six months later. I remember those as at
the time, Snapchat was just massive, and Kylie would always
be posting about the lip kits like she was such
a genius. It's easy to see why she became a
billionaire so quickly, because she really utilized social media marketing. Yeah,
(16:20):
because she was younger, she really seemed to understand the
power of social media more so than her other sisters. Now,
two weeks before Kylie admitted to getting lip filler, a
trend called the Kylie Jenner lip Challenge went viral. Do
you remember this, Oh well, I feel like this was
the year of There was always some kind of challenge
style scenario, but I remember the name, but I can't
(16:41):
remember what people were actually doing. So basically, people tried
to emulate her lips by inserting their lips into a
shot glass and then sucking the air to create a vacuum,
so it created so much pressure that people's lips would
temporarily swell. Now, Kylie's admission also led to normalization of
lip fillers, with young women heading into clinics in their
(17:04):
droves to have the procedure done. A bit of a
fun fact, I was working at Channel seven at the time,
and I did this investigation into the rise in young
women getting lip fillers. Yeah, and we did use Kylie
Jennet in the story as as a key motivator, because
you've got to remember that in twenty seventeen, it was
(17:25):
really new. Like I remember it being quite shocking when
Kylie admitted she'd had lip fillers. Now no one cares well.
Shany Grimman was one of those teenagers who ended up
heading in to visit her local injector.
Speaker 3 (17:39):
Yes, I got my lips done. They are extremely, extremely
swollen at the moment, so they're not going to be
this big in a few days. Don't worry people like
freaking out, Oh my god, what did you do to
your lips? Don't worry. The swelling will go down.
Speaker 2 (17:51):
I would never make my lips look fake except right now,
because there's nothing I can do about it.
Speaker 1 (17:57):
It's interesting that Shany is prefacing in this grab that
don't worry, my lips aren't going to look fake, They're
going to look natural. Because this really, as you touched
on Amy, was the first time we were openly hearing
women speak about the cosmetic procedures they were choosing to
get done, because in the past, there was a lot
of shame and secrecy around it, and women in the
(18:17):
public eye would often deflect and just have to pretend
that they hadn't had anything done. It's also the age
factor as well. I think we're surprising hearing someone who's
a teenager talking about cosmetic surgery. Yeah, that's very true,
because it was something that we just sort of thought
that older women did. Also because most teens probably didn't
have the money to actually do it. But because of
(18:40):
the rise of YouTubers and influencers, I think young women
were getting more and more money and they were able
to make these decisions for themselves, and that was the
real issue because teenagers couldn't afford it. Unfortunately, they were
going to places where people weren't experienced in using lip fillers,
which ended in a lot of people having their lips
overfilled or botched. There was very fierce debate raging at
(19:04):
the time whether this openness was a good or bad thing,
because some people felt it was unethical for influences to
normalize the practice to impressionable teenagers because at the time,
many influencers would vlog their procedure in the chair and
they do q and as about the experience, and there
was this fear that by normalizing a procedure like lip injections,
(19:27):
it would create unrealistic beauty standards and cause people to
develop an obsession with perceived flaws. Well, on the other hand,
there were others who believed that the openness helped break
down stigma and also empowered women to make decisions about
their body without judgment. And unsurprisingly, Shani was incredibly open
about her lip filler journey. She wasn't new to the
(19:50):
world of cosmetic work because she previously had created a
series of YouTube videos about getting veneers, and she was
just so open about her life, so this wasn't something
that she was going to try and conceal and hide.
I also think that she was so open about it because,
as we say, at the time, because of Kylie Jennet,
there was so much interest in the procedure, and I
(20:11):
think she probably knew it was a clever way to
get extra views and engagement on her videos, so she
did do a sit down Q and A answering followers questions,
and many were intrigued to find out if the procedure
was painful and how much it cost, and whether she
was happy with the results. She was also asked if
she was motivated by Kylie Jennet to get it done.
(20:33):
Here's what she said.
Speaker 3 (20:34):
I would never.
Speaker 2 (20:35):
Change the look of my face, or body or anything
just to fit into a trend. I don't necessarily follow trends.
I just do what makes me happy. I know that's
so cliche to say, but basically, one side of my
lip was really big and the other side was really thin,
so I just wanted to even out give them a
natural plump and make them look naturally juicy.
Speaker 1 (20:54):
I feel for Shanny because after watching a lot of
her early vlogs back, it's clear that she received a
lot of hate comments about the size of her lips,
and it would be really hard not to be impacted
by those comments and feel like you had to change yourself,
particularly when you're being built up as this it girl
of YouTube and you have to live up to these
very high beauty standards that are coming out because it
(21:16):
was the it thing to have full lips. And that's
the funny thing that there will be all these people
online that will hate on an influencer for the way
that they look, and then when they go and change
something about themselves, it'll be like, oh my god, they
used to look so much better before. They really can't
win sometimes.
Speaker 3 (21:32):
Well.
Speaker 1 (21:33):
A couple of other burning questions that she received were
about whether it felt different for her to kiss and
what Jonathan thought of them, and she tactfully explained that
Jonathan didn't really have an opinion because he didn't know
what to expect, but she did admit that when she
got home and she was all swollen from the procedure,
his first reaction was, holy shit, what have you done?
(21:55):
But she prefaced that he really likes them. Now. It's
really interesting to watch the Q and A back with hindsight,
because at the time she was quite adamant that she
wanted to keep her lips looking very natural, and she
talked glowingly about her injector. However, as the years went on,
Sharni suffered quite badly with filler migration, and she ended
(22:15):
up having to get them dissolved and subsequently filled again
by a new injector who she trusted. So she explained
that in her teenage years she would visit random injectors,
which she regretted and advised others not to do now.
Shortly after going public with her lip filler, Shanny was
rocked by her first controversy. So before heading to a festival,
(22:37):
Sharni uploaded a snapchat story of her brother and an
acquaintance playing with nerf guns, which sounds pretty innocent. The
only catch was in the background of the shot was
a Nazi flag hanging on the wall. Now, the backlash
was swift, with followers accusing Shanny of being racist and
calling for her to be canceled. Now, I don't think
(22:59):
the word canceled was actually used at the time, but
this post did deeply affect a section of Shanny's followers
and there was a lot of anger and feeling like
she shouldn't be able to continue sharing YouTube videos. She
was on the front foot, though. She released a YouTube
video entitled The Truth Behind the Rumors so she could
(23:20):
explain her side of the story. So she started the
video saying this.
Speaker 2 (23:25):
So firstly, I just want to say I would never
support or have any sort of association with any group
like the Nazi. I am not racist in any way,
shape or form. I do not discriminate against any nationality
or race.
Speaker 3 (23:37):
I'm not that kind of person.
Speaker 1 (23:40):
She went on to explain that she was at a
friend of a friend's apartment and they went there to
hang out before the festival. She confirmed that she was
only there for ten minutes and in that time snapchated
her brother and friend playing with the nerf guns. She
explained that when she uses Snapchat, she doesn't look back
at the videos, she just posts in real time anyway.
(24:01):
Shanny says that they then ended up leaving the apartment
to go to the festival, and two hours later, her
brother text her saying, there's a Nazi flag in your background.
Shani immediately removed the posts and explained that she never
intentionally posted the flag. In fact, she had no idea
it was even in the background, and it was quite
clear listening to the video that Shanny didn't have much
(24:24):
knowledge of the flag's meaning at the point.
Speaker 2 (24:27):
I didn't one hundred percent know the meaning of this flag.
I did know that it was not a good flag, obviously, but.
Speaker 3 (24:32):
I do know the meaning now.
Speaker 2 (24:33):
But I still feel like that the fact that I
didn't know the true one hundred percent meaning behind this
flag isn't really necessary to the reason why it was up.
Speaker 3 (24:41):
I just generally did not see the flag.
Speaker 1 (24:44):
She confirmed that she had since educated herself on its
meaning and was very apologetic to the followers she had upset.
She also reiterated that she had nothing to do with
the person who hung the flag and had no idea
why it was up in the person's house, and that
she's not friends with this particular person. Shanni got really
teary in this video, and it was clear that she
(25:04):
was very apologetic. She sounded very genuine, and to me,
this is a teenage girl who made a mistake. I
believe what she said in this video. I think that
she had no idea that the flag was there and
clearly wasn't aware of the flag's history. It is interesting
to take a look at this video from a PR
perspective because in twenty twenty four we're so used to
(25:27):
seeing influencer apology videos, but this was one of the
first of its kind in twenty fifteen. I think she
handled herself really well because she didn't try and shy
away from the controversy. She tackled her head on, and
she acknowledged where she went wrong and that she'd educated
herself and apologized. And this is why this incident really
didn't affect her sponsorship deals going forward, because it was
(25:50):
clearly a case of her being in the wrong place
at the wrong time. Now, Shanni's newfound fame led to
a lot of jealousy within her school friendship group and
bubbled over on a trip to Splendor when she discovered
she was being mocked on snapchat.
Speaker 5 (26:06):
So basically what happened is something really bad made me
feel like shit, So I ended up going home really early.
So someone that I was really really really close friends
with put up snapchats of her friend mocking me, so like, hey, guys,
welcome back to my channel, like I'm YouTube famous. Here's
my coupon code for the bus because I'm getting a
(26:26):
bus to Slender and just being.
Speaker 3 (26:27):
The biggest asshole.
Speaker 2 (26:29):
And this person that I was really close friends with
was like laughing at her and everything, like condoning her,
like putting it on her own snapchat. It made me
so angry because I don't think you should be friends
with people that make you feel like shit about yourself
or about what you do. I was just like so shocked,
and like, I know, I just couldn't get my mood
back up again.
Speaker 3 (26:48):
But that's done.
Speaker 5 (26:50):
I don't have time for that in my life anymore.
Speaker 1 (26:53):
It's clear that this reaction stemmed from jealousy. Shanny was
being offered so many amazing opportunities and allso being gifted
free products, and this whole influencing thing was a completely
new phenomenon. So I can kind of see both sides.
I can see why her friends probably had their noses
out of joint, and I can see also why it
would have been incredibly difficult for Sharni to navigate this
(27:15):
new found fame on her own.
Speaker 3 (27:17):
Well.
Speaker 1 (27:17):
At that stage as well, it was probably seen as
being a bit embarrassing talking to a camera in public.
I mean, I still think that there is a lot
of judgment. It depends where you are in the world.
Like if you're in the US filming, I think, or
even in Sydney, no one really cares what you're doing.
But if you were to walk down the street in Adelaide,
I feel like you'd get a similar reaction. Yeah, it
is no surprise that at nineteen Shanne started befriending fellow
(27:41):
YouTubers who were going through the same experiences as her,
because clearly her friends weren't able to relate to what
was going on. This is where Michael Finch entered the scene.
So Shanni and Michael, they were such an unbeatable jew way.
They instantly had this chemistry when they'd film together. They
sparked up a friendship online and it's pretty cute because
(28:03):
they both used to watch each other's YouTube videos and
they started messaging each other from there. And at the time,
Michael was living in Regional Victoria and Shanny was in
Brisbane and they met in person for the first time
when Sharney was visiting Melbourne. So Michael ended up doing
her makeup and they ended up going out clubbing together
and really hit it off. Funnily enough, this is also
(28:26):
the night that Shannie and Michael met Lily Brown, so
shortly after, Michael visited Sharnie in Brisbane for a sleepover.
And a bit of a fun fact, the first video
of Sharnee on Michael's channel is from this sleepover, and
it was only the second time they had met, and
you couldn't tell because they had this instant chemistry on
camera and it was like they'd known each other their
(28:48):
whole lives. They razzed each other up and they were
playfully rude to one another, and Michael literally at one
stage burped in Charny's face, and he also dropped that
Sharny had been farting around him for their entire stay,
So it's clear that they were comfortable around each other
from day dot and it wasn't long before Michael moved
to Brisbane to be closer to Shanni and his other
(29:10):
YouTube friends, and by this stage they had formed a
formidable influencer click Teenagers were absolutely obsessed with this friendship group,
which consisted of Lily Brown, Rannie Brands, Beat Sky, Wheatley,
and of course Michael and Shanni. And at the time,
Shanni and Michael's growth was enormous, so people saw it
as almost opportunistic for Lily Sky and Rannie to be
(29:34):
in their videos. It kind of grew their following instantaneously,
and it was at a time when beauty influencers could
really make or break brands, and brands were paying out
enormous paychecks for their endorsements. It's crazy to think that
the biggest brands at the time were Anastagia, Beverly Hills,
and Morphy. It was the days when everyone was using
(29:56):
tart shaped tape and Becker highlighter, and because there was
so much money to be made, some followers did speculate
on the genuineness of this friendship and whether these three
girls were in fact using Michael and Shanny to grow
their careers.
Speaker 2 (30:11):
Now.
Speaker 1 (30:11):
Earlier in this episode, we touched on Shari's catchphrase bindy,
and it really was Michael who made the catchphrase what
it was. He was obsessed with Shannie's little dog. Let's
throw to some of their most iconic catchphrases, Get in.
Speaker 3 (30:27):
There, bindy, way back on the butler.
Speaker 4 (30:29):
You know what I'm saying ells fucking serious.
Speaker 3 (30:33):
That's a problem that like I kind of stop.
Speaker 1 (30:38):
These catchphrases were so big the Beginning Boutique jumped on
the opportunity and they offered Shanni and Michael a collaboration
which would see their catchphrases emblazoned on merchandise. So they
were that said thank you, not a problem and see you,
and Shani originally had her own label SG the label,
but she then rebranded when she and Mike started making
(31:01):
their joint merchandise. I actually have a pair of socks.
I don't actually think they were from beginning boutique. I
think Michael also released his own merch just by himself
that say, c what if they'd be worth anything now?
I doubt it. But one thing that I really loved
about Shanny and Michael was that they had such a
wholesome friendship. They traveled quite a lot together and it
(31:23):
wasn't just for brand trips. They actually genuinely enjoyed traveling
the world together. And one of my ultimate favorite YouTube
videos to this day is Shanni and Michael in Bali,
and it was the first time that Michael had ever
traveled overseas, and you can tell he is just so
young in this video because he knew nothing about Ballei
(31:44):
or the rest of the world, and Shani kept quizzing
him on what barley belly was, and he was very
confused about whether you could get barley belly from the
water from the tap or whether it was the water
in the pool or the water in the ocean. I
need to remember that Michael Finched was a boy from
Country Victorious, and he also dropped out of school very early.
(32:04):
Now Shiny really highlighted Michael's lack of understanding when it
came to geography.
Speaker 4 (32:10):
In this clip, Michael literally just asked the best question,
you know how He's like really good with geography and
all of that good stuff. He's like, don't film this,
but can I ask your question?
Speaker 3 (32:19):
He said, are we like still in the world like
that little blue ball? Are we like there?
Speaker 4 (32:26):
And I'm like, well, yeah, Bali is in Earth.
Speaker 3 (32:31):
So he learned something you know every day, can't you.
Speaker 2 (32:37):
I just thought, no, honest to god, I honestly thought
like it was just another island.
Speaker 3 (32:41):
We are in another island.
Speaker 4 (32:43):
Yeah, but like did we leave the blue ball?
Speaker 1 (32:46):
Obviously not no.
Speaker 4 (32:47):
Because only humans live on Earth. They don't live in
any other planets maybe like Aliens.
Speaker 5 (32:53):
This is why I don't fly anywhere, because it just
confuses me.
Speaker 3 (32:55):
And I saw, literally this is how you learn you fly.
Speaker 4 (32:58):
I still don't know where I am. We're in a
country near Australia that we're in an island.
Speaker 3 (33:04):
Well, same thing.
Speaker 1 (33:06):
Okay, Hey, this is iconic. I love this so much,
like it never gets old. He comes across as someone
that you would just love to travel with. I mean
maybe someone that you would have to kind of help
along the way. Though Yeah, I feel like you want
him in a group situation, like you definitely want to
travel with him, Shani and maybe another person maybe not
(33:27):
Sky Oh as in that US trip they went on
looked pretty horrendous because they were all competing to be heard.
Speaker 3 (33:33):
Now.
Speaker 1 (33:34):
While Shanny's friendships were flourishing, the same couldn't be said
about her relationship with Jonathan, and while they look like
the definition of couple goals online, behind closed doors it
was a very different story. So Sharani broke the Internet
in twenty eighteen when she posted a YouTube video entitled
we Broke Up. This is where We'll leave you for
(33:56):
today's episode. In next week's final installment, we explored the
chaos that erupted when Shanni pulled the pin on her
three year relationship with Jonathan Soer. We also discussed the
demise of the Hottest Influencer Click, Shanny's moved to Melbourne
for footballer Tommy Bug, and her entrance into the business world.
If you did enjoy today's episode, we would love if
(34:17):
you could leave us a five star review, as it
really does help the podcast out. Also, if you'd like
to follow Outspoken on Instagram and TikTok, we're at Outspoken
Underscore the Underscore podcast. You can also follow Kate, Sophie
and I on Instagram. This episode was recorded on the
traditional land of the Ghana people of the Adelaide Planes.
We pay respect to elders past and present,
We want to jump in before the episode starts to
point out that this isn't part of our regular Friday programming.
We are having a couple of Fridays off to spend
with our new nephew Jack, So in the meantime we
have put together a deep dive series on Shany Grimman.
This is episode two. Shannie Grimmond was living out her dream.
(00:22):
The eighteen year old was working full time as a
YouTuber and signing lucrative deals with the world's biggest makeup brands.
Speaker 2 (00:29):
Pretty much only been using this threat right here. It
is the Morphy Arshadow Pale. In three five zero.
Speaker 1 (00:35):
She'd fallen head over hills with twenty three year old
accountant Jonathan Sower and things were moving fast. A new
friendship with fellow beauty blogger Michael Finch was blossoming and
she was just about to head up one of Australia's
hottest influencer clicks. But it wasn't long before the downfalls
of fame struck, with Shanny facing her first online controversy
(00:55):
and personal dramas after her home was targeted by thieves.
In this series, we explore the phenomenon of Shanni Grimmond,
Hello and welcome to Outspoken. I'm so excited to get
into part two of our Shany Grimmin deep dive. We
had such a great reaction to the first episode. Yeah,
we got a lot of messages from people saying they
felt so nostalgic listening and that they really miss SHARNI. Yeah,
(01:19):
that seemed to be an overwhelming response, and it is
testament to the fact that Shanny really felt like a
friend to so many people growing up watching her YouTube videos. Now,
when we left you, Sharny had just gotten into a
very new relationship with Jonathan Sour and after four months
of dating, Shanny and Jonathan officially moved in together. I
didn't know that things moved that quickly. So Sharny had
(01:42):
just moved out of her family's house and into a
townhouse when Jonathan thought, well, I'm sick of traveling forty
five minutes to see you, let's just move in. Here's
how Shany broke the news to her YouTube audience.
Speaker 3 (01:55):
Have something very serious to talk about.
Speaker 4 (01:57):
This little bug full fact little lunchkins moved into my
house about when I moved in pretty much because you
haven't been living in your own place. Now that he
like officially moved in like last week for me. Bought
all his stuff there except his golf clubs because they're
not going to fit in my house.
Speaker 3 (02:14):
They can set his old house.
Speaker 1 (02:15):
With the young couple now living together, Jonathan became a
permanent fixture on Shanni's channel, and viewers loved seeing them
navigating living together for the first time.
Speaker 2 (02:26):
I was so scared to fight in front of you,
Like I would literally get cramps in my stomach because
I was holding your fart in for that long.
Speaker 1 (02:32):
Shani also admitted to occasionally needing space from Jonathan and
getting fed up from being together too often. She said
that she values having me time and likes to chill
by herself or with her friends. And this made me
remember that she was only eighteen at the time. She
just moved out of home for the first time, and
she was in this serious relationship that went from one
(02:54):
to one hundred in the space of just four months.
And at the time, Jonathan was working full time as
an account and in a video, he admitted to being
jealous of Shanes's YouTube channel. Here's what he said.
Speaker 3 (03:06):
I'm jealous. I'm kind of jealous about the whole YouTube thing. Yeah,
because I can work from home. Yeah, I like you.
I never knew anything about YouTube until I met Shani,
and I still don't know a lot of things. That's literally,
it's like a whole other world. Hey it is, It
really is, and you can meet so many people.
Speaker 5 (03:20):
I think everyone should starty YouTube channel.
Speaker 1 (03:22):
Ironically, after this admission, it wasn't long until Jonathan left
his full time job to become Shanese manager and also
launch his own social media career. And it did make
sense because he did attract a large following just from
appearing in a couple of Shanese vlogs. At the height
of his fame, he had close to two hundred thousand followers,
and as Shannes's manager, one would assume that he took
(03:44):
a lucrative cut from her deals. Do you think they
would have been together as long as they were if
he hadn't made the move to a career in social media, Well, potentially,
I actually think the opposite. Maybe they could have been
together for longer because you know, early on, Shany was
already talking about feeling that she needed time to herself,
So with him quitting his job, presumably they saw even
more of each other and potentially got on each other's nerves. Now,
(04:07):
if you think back to this time, one of Shanny's
most famous catchphrases, and I think Michael Finch also had
a lot to do with his catchphrase becoming so popular,
was Bindy.
Speaker 2 (04:19):
Ah fucker dark Bindi.
Speaker 1 (04:24):
Bindi is the name of the puppy that Shanny got
in twenty fifteen, and she is still a regular fixture
on Shiny Grimman's social media accounts. But ironically, the catchphrase
almost didn't happen because when I was scrolling through the archives,
I was shocked to discover the Bindi's first name was
actually Audrey.
Speaker 3 (04:45):
You guys are gonna love her. Look how little she is.
This is Audrey. She's so beautiful.
Speaker 2 (04:51):
She's a toy poodle across Shipsy, across maltees, and she's
just so little.
Speaker 1 (04:56):
I was so confused at first, thinking is this a
different dog? But I can and confirm this is in
fact Bindi. Underneath the YouTube video, one follower wrote, your
puppy is adorable, and I personally think Bindy would suit
her more. It's not clear if this comment inspired the
name change, but I like to think that it did.
Speaker 2 (05:15):
Now.
Speaker 1 (05:15):
Shani purchased Bindy right as she moved into her new
home with Jonathan, so they were immediately this cute little family.
Speaker 2 (05:23):
Good morning, guys, I'm going to be logging today, and.
Speaker 3 (05:27):
Bindy says, good warning, Binny. Hey, Oh, she's so cute.
I let her sleep with me every night and she
like cuddles up into my chest. It's so cute. Look
at her.
Speaker 4 (05:42):
Oh, Louie, baby, when is your one over there?
Speaker 1 (05:52):
After a couple of months of Jonathan and Shanny living together,
without warning, Shanny disappeared from YouTube over too, and this
was a huge shock to her followers. This absence led
to a lot of confusion and speculation from her followers. Yeah,
and Shanny did eventually make an anticipated return to YouTube
(06:13):
with a dramatic tell or video revealing that she had
been robbed. Here's what she said.
Speaker 3 (06:20):
So my house was broken into one month ago.
Speaker 2 (06:24):
So I was in New Zealand with my boyfriend on
a holiday. I honestly, never, ever, ever would have thought
something like this would have happened.
Speaker 1 (06:34):
This incident really rocked Shanny. She no longer felt safe
being on her own or being in this house. The
robbers had actually stolen her house keys and car keys.
Luckily they didn't end up taking the car, but it
did lead to a lot of anxiety that the robbers
could be back at any moment, so Shany and Jonathan
only lasted a few days in the rental before moving
(06:57):
back in with Shanni's family. Positive to come out of
the ordeal was that it brought Shanni and her family
a lot closer together. The downside for her followers was
that at her mom's house she could film, so her
camera and makeup had been stolen and her mom had
no backdrops to film in front of. Shannie did preface
that she also wasn't emotionally stable during that time to film.
Speaker 2 (07:21):
I remember asking mom how much did they take? And
she said everything? And at this point I didn't really
know how it happened. I didn't know anything about it.
All I knew is that they took absolutely everything I had,
like no idea who it could have been, because no one,
or not many people at all, knew where I lived.
(07:42):
I never told anyone where I lived after the break in.
I have trust issues. I can't trust anyone. I honestly
question the littlest things, like if someone wants to be
my friend, and I'm like, do they really want to
be my friend or are they using me like for
followers or something like. I honestly just I can't trust
anyone and I have trust issues now, which really sucks.
Speaker 1 (08:02):
This ordeal really shaped Shanny as a person going forward,
and it made her question a lot of her interactions
with people. She has spoken a lot about suffering from anxiety,
and this incident really exacerbated that. What also led to
a lot of debates about influencer privacy. So months earlier,
Sharni had shared an extensive house tour, showing her followers
(08:24):
through every room of the house, even the garage where
her car was parked, and the different entry points into
her house.
Speaker 3 (08:31):
Let's start with my landroom.
Speaker 2 (08:33):
So my front door is right here, and this is
the first thing that you see when you walk into
my house.
Speaker 3 (08:38):
It's all black and plain. I need to add some
color and staff the laundroom.
Speaker 2 (08:41):
We have a staircase that goes all the way up
to my three rooms and my bathrooms and staff by I'll.
Speaker 3 (08:47):
Show that later.
Speaker 1 (08:49):
The public began questioning whether influencers were putting themselves in
danger by oversharing. Now. Following the incident, Sharni released another
vlog urging her followers for privacy, and it came to
her new rental.
Speaker 2 (09:03):
So on a serious note, a few people have been
commenting on my Instagram photos so for everyone to see
and saying I.
Speaker 5 (09:09):
Know where you live.
Speaker 3 (09:10):
I saw you drive into a new place there.
Speaker 2 (09:13):
It's honestly so disrespectful and so frustrating.
Speaker 3 (09:18):
How would you like if I went around telling people
where you lived?
Speaker 2 (09:22):
Like this is probably how I got broken into people
seeing me drive into my house and telling their friends,
and then it gets around to other people, like it's
so annoying, Like you have to let.
Speaker 3 (09:32):
Someone have their privacy once in a while.
Speaker 2 (09:34):
Just because I have followers on Instagram or YouTube, it
doesn't make me any difference for you guys.
Speaker 1 (09:40):
Even eight years on, influencers are still facing the same
issues when it comes to their privacy. Johnnie's best friend
Chloe Zepp had the same issue when she and her
now fiance Mitch brought a property on the Gold Coast
because as soon as they posted a photo in front
of the Soul sign, which I want to preface did
actually have the address blurred out, it didn't take long
(10:03):
for followers to track down the address on real estate
dot Com, and Mitch said that he even had followers
messaging him the address saying we know where you live.
A year on and the couple were also dramatically robbed
in a home invasion. So we're still at a point
where influencers have to be so careful about their safety.
(10:23):
It's a hard one because obviously Molly May as well
in the UK, she got robbed, and I know that
stopped her from posting a lot, but then suddenly she
was just sort of like, well, fuck it, I'm going
to share my home account. Like it sort of restricts
a lot of influencers from being able to do their
job when they do have to really consider, you know,
parts of their life that they're sharing online. Yeah. Now,
(10:45):
five months on from the robbery, Shannie ended up posting
a YouTube video revealing she knew who broke into her house.
So she explained that straight after the robbery, she received
a message from a random girl saying she does to
note the truth now. The girl was fearful that the
robbers would come after her if they found out she
(11:06):
told Shanny. Shanny ended up convincing her to confess, and
she revealed that a group of eighteenagers had committed the robbery. Now,
the kids were aged sixteen to seventeen, with half of
them guys and half of them girls. Now, Shanny took
this message to the police, who said the message wasn't
enough proof to convict them. So Shanny started doing some
(11:27):
investigating of her own. So she and Jonathan jumped online
and at this stage they knew the names of the robbers,
so they trolled through their social media accounts and found
photos of the robbers wearing their clothes. One of the
robbers even brazenly captioned his post, I robbed you Now.
After that, Shanny started receiving an influx of messages from
(11:49):
followers saying the group had been bragging at underage house
parties that they stole Shany Grimmin's makeup. Now, Sharny chose
not to reveal the robbers' names in her videos. She
said it was clear they were after airtime and attention.
Now that she had photos of the robbers, though wearing
her clothes, she took that information to the police, who
(12:09):
again said they couldn't do anything about it. They said
they needed a confession. Isn't this just so ridiculous? Like
I understand that this is how the justice system works,
but you almost got to catch people in the act
robbing your house or have CCTVD vision of it.
Speaker 3 (12:25):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (12:26):
Now, shortly after the robbery, the gang ended up breaking
into her house for a second time. Luckily, Shanny and
Jonathan had moved out of the townhouse and they were
staying at her mum's house. Sharnie arrived at the townhouse
to discover a note on the door from police saying,
your door was left wide open. This street has been
(12:46):
broken into. So again, this group had targeted Shanny and
it was easy for them to do so because they
still had her house keys and car keys, so they
were coming and going as they pleased. Now, months after
the incident, when Sharni posted her video revealing that she'd
been robbed that night, she received a Facebook message from
(13:07):
one of the female robbers. Here's what she said.
Speaker 2 (13:11):
Love your new video without emoji. Hope you look after
your makeup a bit better next time. Splantyr face emoji
if you want to drag me into it deep the
person that the main person that did it is going
to be more than happy to continue the drama.
Speaker 3 (13:29):
Excuse me, is.
Speaker 2 (13:31):
She literally threatening me that she's going to like break
into my house again? She literally just dobbed that person
in and said that he's the one that did it
and I've got it in writing.
Speaker 1 (13:42):
It quickly became apparent that the girl was incredibly jealous
of Shanni's success and lifestyle, so she had been following
Shanni for some time and was training to become a
makeup artist herself, so in a follow up message, she
told Shanni to get a real job and stop bumming
around home making YouTube video like it's an actual job.
She then asked Shani why she doesn't do a makeup
(14:04):
course and said she wasn't smart enough and that it's
harder than it looks now. These robbers kept popping up
in random places, with Shany confronting one of the robbers
brothers at a music festival. The robber's friends also continued
to dob them into Shanny, confirming they used Shany's car
during the robbery to take car loads of her belongings
to a house and it had been planned for a
(14:26):
very long time. To me, this just confirms that they
were scouting out her house through her YouTube videos, and
they also knew that it was a good time to
strike because they could see on her Instagram that she
was away in New Zealand with Jonathan. It's just so
messed up that the police couldn't do anything about it.
It wasn't just some random robbery. These people were clearly
(14:48):
targeting her, as we said, because they were jealous. I mean,
imagine if it had escalated further.
Speaker 2 (14:53):
Well.
Speaker 1 (14:53):
I think because the role or the job of an
influencer was perceived so differently at the time, I don't
think that the police took her level of fame seriously enough,
and if anything, they probably blamed her for putting that
information readily out there.
Speaker 2 (15:09):
The first question is did you do it to fit
into the Kylie Jeda trend?
Speaker 1 (15:13):
In this series, we touched on the shiny grimm and effect,
but what about the Kylie Jenna effect that was simultaneously
happening In twenty fifteen, at seventeen years old, Kylie started
setting the beauty standards when she went public with her
lip fillers. At the time, she denied getting the procedure done,
but after intense public scrutiny and backlash, she was forced
(15:35):
to reveal the truth on an episode of Keeping Up
with the Kardashians Now. The day she revealed the news
to the world, the number of Google searchers for the
procedure shot up by seventy percent. I remember at the
time she just kept saying, Oh, no, I've just been
overlining my lips and I was like, no, Well. It
really did spark an obsession with her lips, and she
(15:58):
used that to her advantage because she launched her Kylie
lip kits six months later. I remember those as at
the time, Snapchat was just massive, and Kylie would always
be posting about the lip kits like she was such
a genius. It's easy to see why she became a
billionaire so quickly, because she really utilized social media marketing. Yeah,
(16:20):
because she was younger, she really seemed to understand the
power of social media more so than her other sisters. Now,
two weeks before Kylie admitted to getting lip filler, a
trend called the Kylie Jenner lip Challenge went viral. Do
you remember this, Oh well, I feel like this was
the year of There was always some kind of challenge
style scenario, but I remember the name, but I can't
(16:41):
remember what people were actually doing. So basically, people tried
to emulate her lips by inserting their lips into a
shot glass and then sucking the air to create a vacuum,
so it created so much pressure that people's lips would
temporarily swell. Now, Kylie's admission also led to normalization of
lip fillers, with young women heading into clinics in their
(17:04):
droves to have the procedure done. A bit of a
fun fact, I was working at Channel seven at the time,
and I did this investigation into the rise in young
women getting lip fillers. Yeah, and we did use Kylie
Jennet in the story as as a key motivator, because
you've got to remember that in twenty seventeen, it was
(17:25):
really new. Like I remember it being quite shocking when
Kylie admitted she'd had lip fillers. Now no one cares well.
Shany Grimman was one of those teenagers who ended up
heading in to visit her local injector.
Speaker 3 (17:39):
Yes, I got my lips done. They are extremely, extremely
swollen at the moment, so they're not going to be
this big in a few days. Don't worry people like
freaking out, Oh my god, what did you do to
your lips? Don't worry. The swelling will go down.
Speaker 2 (17:51):
I would never make my lips look fake except right now,
because there's nothing I can do about it.
Speaker 1 (17:57):
It's interesting that Shany is prefacing in this grab that
don't worry, my lips aren't going to look fake, They're
going to look natural. Because this really, as you touched
on Amy, was the first time we were openly hearing
women speak about the cosmetic procedures they were choosing to
get done, because in the past, there was a lot
of shame and secrecy around it, and women in the
(18:17):
public eye would often deflect and just have to pretend
that they hadn't had anything done. It's also the age
factor as well. I think we're surprising hearing someone who's
a teenager talking about cosmetic surgery. Yeah, that's very true,
because it was something that we just sort of thought
that older women did. Also because most teens probably didn't
have the money to actually do it. But because of
(18:40):
the rise of YouTubers and influencers, I think young women
were getting more and more money and they were able
to make these decisions for themselves, and that was the
real issue because teenagers couldn't afford it. Unfortunately, they were
going to places where people weren't experienced in using lip fillers,
which ended in a lot of people having their lips
overfilled or botched. There was very fierce debate raging at
(19:04):
the time whether this openness was a good or bad thing,
because some people felt it was unethical for influences to
normalize the practice to impressionable teenagers because at the time,
many influencers would vlog their procedure in the chair and
they do q and as about the experience, and there
was this fear that by normalizing a procedure like lip injections,
(19:27):
it would create unrealistic beauty standards and cause people to
develop an obsession with perceived flaws. Well, on the other hand,
there were others who believed that the openness helped break
down stigma and also empowered women to make decisions about
their body without judgment. And unsurprisingly, Shani was incredibly open
about her lip filler journey. She wasn't new to the
(19:50):
world of cosmetic work because she previously had created a
series of YouTube videos about getting veneers, and she was
just so open about her life, so this wasn't something
that she was going to try and conceal and hide.
I also think that she was so open about it because,
as we say, at the time, because of Kylie Jennet,
there was so much interest in the procedure, and I
(20:11):
think she probably knew it was a clever way to
get extra views and engagement on her videos, so she
did do a sit down Q and A answering followers questions,
and many were intrigued to find out if the procedure
was painful and how much it cost, and whether she
was happy with the results. She was also asked if
she was motivated by Kylie Jennet to get it done.
(20:33):
Here's what she said.
Speaker 3 (20:34):
I would never.
Speaker 2 (20:35):
Change the look of my face, or body or anything
just to fit into a trend. I don't necessarily follow trends.
I just do what makes me happy. I know that's
so cliche to say, but basically, one side of my
lip was really big and the other side was really thin,
so I just wanted to even out give them a
natural plump and make them look naturally juicy.
Speaker 1 (20:54):
I feel for Shanny because after watching a lot of
her early vlogs back, it's clear that she received a
lot of hate comments about the size of her lips,
and it would be really hard not to be impacted
by those comments and feel like you had to change yourself,
particularly when you're being built up as this it girl
of YouTube and you have to live up to these
very high beauty standards that are coming out because it
(21:16):
was the it thing to have full lips. And that's
the funny thing that there will be all these people
online that will hate on an influencer for the way
that they look, and then when they go and change
something about themselves, it'll be like, oh my god, they
used to look so much better before. They really can't
win sometimes.
Speaker 3 (21:32):
Well.
Speaker 1 (21:33):
A couple of other burning questions that she received were
about whether it felt different for her to kiss and
what Jonathan thought of them, and she tactfully explained that
Jonathan didn't really have an opinion because he didn't know
what to expect, but she did admit that when she
got home and she was all swollen from the procedure,
his first reaction was, holy shit, what have you done?
(21:55):
But she prefaced that he really likes them. Now. It's
really interesting to watch the Q and A back with hindsight,
because at the time she was quite adamant that she
wanted to keep her lips looking very natural, and she
talked glowingly about her injector. However, as the years went on,
Sharni suffered quite badly with filler migration, and she ended
(22:15):
up having to get them dissolved and subsequently filled again
by a new injector who she trusted. So she explained
that in her teenage years she would visit random injectors,
which she regretted and advised others not to do now.
Shortly after going public with her lip filler, Shanny was
rocked by her first controversy. So before heading to a festival,
(22:37):
Sharni uploaded a snapchat story of her brother and an
acquaintance playing with nerf guns, which sounds pretty innocent. The
only catch was in the background of the shot was
a Nazi flag hanging on the wall. Now, the backlash
was swift, with followers accusing Shanny of being racist and
calling for her to be canceled. Now, I don't think
(22:59):
the word canceled was actually used at the time, but
this post did deeply affect a section of Shanny's followers
and there was a lot of anger and feeling like
she shouldn't be able to continue sharing YouTube videos. She
was on the front foot, though. She released a YouTube
video entitled The Truth Behind the Rumors so she could
(23:20):
explain her side of the story. So she started the
video saying this.
Speaker 2 (23:25):
So firstly, I just want to say I would never
support or have any sort of association with any group
like the Nazi. I am not racist in any way,
shape or form. I do not discriminate against any nationality
or race.
Speaker 3 (23:37):
I'm not that kind of person.
Speaker 1 (23:40):
She went on to explain that she was at a
friend of a friend's apartment and they went there to
hang out before the festival. She confirmed that she was
only there for ten minutes and in that time snapchated
her brother and friend playing with the nerf guns. She
explained that when she uses Snapchat, she doesn't look back
at the videos, she just posts in real time anyway.
(24:01):
Shanny says that they then ended up leaving the apartment
to go to the festival, and two hours later, her
brother text her saying, there's a Nazi flag in your background.
Shani immediately removed the posts and explained that she never
intentionally posted the flag. In fact, she had no idea
it was even in the background, and it was quite
clear listening to the video that Shanny didn't have much
(24:24):
knowledge of the flag's meaning at the point.
Speaker 2 (24:27):
I didn't one hundred percent know the meaning of this flag.
I did know that it was not a good flag, obviously, but.
Speaker 3 (24:32):
I do know the meaning now.
Speaker 2 (24:33):
But I still feel like that the fact that I
didn't know the true one hundred percent meaning behind this
flag isn't really necessary to the reason why it was up.
Speaker 3 (24:41):
I just generally did not see the flag.
Speaker 1 (24:44):
She confirmed that she had since educated herself on its
meaning and was very apologetic to the followers she had upset.
She also reiterated that she had nothing to do with
the person who hung the flag and had no idea
why it was up in the person's house, and that
she's not friends with this particular person. Shanni got really
teary in this video, and it was clear that she
(25:04):
was very apologetic. She sounded very genuine, and to me,
this is a teenage girl who made a mistake. I
believe what she said in this video. I think that
she had no idea that the flag was there and
clearly wasn't aware of the flag's history. It is interesting
to take a look at this video from a PR
perspective because in twenty twenty four we're so used to
(25:27):
seeing influencer apology videos, but this was one of the
first of its kind in twenty fifteen. I think she
handled herself really well because she didn't try and shy
away from the controversy. She tackled her head on, and
she acknowledged where she went wrong and that she'd educated
herself and apologized. And this is why this incident really
didn't affect her sponsorship deals going forward, because it was
(25:50):
clearly a case of her being in the wrong place
at the wrong time. Now, Shanni's newfound fame led to
a lot of jealousy within her school friendship group and
bubbled over on a trip to Splendor when she discovered
she was being mocked on snapchat.
Speaker 5 (26:06):
So basically what happened is something really bad made me
feel like shit, So I ended up going home really early.
So someone that I was really really really close friends
with put up snapchats of her friend mocking me, so like, hey, guys,
welcome back to my channel, like I'm YouTube famous. Here's
my coupon code for the bus because I'm getting a
(26:26):
bus to Slender and just being.
Speaker 3 (26:27):
The biggest asshole.
Speaker 2 (26:29):
And this person that I was really close friends with
was like laughing at her and everything, like condoning her,
like putting it on her own snapchat. It made me
so angry because I don't think you should be friends
with people that make you feel like shit about yourself
or about what you do. I was just like so shocked,
and like, I know, I just couldn't get my mood
back up again.
Speaker 3 (26:48):
But that's done.
Speaker 5 (26:50):
I don't have time for that in my life anymore.
Speaker 1 (26:53):
It's clear that this reaction stemmed from jealousy. Shanny was
being offered so many amazing opportunities and allso being gifted
free products, and this whole influencing thing was a completely
new phenomenon. So I can kind of see both sides.
I can see why her friends probably had their noses
out of joint, and I can see also why it
would have been incredibly difficult for Sharni to navigate this
(27:15):
new found fame on her own.
Speaker 3 (27:17):
Well.
Speaker 1 (27:17):
At that stage as well, it was probably seen as
being a bit embarrassing talking to a camera in public.
I mean, I still think that there is a lot
of judgment. It depends where you are in the world.
Like if you're in the US filming, I think, or
even in Sydney, no one really cares what you're doing.
But if you were to walk down the street in Adelaide,
I feel like you'd get a similar reaction. Yeah, it
is no surprise that at nineteen Shanne started befriending fellow
(27:41):
YouTubers who were going through the same experiences as her,
because clearly her friends weren't able to relate to what
was going on. This is where Michael Finch entered the scene.
So Shanni and Michael, they were such an unbeatable jew way.
They instantly had this chemistry when they'd film together. They
sparked up a friendship online and it's pretty cute because
(28:03):
they both used to watch each other's YouTube videos and
they started messaging each other from there. And at the time,
Michael was living in Regional Victoria and Shanny was in
Brisbane and they met in person for the first time
when Sharney was visiting Melbourne. So Michael ended up doing
her makeup and they ended up going out clubbing together
and really hit it off. Funnily enough, this is also
(28:26):
the night that Shannie and Michael met Lily Brown, so
shortly after, Michael visited Sharnie in Brisbane for a sleepover.
And a bit of a fun fact, the first video
of Sharnee on Michael's channel is from this sleepover, and
it was only the second time they had met, and
you couldn't tell because they had this instant chemistry on
camera and it was like they'd known each other their
(28:48):
whole lives. They razzed each other up and they were
playfully rude to one another, and Michael literally at one
stage burped in Charny's face, and he also dropped that
Sharny had been farting around him for their entire stay,
So it's clear that they were comfortable around each other
from day dot and it wasn't long before Michael moved
to Brisbane to be closer to Shanni and his other
(29:10):
YouTube friends, and by this stage they had formed a
formidable influencer click Teenagers were absolutely obsessed with this friendship group,
which consisted of Lily Brown, Rannie Brands, Beat Sky, Wheatley,
and of course Michael and Shanni. And at the time,
Shanni and Michael's growth was enormous, so people saw it
as almost opportunistic for Lily Sky and Rannie to be
(29:34):
in their videos. It kind of grew their following instantaneously,
and it was at a time when beauty influencers could
really make or break brands, and brands were paying out
enormous paychecks for their endorsements. It's crazy to think that
the biggest brands at the time were Anastagia, Beverly Hills,
and Morphy. It was the days when everyone was using
(29:56):
tart shaped tape and Becker highlighter, and because there was
so much money to be made, some followers did speculate
on the genuineness of this friendship and whether these three
girls were in fact using Michael and Shanny to grow
their careers.
Speaker 2 (30:11):
Now.
Speaker 1 (30:11):
Earlier in this episode, we touched on Shari's catchphrase bindy,
and it really was Michael who made the catchphrase what
it was. He was obsessed with Shannie's little dog. Let's
throw to some of their most iconic catchphrases, Get in.
Speaker 3 (30:27):
There, bindy, way back on the butler.
Speaker 4 (30:29):
You know what I'm saying ells fucking serious.
Speaker 3 (30:33):
That's a problem that like I kind of stop.
Speaker 1 (30:38):
These catchphrases were so big the Beginning Boutique jumped on
the opportunity and they offered Shanni and Michael a collaboration
which would see their catchphrases emblazoned on merchandise. So they
were that said thank you, not a problem and see you,
and Shani originally had her own label SG the label,
but she then rebranded when she and Mike started making
(31:01):
their joint merchandise. I actually have a pair of socks.
I don't actually think they were from beginning boutique. I
think Michael also released his own merch just by himself
that say, c what if they'd be worth anything now?
I doubt it. But one thing that I really loved
about Shanny and Michael was that they had such a
wholesome friendship. They traveled quite a lot together and it
(31:23):
wasn't just for brand trips. They actually genuinely enjoyed traveling
the world together. And one of my ultimate favorite YouTube
videos to this day is Shanni and Michael in Bali,
and it was the first time that Michael had ever
traveled overseas, and you can tell he is just so
young in this video because he knew nothing about Ballei
(31:44):
or the rest of the world, and Shani kept quizzing
him on what barley belly was, and he was very
confused about whether you could get barley belly from the
water from the tap or whether it was the water
in the pool or the water in the ocean. I
need to remember that Michael Finched was a boy from
Country Victorious, and he also dropped out of school very early.
(32:04):
Now Shiny really highlighted Michael's lack of understanding when it
came to geography.
Speaker 4 (32:10):
In this clip, Michael literally just asked the best question,
you know how He's like really good with geography and
all of that good stuff. He's like, don't film this,
but can I ask your question?
Speaker 3 (32:19):
He said, are we like still in the world like
that little blue ball? Are we like there?
Speaker 4 (32:26):
And I'm like, well, yeah, Bali is in Earth.
Speaker 3 (32:31):
So he learned something you know every day, can't you.
Speaker 2 (32:37):
I just thought, no, honest to god, I honestly thought
like it was just another island.
Speaker 3 (32:41):
We are in another island.
Speaker 4 (32:43):
Yeah, but like did we leave the blue ball?
Speaker 1 (32:46):
Obviously not no.
Speaker 4 (32:47):
Because only humans live on Earth. They don't live in
any other planets maybe like Aliens.
Speaker 5 (32:53):
This is why I don't fly anywhere, because it just
confuses me.
Speaker 3 (32:55):
And I saw, literally this is how you learn you fly.
Speaker 4 (32:58):
I still don't know where I am. We're in a
country near Australia that we're in an island.
Speaker 3 (33:04):
Well, same thing.
Speaker 1 (33:06):
Okay, Hey, this is iconic. I love this so much,
like it never gets old. He comes across as someone
that you would just love to travel with. I mean
maybe someone that you would have to kind of help
along the way. Though Yeah, I feel like you want
him in a group situation, like you definitely want to
travel with him, Shani and maybe another person maybe not
(33:27):
Sky Oh as in that US trip they went on
looked pretty horrendous because they were all competing to be heard.
Speaker 3 (33:33):
Now.
Speaker 1 (33:34):
While Shanny's friendships were flourishing, the same couldn't be said
about her relationship with Jonathan, and while they look like
the definition of couple goals online, behind closed doors it
was a very different story. So Sharani broke the Internet
in twenty eighteen when she posted a YouTube video entitled
we Broke Up. This is where We'll leave you for
(33:56):
today's episode. In next week's final installment, we explored the
chaos that erupted when Shanni pulled the pin on her
three year relationship with Jonathan Soer. We also discussed the
demise of the Hottest Influencer Click, Shanny's moved to Melbourne
for footballer Tommy Bug, and her entrance into the business world.
If you did enjoy today's episode, we would love if
(34:17):
you could leave us a five star review, as it
really does help the podcast out. Also, if you'd like
to follow Outspoken on Instagram and TikTok, we're at Outspoken
Underscore the Underscore podcast. You can also follow Kate, Sophie
and I on Instagram. This episode was recorded on the
traditional land of the Ghana people of the Adelaide Planes.
We pay respect to elders past and present,
Popular Podcasts
On Purpose with Jay Shetty
I’m Jay Shetty host of On Purpose the worlds #1 Mental Health podcast and I’m so grateful you found us. I started this podcast 5 years ago to invite you into conversations and workshops that are designed to help make you happier, healthier and more healed. I believe that when you (yes you) feel seen, heard and understood you’re able to deal with relationship struggles, work challenges and life’s ups and downs with more ease and grace. I interview experts, celebrities, thought leaders and athletes so that we can grow our mindset, build better habits and uncover a side of them we’ve never seen before. New episodes every Monday and Friday. Your support means the world to me and I don’t take it for granted — click the follow button and leave a review to help us spread the love with On Purpose. I can’t wait for you to listen to your first or 500th episode!
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com