July 22, 2026 • 43 mins
This week is part one with Sophie Fergi, former child influencer who told her story in the Netflix docuseries Bad Influence: The Dark Side of Kidfluencing. In this episode, she explains how she first met YouTube kidfluencer Piper Rockelle, and how Piper’s mom Tiffany formed the “Squad,” a group of children making content together for their YouTube channels.
Sophie will share what it was like to film the videos, which included fake challenges, fake crushes and relationships, and carefully curated drama that blurred the line between reality and performance, and how she began to see red flags with Tiffany, who created characters - based on family animals - which she used to speak inappropriately to the kids.
Next week, she’ll talk about moving in with Tiffany and Piper, and how everything began to escalate.
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Speaker 1 (00:01):
Trust me?
Speaker 2 (00:02):
Do you trust me?
Speaker 1 (00:04):
Right? Ever?
Speaker 3 (00:05):
Lead you astray tr us?
Speaker 2 (00:06):
This is the truth, the only truth. If anybody ever
tells you to just trust them, don't welcome to trust me.
The podcast about cult's extreme belief and manipulation from two
fully grown influencers who've actually experienced it. I am well
obloc I am Megan Elizabeth. We're not influencers, you guys,
(00:27):
but you kind of are.
Speaker 1 (00:29):
I don't know.
Speaker 2 (00:29):
I post a video like once a month.
Speaker 3 (00:32):
Is that?
Speaker 1 (00:33):
Is that what influencers do?
Speaker 2 (00:35):
Okay? This weekest Part one with Sophie Fergey, actual influencer,
former child influencer who told her story in the Netflix
DOCKU series Bad Influence, The Dark Side of Kidfluencing. Today,
she's going to tell us about how she first met
Piper Raquel, who was a YouTube influencer, and how Piper's mom, Tiffany,
formed the Squad, a group of children making content together
(00:57):
for their YouTube channels.
Speaker 4 (00:59):
Sophie will tell us about filming the videos, which included
fake challenges, fake crushes and relationships, and carefully curated drama
that blurred the lines between reality and performance. And now
she began to see red flags with Tiffany, who created
characters based on family animals, which Tiffany used to speak
inappropriately to the kids.
Speaker 2 (01:19):
And next week we will talk about how they all
moved in together and how everything began to escalate before
we start with Sophie. Megan, can you tell me your
cultiest thing of this week? I can.
Speaker 4 (01:33):
It's not exactly from this week, but I've been wanting
to do an interview with somebody from Nickelodeon. They had
that documentary Quiet on Set, The Dark Side of Kids TV.
Speaker 2 (01:42):
Did you see that?
Speaker 1 (01:43):
No?
Speaker 2 (01:44):
I didn't.
Speaker 4 (01:44):
Okay, it's really really horrible but fascinating, and there's a
lot of parallels between what Sophie speaks about and this
documentary about how Nickelodeon was basically kind of culty. You know,
you had Dan Schneider who was kind of the leader
of this whole operation, and you know, everybody kind of
(02:05):
came away with really icky experiences. They talk about how
a lot of their audience were older men, which kind
of correlates to some of the YouTube problems going on,
and I would love to do an interview with somebody
who experienced that culture. And then also it is worth
noting like Sophie today is talking a lot about Piper
(02:26):
and what Piper's mom is kind of putting Everry through.
Speaker 2 (02:29):
And Piper is now on OnlyFans, which I hate. So
I don't know.
Speaker 4 (02:33):
It's just such a complicated world, and I wonder what's
going to happen in the future and if we can
make this world safer for child performers.
Speaker 2 (02:43):
Yes, indeed, yeah, the only fans thing is it's so
complicated because you want people to be able to, you know,
if they authentically want to be on only fans, as
many of my friends have been, there is no problem
with that. But it just depends on like what is
the origin of that, And because it's.
Speaker 4 (02:57):
Kind of like an eighteenth birthday, you know, like, yeah,
it's not great, it's not great.
Speaker 1 (03:01):
I don't know the appeal. It's like who is that
appealing to?
Speaker 4 (03:03):
But yeah, and again you're right, if she's like, this
is my dream, then go get that money.
Speaker 2 (03:09):
But just given the like way she was raised, well,
the fact that she was known as a child, and
so all of these people probably had been sort of
like waiting for this moment, and that's what makes it creepy.
It's not inherently because she's on only fans, because it's
like she went from being a child star who was
watched by all these adults.
Speaker 4 (03:29):
Yeah, it's kind of serving when they had that, like
Mary Kate and actually count down to them turning.
Speaker 2 (03:34):
Eighteen or it's just like, can you guys stop?
Speaker 4 (03:36):
And because Mary Kate and Ashley made some banger movies
and don't take that from us, you know.
Speaker 2 (03:42):
Hell yeah they did Billboard Dad, one of my top
movies as a kid, was obsessed. Also, I actually completely
forgot about this part of my childhood. You just unlocked something.
But yes, Mary Kate and actually go to was it Paris?
No London? They can go wherever they damn please? Oh
when London? Well, anyway, that's unrelated to.
Speaker 4 (04:03):
The important point that you're making. But totally I hear you. Yeah,
what about you? What's your cultiest thing of the week.
Speaker 2 (04:10):
I've really got nothing, I mean, okay, so here's what
I'm picking. I went to Joshua Tree to write smart.
I did get writing done. Also had a weird, sad
conversation with someone I was dating that ended and so
I spent you know, it's whatever, dating is fucking What
is the word that I want? Cruel? It's a battle,
(04:33):
it's war. It's war out here. We're fighting our way
through it. So I was alone in the desert. No
shrooms this time. I don't always do shrooms in Joshua tree,
but when I do, I see colors.
Speaker 1 (04:44):
I see the Lord in various forms.
Speaker 2 (04:49):
No, but this time I watched around by myself and
listened to music and flailed around in the desert.
Speaker 1 (04:56):
No one could see me.
Speaker 2 (04:57):
I'm pretty confident because there weren't very many hoow close by.
But there was something so freeing about just like flailing
my fucking body around like a lunatic and looking almost
certainly insane, because I'm like, I'm in the fucking desert,
the sun is setting. This is beautiful. I'm living this life.
I guess this is my version. This is like atheist spirituality,
(05:19):
you guys. It's desert flailing and you know, we didn't
see God. We didn't do nothing like that. But I
did commune with nature in a drug free way. And
that's about as close to cultiness as I got this week. Well,
I think that's beautiful. I wish I had a video
of it, just I'm so glad you don't trying to
picture it. I looked like one of those car salesman Fluffy.
(05:44):
Oh okay, airmen, that's what I looked like. Yeah, we
discussed a couple of weeks ago.
Speaker 4 (05:49):
My cat is Sag and it is bringing up in
me a lot of like and dating, you know, as
you said, it brings just up a lot of unknown,
a lot of fear. You're ing into the void, and
sometimes humans in general just need to like dance around
or see something beautiful or have some meaning or something,
(06:09):
you know, like Yeah, and it sucks that people pray
upon that when we're having in these human experiences, and
that's how we get cults.
Speaker 2 (06:17):
I hate it so true. Yeah, I mean, like just
so much of modern life is like about how you're
being perceived and like thinking about how you come across
on the internet and how you know, especially in media
careers like we have. So I think it's just like
so important to take a break from that, but also
make sure it's not in the form of a cult, right,
(06:39):
Speaking of getting offline, as our guest today does speak
about at some point in this interview, Sophie has some
things to say about the internet.
Speaker 3 (06:49):
Shall we talk to Sophie. Let's do it.
Speaker 2 (07:03):
Welcome Sophie, Fergie to trust me thank you for being here.
Speaker 1 (07:07):
I'm very excited, Like I've obviously seen your guys of stuff,
and I'm just I'm really excited to be here. So
oh my god, we're excited to have you. I'm like,
I'm like a little nervous. I haven't like been interviewed,
I feel like in a while.
Speaker 2 (07:19):
So go ahead.
Speaker 1 (07:20):
I'm excited.
Speaker 2 (07:20):
Well, so grateful. Your makeup looks so great. You should
be on camera. Okay, there's so much to talk about
with you. Obviously we both watched the docuseries what is
the full name? I want to not say wrong.
Speaker 1 (07:33):
Bad Influence, the Dark Side of kid Fluency.
Speaker 2 (07:36):
Yeah, thank you.
Speaker 1 (07:37):
I haven't said that in a very long time. So
that was well.
Speaker 2 (07:41):
So start us at the beginning. What was your life
like and how old were you before you met Piper Roquel.
Speaker 1 (07:47):
So I was born in California, and then my family
and I moved to North Carolina and then came back
when I want to say, I was around like six
seven ish, and then I started doing background and like
acting projects just because I always liked being in front
of a camera. And so yeah, my mom signed me
up for background because I thought acting was super cool
(08:09):
at the time. Which one does as a seven year old.
I did this web series as a background character, and
they had like an emo character who didn't come in
I believe. I think she got sick or something, but
the gothic character was not there on set for the show,
named Manny. I think my mom was like, just go
say you can be gothic, because I was really early
(08:30):
on set for this background day which I don't know,
and I was like, Okay, I can be gothic, Like
let me just go tell them that, like they're gonna care.
But they did care, and so they had me read
these lines and they put me in hair makeup. I
stayed in character the entire day and everyone was like okay,
like and then fans liked me from that, like the
who were fans of the web series. So then they
(08:52):
brought me on and I actually met Piper from filming that. Yeah,
so it was like very full circle. But I wasn't
really close with anyone on set because I was very
to myself and like a nervous kid. And then it
all kind of started from there. And then I got
into the YouTube world and all that, and you were
how old at this time? Okay, we moved back to
California at like seven. I want to say during Manny
(09:13):
I was ten, okay, or maybe nine nine or ten
around that area. Yeah, it was very much like your
Nickelodeon Nickelodeon, like Disney Channel kind of show. Yeah, that
experience for me personally was great. It was everything after
that where it was like, Okay, this isn't like a
real set. This is like we're filming for days and
(09:33):
hours and all that.
Speaker 4 (09:34):
Okay, So I don't have to hate every single YouTuber
who's making things with children.
Speaker 2 (09:38):
Some of them can be good.
Speaker 1 (09:40):
With Brad TV, that's who did this. This was like
a show, so like that, I would say no, like,
I had a great experience there. I thought it was amazing.
No after that though, yeah, we could start hating after y.
Speaker 2 (09:56):
So okay, So what were your first impressions of Piper's
mom Tiffany?
Speaker 1 (10:01):
Okay, when I first met her, I believe it's been
so long, but I went up to her because I
think their photographer had canceled, and like I overheard and
I went back to my mom and I was like,
can I give this lady your phone number? She was
like why, and I was like, because she needs a photographer.
And you do photography, and she was like, okay, sure,
what a sweet. I was like, this is like, let's
(10:23):
see you're very fact.
Speaker 2 (10:25):
Yeah, we're very prod. So was your mom. I love
this for you both, and.
Speaker 1 (10:28):
So I was like okay, So I gave her the
phone number. And I don't believe they ever. I think
she figured out whatever happened with the photographer, so they
didn't reach out about that. But when the series came out,
she reached out for me to be in a YouTube
video and I was like, I don't do like YouTube videos,
but sure, And it was four or two characters who
were in the show and we did like a Freaky
Friday body switch and so I was like, okay, like
(10:50):
I'll go on like and do this whole YouTube thing. Sure,
and I did it and it was It was cool.
I would say my first impressions of Tiffany were like
she's like a mom with her daughter and like I
had a single mom. So I was like, this is cool,
Like you guys are just like me. And then Piper
also had a house in Georgia, which is not far
from North Carolina. I felt very much related to her.
(11:11):
And then like also she had issues with her dad
and my dad at the time were very like on
and off and still are tost day, but like she,
we had very similar lives. So my first impression was like,
oh my god, this is like my twin yeah, and
like we have so much in common. And then I
got to know Tiffany and I was like, not my twin.
Speaker 2 (11:30):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (11:30):
Was she already YouTube famous at that point? She was,
but not to the level that she is now. I
don't remember how many subscribers she had. She's really popular
on this app called Musically before it turned into TikTok, right,
but I want to say she probably had close to like,
maybe one hundred thousand subscribers maybe I mean like sizable, right,
(11:52):
definitely a good amount. I don't fully remember.
Speaker 2 (11:55):
Okay, so you guys start hanging out and like how
did that evolve into the squad?
Speaker 1 (12:00):
Okay, so her and I did YouTube videos together. They
did really well, and they're like, I think we should
like expand it. So we met this kid named Gavin
and we ended up doing these like three videos. It
was like a trio. It was called Piso Gab and
they were like kind of like a crush thing. And
then like I was like, there but like we're all
best friends because we were like little, and so we
(12:21):
did these videos and then Tiffany was like, we need
to expand, like we need to get larger. She was
super influenced by Team ten, which was Logan Paul's like thing, yeah, right,
same thing. But the thing with Team ten is that
like they all got like screwed over and like gone
tracts and all this.
Speaker 4 (12:39):
So I was like, oh, yeah, okay, you're like cool,
you are inspired by somebody who.
Speaker 2 (12:45):
That seems a lot of theory though you could do
that in a way.
Speaker 1 (12:51):
That's fine and normal.
Speaker 4 (12:53):
If she were a normal person, she could just be
getting ideas from these people.
Speaker 2 (12:57):
Yeah, exactly.
Speaker 1 (12:58):
So we expanded it. We had a friend come in
from Georgia who would visit on and off. That's Karen,
And then we then met Sawyer and his mother through
I think he had like a gold digging video out
or something, and that's how we saw him. I'm not
like literal gold digging, like it was like pranking like
these like older women that he had this like Lamborghini
(13:20):
and was like trying to pick up.
Speaker 2 (13:21):
Yeah yeah right, yeah, So but.
Speaker 1 (13:24):
I don't really remember how we like fully met everybody.
I just know, like in the beginning, when it was
like the OG squad with like Gavin, it was just
about expanding. And then like later on we did the
whole audition process with lev and Jensen to get boyfriends
and whatnot.
Speaker 2 (13:40):
So he's been so long of.
Speaker 1 (13:43):
Like trying to remember like how exactly we met, because
I was also like the parents talking, and then I.
Speaker 4 (13:47):
Would just see the character and I was like, a friend,
I guess, really, what's happening is they're building this set
to look like it's real life, you know, like this
is just happening organically. The squad's all falling in love
with people and doing things and whatever.
Speaker 2 (14:02):
Yeah, but really it's kind of a little more orchestrated.
Speaker 1 (14:05):
No, yeah, it definitely was. And then I had like
one of my childhood best friends come on and he
was like kind of my crush for a little bit.
His name's Rider, and so like when you.
Speaker 2 (14:13):
Say your crush, you mean you're real crush or you'retube
like my YouTube.
Speaker 1 (14:17):
This was before Jensen, so like this was we were
like we should, you should come do YouTube video with us.
And then when Levin Jensen joined in, they were Riders friends,
which writer met them like that day. He was like, Okay, cool,
I guess we're like yeah right, so lad on myself. Well,
everything was like very orchestrated. Like even my best friend Walker,
(14:38):
he was I think the neighbors what we called him,
like the cute neighbor next door, and like he was
found off Instagram, like he was not a neighbor. He
like Burbank finds you and we're like those pretty genius.
Speaker 2 (14:49):
So okay, I like, as someone who's never engaged with
YouTube in this way, I guess I am a lot
older than you, and maybe for other listeners who just
like weren't on on this part of the internet, what
is happening in all of these videos? And like okay there,
they're all super different.
Speaker 1 (15:06):
So like a lot of them were challenges like last
to take your hand off the Lamborghini wins ten thousand
dollars not actually, but sorry to in case you guys
thought those were real. Then there was like handcuff to
each other, so like you'd be handcuff for twenty four
hours and then twenty four hours but not actually like
(15:27):
we would like take them off and then like I
put them back on, and then like continuity would be
messed up because somebody would put it on the wrong hand,
say ice bucket challenges, like they were all like very
like challenge oriented, and then it started to move into
more like crush content, which was like last to leave
FaceTime wins five thousand dollars to ten thousand dollars and
then like they just take cash prize it. Yeah, everything
(15:49):
was like ten thousand dollars, which I mean everyone thought
was super real, and so like when fans would come
up to us, they'd be like, oh my god, you
wont ten thousand dollars and I'd be like, yeah, no,
They're like, you're still in goodwill clothes though, We're confused,
but right, yeah, no, me and my ten k we
still go thrifting. But yeah, it was just like a
(16:10):
lot of like challenges, and then that entire era, like Gavin,
Piper and I blew up together and then we expanded
the squad and then it just kept getting larger, and
then Gavin and Piper and I ended up having a
falling out where Gavin like left whole thing and then
he kind of got replaced with Walker and Lev and
then Walker and Love were the new like love interests
(16:30):
of Piper. What happened with Gavin. Do you remember there
was Okay, so I don't remember exactly what the original
fight was over, but essentially, like I mean, Tiffany's crazy,
so like he went on and talked about it. But
Tiffany and Teresa, so Teresa's Gavin's mom, were very similar
(16:50):
but very different. Like Teresa I like to think is
like the less calculated version of like Tiffany, and like
she has these like crazy ideas and once her to
blow up and very big like industry mom. So they
kind of went like at it with each other, and
like there was just lots of like arguing between parents
and then I believe the final straw because Tiffany also
(17:12):
would like yell at all of us and so yeah,
on top of this, as in the kids, Yeah, it's
like Piper, Gavin and I and there was one night
we were all together and I don't even know what
like the argument was over, like I couldn't even tell you.
Probably over like a litter box not getting done to
be honest, But this was at Piper's house before I
lived with her, And it's Gavin, Piper and I and
Tiffany's just like screaming her head off going off, and
(17:36):
so we're like, what is going on? Like why is
she like so mad, because like she would get mad,
but we didn't like know what this reasoning was. And
so we go we hide in her closet and like
we all three lock ourselves in the closet because we
got scared because she was like screaming, like oh sad.
And then Gavin starts calling Teresa in the closet, like
(17:56):
trying to like get her to pick up. It's late.
I think I called and texted my I was having
a sleepover, so like she was not awake, So I'm like, Okay,
what do we do? What ended up happening? Tiffany like
found us in the closets, like banging on the door,
like get out. We're like what do we do? She
just had like a lot of like mental issues, and
like Avin saw that and like was a part of
(18:17):
a lot of it, and then he went he left.
Speaker 2 (18:30):
So Tiffany's showing red flags pretty pretty early on.
Speaker 1 (18:34):
Yeah, but there's a lot of things that like I
didn't necessarily know wasn't like normal, if that makes sense.
Like my friends growing up in like North Carolina, again,
I was a lot younger, their parents weren't like this,
but like maybe this is just like the new norm.
And like, also I really adored Piper and still do
to this day, Like I wish her nothing but the best,
(18:54):
and like I've made that very clear.
Speaker 2 (18:56):
No, you loved her so much, so cute, and I was.
Speaker 1 (19:00):
Like, go do your thing, like this is my best friend,
Like we're gonna ride this out if her mom's crazy
eats whatever. And then like the cameraman hunter who's also
dating Tiffany at the time for like a very long time.
Speaker 4 (19:10):
But Piper's mom is dating the the guy man who's like.
Speaker 1 (19:14):
Filming but also saying like online that that's her older brother.
So like, okay, okay, it was likely.
Speaker 4 (19:21):
I was, So Tiffany is dating the cameraman who's how
much younger than her?
Speaker 1 (19:25):
He's like probably like twenty four, so twenty three, twenty four, okay.
Speaker 4 (19:28):
So Piper's mother's in her late thirties and early forties.
I'm assuming, Yeah, she's dating the boy that they're pretending
is Piper's brother brother.
Speaker 1 (19:37):
Yeah, Like and from the get go when we met,
like I remember she like said this is my brother
and I was like, okay, so like I remember meeting
him and then not really knowing that him and like
Tiffany were like a thing, like they had a room
together and like Piper had her own room. But I
was like okay, like I don't know what's going on.
But we went to the beach, and what kind of
confirmed that is that like Hunter was driving Tiffany's in
(19:59):
the front seat and he made some comment where it
was like, yeah, it's crazy, everyone thinks that I'm Piper's dad.
Slip my mind. I was like okay, and then I
was like, wait, why would everyone think that your Piper's dad?
Like I like started to like come to it. It's
like wait, why I would people think that they were
Later like okay, like there's no brother, there's not even
a correlation of being related. It's just like we just
(20:20):
say that online it does better, and that's just.
Speaker 2 (20:21):
I serve to you, like totally normal. Well, the thing
that keeps tripping me out is that like if the
internet thinks that who cares because he's playing a character,
But it sounds like the lines were blurred sometimes between
what was real just what was the story online.
Speaker 1 (20:37):
Well, it was confusing to me too, because like at first,
like there wasn't like he introduced himself. He's like him Hunter.
I was like okay, and then at one point they
were like, oh yeah, like this is like brother and
I was like okay. And then it was like no,
he's like online brother, like fake brother. And I was
like okay, Like I remember I believe I told my mom.
I was like, I think she has a brother. I
don't really like I don't really know.
Speaker 2 (20:57):
What's going on, like because if it happened communicated to
you guys, like hey, this is my boyfriend, like that
would have not been weird.
Speaker 1 (21:05):
Like Hunter just seemed like younger to me, and like
there's fifty's a little older. So like it was just
like very odd, dynamic and then also trying to hide
it from people who are close to you and then
like taking.
Speaker 2 (21:15):
It back was odd.
Speaker 1 (21:16):
Yeah. And I think they recently came out or not recently,
about like a year or two ago, and they were
like that was all fake, by the way, and the
fans were like fine with it. I was like, okay, okay,
Well it mine boggled me for years. I was like,
why did you'll do that?
Speaker 2 (21:28):
This is all so trippy to me, Like just the
format I think itself where it's like and now this
is my boyfriend, and here's my brother, and this.
Speaker 1 (21:37):
Is my fake friend. Like it's just like this is
totally made up life, right, just.
Speaker 4 (21:42):
Like you said, it's a Disney show, but it's supposed
without the professional Yeah, without the clear delineation between real.
Speaker 1 (21:50):
Life and set when you're like also like growing up
with somebody too. It's like I would say, she was
a very big chapter of like a good portion of
my childhood. So like when I left, there was a
lot of things I was still doing that I thought
was like normal, and then people were like, hey, like
that's no, that wasn't normal. What was happening here? This
isn't normal? And it's like you have to like retrain
your brain kind of in a sense where it's like, Okay,
(22:12):
this thing that I like normify or normal normalize normalized.
There you go normalized normalized. Yeah, the thing that I
like normified normalized is not actually normal, And like you
have to like go back and then like figure out, okay,
well what is normal and then what is okay? And
like that sort of gist, which was super interesting because
(22:34):
again you can think that something's like wrong or off,
and this is kind of what happened with us a
lot is I would say like, Okay, this isn't normal,
Like I think that this isn't normal, and then they
would treat it as something so normal that I'd be like, Okay,
maybe it is, and I'm just like you're crazy.
Speaker 4 (22:49):
One what we see with people is that they're in
an environment where everybody's like, no, it's fine, yeah, but
that's what we do. And you're like, oh, okay.
Speaker 1 (22:58):
Yeah exactly. I'm like all right, sure, and then like
not like I didn't go to my mom about literally
anything that went on for and so like we left
and we had this whole interview and she saw that
like Tiffany would like yell and like she had like bipolarism,
Like like my mom knew about that stuff, but she
didn't know how deep it went into everything. So like
when I started to like explain stuff to her, she
(23:20):
was like, wait, what's going on? Like what is happening here?
Why didn't you tell her?
Speaker 2 (23:25):
I mean, and we'll get into more of what was
actually going on, but like, did you feel like you
couldn't talk about what Tiffany did?
Speaker 1 (23:31):
Like there were things that like I just there was
this one time and specific that I remember, like so clearly.
And we were on the way to drop off Piper
at this photo shoot and I went with Tiffany and
I like met the photographers. They're like nice to meet, yoush,
come to the next one whatever, And so we dropped
her off and like I'm walking and she has Frank
(23:52):
in her hands. Frank is just like talking bug.
Speaker 2 (23:57):
So he's a crazy that.
Speaker 4 (24:00):
He's just a cute, normal pog dog that Tiffany will
do a voice for and you can do the voice
for us in a bet.
Speaker 2 (24:05):
But she has she has.
Speaker 1 (24:07):
It's like a character.
Speaker 2 (24:07):
She take care but but he dog is real. The
dog is real, And so you have Frank the puglin.
Speaker 1 (24:13):
Right, and she just like talks for I think she
had Frank in her hands. It could have been Pablo
she has. Pablo is a bird who also talked, which
no one knows. I guess people don't know this. But
Pablo also had a voice.
Speaker 4 (24:23):
Oh no, that was also Tiffany's voice. Or was Pablo
a bird that could actually talk?
Speaker 1 (24:28):
No, it was Tiffany's. Yeah, So I try to think
if she had Frank in her hands, maybe not, maybe not,
But she started talking as Frank. No, I don't think
she did have Frank or maybe she did. No, she didn't.
She didn't have Frank in her hands. Sorry, she did
not have Frank in her hands. Were walking away, and
I thought it was Frank because all the damn animal
voices sound the same. She's got this whole cast of characters. Yeah,
(24:51):
there's like a whole like she should do some like
voice acting at this point, like what's going on?
Speaker 2 (24:55):
Well, there's only one voice, right, I'm yeah, true.
Speaker 1 (25:00):
Me there, but yeah no, So we're walking and I
can get like the kind of graphic right, yeah, whatever.
So we're walking and she does the voice and she's like, TOPI,
what's a dildo? Oh my god baby at the time, right,
So I laugh and I'm like because I don't know
what it is, and I have this lady asking me,
(25:21):
and I feel like my side note, sidebar, my grandpa
and I always act like we know everything even though
we lo ki don't, like we just like I have
this thing where I feel like I need to like
not impress people, but to like act like I know
things even sometimes if I don't.
Speaker 2 (25:36):
Yeah, like I don't know. We've all been there. I
was like that when I was younger, too.
Speaker 1 (25:38):
Yeah, yeah, so especially at that point. So yeah, I
just laughed and I was like, ah, you know, and
she was like, no, explain it to me or walking
to the car, and I was like, how do I
explain this to it? I don't even know what I'm explaining.
And I was like, just a thing people have, and
she was like, really, what's it used for? As like
the frank voice. So I'm like, I'm.
Speaker 2 (25:56):
Thinking it's okay. So the frank voice.
Speaker 4 (25:59):
Is pretty much and just because she's like doing it
in this weird voice, she feels this ease to say
the weirdest, creepiest shit to kids.
Speaker 2 (26:09):
She seem says that voice to be sexually inappropriate with children.
Speaker 1 (26:13):
Yes, And so I was very taken aback and like
I was trying. I don't think I think I had
heard that character, the sexual one. His name is Lenny,
and he's like a dead cat. Basically, long story short,
Piper had this cat. She really loved it, and Tiffany
had a voice for the cat and when it died,
she kept the voice going like that was like, oh cute,
wholesome story. Didn't realize that Lenny was like a sexual pervert.
Speaker 4 (26:35):
Okay, So Lenny the kitten was a sexual pervert when
Tiffany would do his voice and she just kept Lenny's
spirit and.
Speaker 1 (26:42):
Because Piper missed that, I guess, but sure, right, And
so I think I probably had heard Lenny's voice like
maybe a few times before that, but like this was
like really confusing to me. And I think I was like, Frank,
like what's going on? Like I like made a joke
like okay, Frank, and she was like it's not Frank,
Like what is going on? Like I was like okay,
(27:04):
And I got in the car and I sat there
and like she kind of let the whole dildo conversation
go and I'm sitting in the car with her. I
believe we went to like maybe like Starbucks or something
and came back and got Piper. But I was like
sitting there and I was like, what is a Tilda?
Like I need to know. So I'm like searching it.
I'm spelling it wrong. There's like literal dough that's coming
up on Google. I'm like, okay, Like I don't I'm
(27:26):
like I don't pick right, No, I don't know what
I'm looking for. And I remember seeing a photo of
one and I was like what like I don't know
what this is your like what is that? Like, IM
very confused.
Speaker 2 (27:39):
I hate this. I hate that you learn this term
for the first time from a mother, Like that's.
Speaker 1 (27:43):
As I'm thinking, it's like frank and whatnot. And so
then I like sat there and I was like okay,
and I remember, like to myself, I was like, I'm
not gonna like tell my mom about that because like that,
like I know she was going to like lose her
shit on this lady. So I was like, okay, like
it's fine, maybe she just misspoke or something whatever, but
like weird and like it's just that conversation, like the
dildo talk kept getting re like asked multiple times, like
(28:08):
as like days went further, like she like brought it
up again, and I'd be like like I was like, okay, dude,
a thing that people use, Like I was like getting
my context clues, but again I was still confused, like
yeah right, so like but now I've seen what one
looks like. I'm confused, but I'm like okay, you know,
and I literally I remember the second time she asked
(28:29):
me about it. I was like, you can look it up.
Speaker 2 (28:31):
Nice right right.
Speaker 1 (28:32):
I was like I ate down let's get Yeah, I
was like attitude no, but she didn't like that answer,
and it was like, why are you talking to an
adult that way? Like whole yelling? Why are you talking
to a child that way? Right? And so like that's
just kind of like how things would go. It's like
if you went against Lenny or like into it, she
would get really frustrated and upset. And like if you
(28:54):
ever like said like, oh, you're being creepy or weird
for example, it that like threw her.
Speaker 4 (29:00):
So Lenny, Frank, and Pablo are all her alter ego
animal voices, and if you go against these animal.
Speaker 1 (29:07):
Voices, you're like the problem.
Speaker 2 (29:09):
You're the problem. Yeah, got you.
Speaker 1 (29:11):
Like a lot of things from then, Like I think
I don't blame myself because I was young, but I
do think like I let things. I let the doors open,
if that makes sense. When it comes to like the
dildo stuff where it's like, okay, like maybe you just
don't act like you know everything, but you.
Speaker 2 (29:30):
You don't get that one.
Speaker 1 (29:33):
We're taking that away from him?
Speaker 5 (29:35):
No, no, no, no, just correct yes, right, So talk
about how things sort of started to pick up, like
everyone's followings were growing.
Speaker 1 (29:47):
Rape right, very rapid, So I got thrown into the
public eye super young, like Piper and I would and Gavin.
Like when we us three were a thing on YouTube,
we were the top like walk twelve year olds like
in the world at one point.
Speaker 2 (30:02):
Wow.
Speaker 1 (30:02):
Yeah, so like everyone like we would go to a
malls and it would be like swarms of people, like
just super like lots of lots of people. And that's
very pressuring at like twelve and like eleven and ten
and like all of us being so young and like
having to be careful and what we do on social
media like it honestly until I want to say, last year,
because last year, like I would get so scared that
(30:23):
I'd be like caught out on like because people would
like follow us with like in like film us and
like it also came to our house at one point
later on scary. Yeah, so like it followed me up
until like about a year ago that I would get
so scared that like somebody would like clip me if
I'm out on like a day or like like I'm
doing personal things and it's like okay, like is this
person following me? Because that's what happened at such a
(30:45):
young age, it's still like it, yeah, kind of like
you're paranoid, right, and then like you would meet people
and they would want to be your best friend, and
then they'd leave in a week and it's like okay,
like you just wanted to be on a YouTube video,
so like, oh, that's right. But we were all going
through it together. So it's like I I said this
in the documentary too, It's like we were all drowning,
but we were all drowning together, so it was like fine,
(31:06):
and like we all had the craziness behind the scenes,
but we also had the craziness like with like fans
and like what was going on there. So it's like
we all had this such a bond because we were
all so tight with each other and like understood like
what was happening. And I think that's what got us
super close so young, and like having like such a
connection at twelve years old, Like I don't think I
(31:29):
would believe like if I had a daughter she came
up to me and was like I have this beautiful
connection with somebody, I'd be like, okay, but you're also
like twelve, Like I think it's like hard to have
such an in depth friendship with somebody that young. Growing
up in the public eye was very like scary and
like I love it and I love that it happened,
but I also there's a lot that I would probably
(31:49):
like change or like I guess the way I look
at it is like when I have future kids, I'm like, no,
don't do social media, like just stay out of it.
It's fine.
Speaker 2 (31:56):
Just make you like hyper vigilant, like right were you
just like on edge all the time, like all the.
Speaker 1 (32:02):
Time on edge? And like also to like as you
grow up, as one does, like your teenage years, everything
like things get rough for people, or like you're experimenting,
you're trying new things, like you're drinking, you're exploring, and
like you're young. So to have all of that and
then be in the public eye was definitely like scary,
not that I was doing that at that age, but
(32:23):
still like going into it, it's like okay, like now
we're going through puberty and like I have the entire
internet judging me and thinking like, okay, I'm too skinny.
At one point, I'm to this, my face looks weird. Like,
so just having that and like having so much pressure
and so much hate and love at the same time
is very interesting.
Speaker 4 (32:40):
Literal nightmare, no right, And like for child stars of
the Old world media, it was still hard, but I
feel like they had more safeguards, you know, and this
is kind of the wild West, and you guys were
just like whoa.
Speaker 1 (32:50):
Yeah, like you're just kind of like thrown thrown out
there and it's like okay, like this person's gonna like
come up to you and ask you like a question
that you're probably not comfortable with, but they're also very
young and they want to know what's going on in
your personal lives. And I feel like a lot of
our fans created like these para parasocial relationships with us,
and like yes, we were online, but like felt like
they knew us too much, and like, yeah, there are
(33:12):
certain things where it's like I would never go up
to like Kylie Jenner and be like what's going on
in like the personal world? Like I just would never
do that, right, right, It's like, you know, like having
that with a kid who's not you know, like not
even really knowing yourself is definitely like interesting.
Speaker 4 (33:30):
Okay, well, Mattilda, that's what I'm calling this fake child
you're talking to Matilda, Yes, Telda, that's not Piper's real brother,
that's not my real boyfriend, and what's going on? Tiffany's
screaming at me time, you know, yeah, exactly.
Speaker 1 (33:44):
I'm like, I can't tell you anything that these helps like,
oh my god. My mom's just like smiling and waving.
She's like I love this. I like, you don't even know.
Speaker 4 (33:53):
So, I mean, I'm assuming you had to keep a
up from your mom because you want Also, were you
even goth?
Speaker 2 (33:58):
Did you just have to pretend to be god?
Speaker 4 (34:00):
Because you said one day like I'll be the goth kid,
and I are like stuck being goth?
Speaker 1 (34:04):
That was for the TV show, So for Manny, like, yes,
I was like emo gothic in that, and then like
but that was like a show acting whatever separate from this,
and then no, in the squad, I was just like
myself and like people to be like and what right
her makeup was different on YouTube?
Speaker 4 (34:22):
Absolutely, Megan, right, I'm sure like I kept secrets for
my mom because I wanted to go to a party
where a popular person might be you have you have
I want to keep a secret from my mom because
I'm like growing my career.
Speaker 2 (34:38):
So that's a whole different.
Speaker 1 (34:40):
Right, Like I'm in the public eye and also like
my mom like works her ass off. My entire life
has always been like a very hard worker. So like
when I when we had this life and like things
started to pick up too, It's like okay, like I'm
not gonna like throw that all away, and like maybe
some of this is normal, because like i would watch
Letting and Piper interact and I'd be like, Okay, this
(35:02):
is super normal to her, and like Lenny's the cat.
Lenny's Tiffany, but it's the cat. It's so it's so hard.
Speaker 4 (35:09):
So you would watch Piper and her mom interact, yes,
but her mom would be pretending to be a cat, right, yeah, okay,
and like is it like hand puppet or she was
just nowhere?
Speaker 1 (35:21):
Like it would basically like switch on and off, and
like as if like new characters came in, like new
like what's it called squad people would come in, Like
I would get so nervous that she would like do
the voice in front of them, and we'd like lose friends.
So I'd be like, okay, like maybe she won't and
she usually didn't like at first, right, So I'm like okay,
(35:41):
like we're good, like we saw friends, but no Lenny
basically we would be talking right and like I could
always I could always kind of like not tell necessarily,
but like I started to pick it up when like
it was changing into Lenny and so like she'd be
talking normally and then like she would just like get
quiet for a minute and then she would do like
the Frank. It sounded just like Frank, and she would
(36:02):
do that voice, and then it would be like like
which one is this? And then you could usually tell
right away when it was Lenny or Frank. And so
because they have different personalities, very different personalities, like Frank
on YouTube and whatnot wanted to like flirt with the moms,
was like this like flirty kind of like Pug character whatever,
and like he was kind of like an asshole of everybody,
like that was his thing, and the kids like watching
(36:24):
us loved it. Lenny was not like that. Like it
would just be like you'd be sitting there and I'd
be like when we lived there, like cleaning a litter box,
and like Tiffany would come in, it would switch on
and she would say something crazy shit as Lenny and
then just walk away and I'd be like okay, and then.
Speaker 2 (36:38):
Drinking is that what it is is it?
Speaker 1 (36:40):
Like, no, No, this is just like her, Like I
mean not that I noticed, like unless she was doing
it secretly.
Speaker 2 (36:47):
But have you guys seen I don't know. It's just
like giving split. Yes, So I wasna say, multiple personalities.
Speaker 1 (36:53):
There is this thing, multiple personalities disorder. And I was
watching this movie called Split, like not too long ago,
and Claire, who's also in the squad, like, we were
watching it together and like we're like, oh my god,
Like this is very similar to how Tiffany is. But
it's not like a fully different person. It's like she'll
be this person and then be like Tiffany. She knows
what she's doing, right.
Speaker 2 (37:14):
It's not just associative identity disorder, which is something you know, yeah, but.
Speaker 1 (37:18):
It's very similar to that, Like you can talk to Lenny,
who's its own person and its own entity, even though
it's not.
Speaker 2 (37:25):
I was gonna say, it reminds me of like, sorry
to bring up in triloquism again, it's a it's AULI
I can't stop talking about it. No, there's a there's
a movie called Magic with Anthony Hopkins from the eighties.
It's a horror movie about a ventriloquist and like there's
like a time.
Speaker 1 (37:43):
Character where like.
Speaker 2 (37:45):
There's this idea of people like they use the dummy
to like get out there nice.
Speaker 1 (37:49):
Yes, Okay, that's exactly like how it felt, because like
she would like say something and it's like basically backed
by or like justified because it's not Tiffany.
Speaker 2 (37:58):
It's funny ming through using and cute animal right right.
Speaker 1 (38:04):
I never met Lenny. I think I saw a photo
of him once, but she was like this tabby cat.
Never met Lenny, like the actual kitten because it died
when she was like back in George, I believe, like
I don't even think it the cat made it out
into la. That was like also odd to me, like
why because like all the other animals were living, so
why is this one dead one weirder?
Speaker 2 (38:25):
It's so much weirder. The whole thing is so creepy.
Speaker 1 (38:29):
Yeah, And like it was just super like vulgar like
words that she would use and like very vulgar things
that like she would do, and like it even ruined
like dating and like intimacy for me for a very
long time because I was like I can't like do
this because I'm getting like weirded out. And like I
also was very like not sexual, but like had a
(38:51):
lot of sexual experiences super young from that mom. So
like it freaked me out like going into that as
I got older, and so to explain like Okay, well
there's like this dead cat who like used to do things,
but it's not really a cat, it's a mom. And
then people look at you like you're crazy, and I'm like, okay, maybe.
Speaker 2 (39:06):
Just the documentary.
Speaker 1 (39:09):
Yeah no, And but that's just like the documentary is really,
in my opinion, just like the tip of the iceberg,
Like it's not even fully like in depth of like
the Lenny stuff and like what was going on. And
then like even from the documentary, people have their own opinions,
like Okay, I said something like I woke up and
she was on top of me, and they're like I
saw like this one lady and she was like she
didn't specify exactly what was going on. I'm like, okay, well,
(39:31):
first of all, you don't have to do that exactly.
And also it's like there's so much more to that.
It's not like she just did it once and like
I just overreacted. Like there was multiple people who have
met Lennie, like my best friend Claire who's in the documentary.
She's met Lennie. Her little sister met Lennie at like
eight years old. Like everybody had known this character, and
(39:54):
Gavin knew about Lenny too, and like talked about it.
When he left. He made his whole YouTube video which
was like explaining everything that Tiffany had done, and then
later on took it all back because now him and
Piper are a thing. I believe. Oh, like now, yeah,
they're like dating. I don't know if it's real, to
be honest, because.
Speaker 2 (40:11):
Like I've let's take a while guess that it's not.
Speaker 1 (40:14):
I would write, I would assume that it's not. But
then again, who knows. They got a lot in common,
so I don't, you know, yeah, who knows?
Speaker 2 (40:21):
Like okay, who knows.
Speaker 1 (40:22):
But it's like this weird you have to take everything
back and like worship us or you know, we're not
gonna see you again. That's where we're gonna leave Part
one with Sophie.
Speaker 2 (40:35):
Come back next week for part two to hear the
rest of her story, and until then, Megan question for you,
would you join Maybe not this exact squad since they
were children, but would you join a different squad one
hundred percent.
Speaker 4 (40:50):
Yes, I would join that squad if I was a child.
I love a good squad. I want to fit in.
Are you kidding me? Like built in friends and worships
that think I'm great?
Speaker 2 (41:01):
It's so true. Sign me up.
Speaker 4 (41:03):
I completely see how this happened, and all it takes
is one bad actor at the top to kind of
ruin it for everybody. You know, I could see growing
up without a Tiffany leader and being like, why was
I pretending to have a crush on someone that was weird?
But you know, I think it's pretty innocuous at the
(41:24):
core if it's not being led by a terrible person.
Speaker 2 (41:29):
Yeah, I fell one single influencer family. They're all adults.
It's like adult children with their parents. Ah, and I
love them so much. It's so wholesome. Is it? The
three guys with their dad? Yes? I love that.
Speaker 1 (41:45):
Wait what are they called?
Speaker 2 (41:46):
We should probably find that out.
Speaker 4 (41:48):
He's like always annoyed with them and like it's like
oldest child, middle child, youngest child.
Speaker 2 (41:53):
Wait, I don't know if that's the same thing. They
do a lot of content about dads and things that
are things that dad and it's very accurate. I think
this is the same. It's the McFarlands on Instagram and
they followed me back and I was so happy, and
I love them so much. They're all so funny and wholesome.
Are any of them single? I don't think so, because
(42:14):
if they were, Oh, this isn't the same one that
I This isn't the.
Speaker 4 (42:18):
Same one that I follow. But I do love these
ones too. Yeah, once they're older, like, go off, have fun.
Speaker 2 (42:24):
I mean also like if as a family they wanted
to participate and do content when they were young, and
that was something the kids want to do, who care?
Speaker 1 (42:30):
You know what I mean?
Speaker 2 (42:31):
Like what you were saying, there's not inherently anything wrong
with filming videos with your family, Like we filmed videos
at home all the time when we were kids. You know,
they just were on VHS tapes. But the key is
to make sure that it's done safely, in with responsible people,
and that the kids are being looked out for. Yeah.
Speaker 4 (42:47):
Absolutely, And next week we get into even more with
Sophie's story.
Speaker 2 (42:52):
As always, rate us five.
Speaker 4 (42:54):
Stars and remember to follow your guts, watch out for
red flags, and never ever trust me.
Speaker 2 (43:03):
Bye. This has been an exactly right production. Hosted by
me Lola Blanc and me Megan Elizabeth. Our senior producer
is G. Holly. This episode was mixed by John Bradley.
Speaker 4 (43:15):
Our associate producer is Christina Chamberlain, and our guest booker
is Patrick Kottner.
Speaker 2 (43:20):
Our theme song was composed by Holly Ambert Church.
Speaker 4 (43:23):
Trust Me as executive produced by Karen Kilgareth Georgia Hartstark
and Danielle Kramer.
Speaker 2 (43:28):
You can find us on Instagram at trust Me podcast
or on TikTok at trust Me Coult podcast.
Speaker 4 (43:33):
Got your own story about cults, extreme belief, our manipulation.
Shoot us an email at trustmepod at gmail dot com.
Speaker 2 (43:39):
Listen to trust Me on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts,
or wherever you get your podcasts
Trust me?
Speaker 2 (00:02):
Do you trust me?
Speaker 1 (00:04):
Right? Ever?
Speaker 3 (00:05):
Lead you astray tr us?
Speaker 2 (00:06):
This is the truth, the only truth. If anybody ever
tells you to just trust them, don't welcome to trust me.
The podcast about cult's extreme belief and manipulation from two
fully grown influencers who've actually experienced it. I am well
obloc I am Megan Elizabeth. We're not influencers, you guys,
(00:27):
but you kind of are.
Speaker 1 (00:29):
I don't know.
Speaker 2 (00:29):
I post a video like once a month.
Speaker 3 (00:32):
Is that?
Speaker 1 (00:33):
Is that what influencers do?
Speaker 2 (00:35):
Okay? This weekest Part one with Sophie Fergey, actual influencer,
former child influencer who told her story in the Netflix
DOCKU series Bad Influence, The Dark Side of Kidfluencing. Today,
she's going to tell us about how she first met
Piper Raquel, who was a YouTube influencer, and how Piper's mom, Tiffany,
formed the Squad, a group of children making content together
(00:57):
for their YouTube channels.
Speaker 4 (00:59):
Sophie will tell us about filming the videos, which included
fake challenges, fake crushes and relationships, and carefully curated drama
that blurred the lines between reality and performance. And now
she began to see red flags with Tiffany, who created
characters based on family animals, which Tiffany used to speak
inappropriately to the kids.
Speaker 2 (01:19):
And next week we will talk about how they all
moved in together and how everything began to escalate before
we start with Sophie. Megan, can you tell me your
cultiest thing of this week? I can.
Speaker 4 (01:33):
It's not exactly from this week, but I've been wanting
to do an interview with somebody from Nickelodeon. They had
that documentary Quiet on Set, The Dark Side of Kids TV.
Speaker 2 (01:42):
Did you see that?
Speaker 1 (01:43):
No?
Speaker 2 (01:44):
I didn't.
Speaker 4 (01:44):
Okay, it's really really horrible but fascinating, and there's a
lot of parallels between what Sophie speaks about and this
documentary about how Nickelodeon was basically kind of culty. You know,
you had Dan Schneider who was kind of the leader
of this whole operation, and you know, everybody kind of
(02:05):
came away with really icky experiences. They talk about how
a lot of their audience were older men, which kind
of correlates to some of the YouTube problems going on,
and I would love to do an interview with somebody
who experienced that culture. And then also it is worth
noting like Sophie today is talking a lot about Piper
(02:26):
and what Piper's mom is kind of putting Everry through.
Speaker 2 (02:29):
And Piper is now on OnlyFans, which I hate. So
I don't know.
Speaker 4 (02:33):
It's just such a complicated world, and I wonder what's
going to happen in the future and if we can
make this world safer for child performers.
Speaker 2 (02:43):
Yes, indeed, yeah, the only fans thing is it's so
complicated because you want people to be able to, you know,
if they authentically want to be on only fans, as
many of my friends have been, there is no problem
with that. But it just depends on like what is
the origin of that, And because it's.
Speaker 4 (02:57):
Kind of like an eighteenth birthday, you know, like, yeah,
it's not great, it's not great.
Speaker 1 (03:01):
I don't know the appeal. It's like who is that
appealing to?
Speaker 4 (03:03):
But yeah, and again you're right, if she's like, this
is my dream, then go get that money.
Speaker 2 (03:09):
But just given the like way she was raised, well,
the fact that she was known as a child, and
so all of these people probably had been sort of
like waiting for this moment, and that's what makes it creepy.
It's not inherently because she's on only fans, because it's
like she went from being a child star who was
watched by all these adults.
Speaker 4 (03:29):
Yeah, it's kind of serving when they had that, like
Mary Kate and actually count down to them turning.
Speaker 2 (03:34):
Eighteen or it's just like, can you guys stop?
Speaker 4 (03:36):
And because Mary Kate and Ashley made some banger movies
and don't take that from us, you know.
Speaker 2 (03:42):
Hell yeah they did Billboard Dad, one of my top
movies as a kid, was obsessed. Also, I actually completely
forgot about this part of my childhood. You just unlocked something.
But yes, Mary Kate and actually go to was it Paris?
No London? They can go wherever they damn please? Oh
when London? Well, anyway, that's unrelated to.
Speaker 4 (04:03):
The important point that you're making. But totally I hear you. Yeah,
what about you? What's your cultiest thing of the week.
Speaker 2 (04:10):
I've really got nothing, I mean, okay, so here's what
I'm picking. I went to Joshua Tree to write smart.
I did get writing done. Also had a weird, sad
conversation with someone I was dating that ended and so
I spent you know, it's whatever, dating is fucking What
is the word that I want? Cruel? It's a battle,
(04:33):
it's war. It's war out here. We're fighting our way
through it. So I was alone in the desert. No
shrooms this time. I don't always do shrooms in Joshua tree,
but when I do, I see colors.
Speaker 1 (04:44):
I see the Lord in various forms.
Speaker 2 (04:49):
No, but this time I watched around by myself and
listened to music and flailed around in the desert.
Speaker 1 (04:56):
No one could see me.
Speaker 2 (04:57):
I'm pretty confident because there weren't very many hoow close by.
But there was something so freeing about just like flailing
my fucking body around like a lunatic and looking almost
certainly insane, because I'm like, I'm in the fucking desert,
the sun is setting. This is beautiful. I'm living this life.
I guess this is my version. This is like atheist spirituality,
(05:19):
you guys. It's desert flailing and you know, we didn't
see God. We didn't do nothing like that. But I
did commune with nature in a drug free way. And
that's about as close to cultiness as I got this week. Well,
I think that's beautiful. I wish I had a video
of it, just I'm so glad you don't trying to
picture it. I looked like one of those car salesman Fluffy.
(05:44):
Oh okay, airmen, that's what I looked like. Yeah, we
discussed a couple of weeks ago.
Speaker 4 (05:49):
My cat is Sag and it is bringing up in
me a lot of like and dating, you know, as
you said, it brings just up a lot of unknown,
a lot of fear. You're ing into the void, and
sometimes humans in general just need to like dance around
or see something beautiful or have some meaning or something,
(06:09):
you know, like Yeah, and it sucks that people pray
upon that when we're having in these human experiences, and
that's how we get cults.
Speaker 2 (06:17):
I hate it so true. Yeah, I mean, like just
so much of modern life is like about how you're
being perceived and like thinking about how you come across
on the internet and how you know, especially in media
careers like we have. So I think it's just like
so important to take a break from that, but also
make sure it's not in the form of a cult, right,
(06:39):
Speaking of getting offline, as our guest today does speak
about at some point in this interview, Sophie has some
things to say about the internet.
Speaker 3 (06:49):
Shall we talk to Sophie. Let's do it.
Speaker 2 (07:03):
Welcome Sophie, Fergie to trust me thank you for being here.
Speaker 1 (07:07):
I'm very excited, Like I've obviously seen your guys of stuff,
and I'm just I'm really excited to be here. So
oh my god, we're excited to have you. I'm like,
I'm like a little nervous. I haven't like been interviewed,
I feel like in a while.
Speaker 2 (07:19):
So go ahead.
Speaker 1 (07:20):
I'm excited.
Speaker 2 (07:20):
Well, so grateful. Your makeup looks so great. You should
be on camera. Okay, there's so much to talk about
with you. Obviously we both watched the docuseries what is
the full name? I want to not say wrong.
Speaker 1 (07:33):
Bad Influence, the Dark Side of kid Fluency.
Speaker 2 (07:36):
Yeah, thank you.
Speaker 1 (07:37):
I haven't said that in a very long time. So
that was well.
Speaker 2 (07:41):
So start us at the beginning. What was your life
like and how old were you before you met Piper Roquel.
Speaker 1 (07:47):
So I was born in California, and then my family
and I moved to North Carolina and then came back
when I want to say, I was around like six
seven ish, and then I started doing background and like
acting projects just because I always liked being in front
of a camera. And so yeah, my mom signed me
up for background because I thought acting was super cool
(08:09):
at the time. Which one does as a seven year old.
I did this web series as a background character, and
they had like an emo character who didn't come in
I believe. I think she got sick or something, but
the gothic character was not there on set for the show,
named Manny. I think my mom was like, just go
say you can be gothic, because I was really early
(08:30):
on set for this background day which I don't know,
and I was like, Okay, I can be gothic, Like
let me just go tell them that, like they're gonna care.
But they did care, and so they had me read
these lines and they put me in hair makeup. I
stayed in character the entire day and everyone was like okay,
like and then fans liked me from that, like the
who were fans of the web series. So then they
(08:52):
brought me on and I actually met Piper from filming that. Yeah,
so it was like very full circle. But I wasn't
really close with anyone on set because I was very
to myself and like a nervous kid. And then it
all kind of started from there. And then I got
into the YouTube world and all that, and you were
how old at this time? Okay, we moved back to
California at like seven. I want to say during Manny
(09:13):
I was ten, okay, or maybe nine nine or ten
around that area. Yeah, it was very much like your
Nickelodeon Nickelodeon, like Disney Channel kind of show. Yeah, that
experience for me personally was great. It was everything after
that where it was like, Okay, this isn't like a
real set. This is like we're filming for days and
(09:33):
hours and all that.
Speaker 4 (09:34):
Okay, So I don't have to hate every single YouTuber
who's making things with children.
Speaker 2 (09:38):
Some of them can be good.
Speaker 1 (09:40):
With Brad TV, that's who did this. This was like
a show, so like that, I would say no, like,
I had a great experience there. I thought it was amazing.
No after that though, yeah, we could start hating after y.
Speaker 2 (09:56):
So okay, So what were your first impressions of Piper's
mom Tiffany?
Speaker 1 (10:01):
Okay, when I first met her, I believe it's been
so long, but I went up to her because I
think their photographer had canceled, and like I overheard and
I went back to my mom and I was like,
can I give this lady your phone number? She was
like why, and I was like, because she needs a photographer.
And you do photography, and she was like, okay, sure,
what a sweet. I was like, this is like, let's
(10:23):
see you're very fact.
Speaker 2 (10:25):
Yeah, we're very prod. So was your mom. I love
this for you both, and.
Speaker 1 (10:28):
So I was like okay, So I gave her the
phone number. And I don't believe they ever. I think
she figured out whatever happened with the photographer, so they
didn't reach out about that. But when the series came out,
she reached out for me to be in a YouTube
video and I was like, I don't do like YouTube videos,
but sure, And it was four or two characters who
were in the show and we did like a Freaky
Friday body switch and so I was like, okay, like
(10:50):
I'll go on like and do this whole YouTube thing. Sure,
and I did it and it was It was cool.
I would say my first impressions of Tiffany were like
she's like a mom with her daughter and like I
had a single mom. So I was like, this is cool,
Like you guys are just like me. And then Piper
also had a house in Georgia, which is not far
from North Carolina. I felt very much related to her.
(11:11):
And then like also she had issues with her dad
and my dad at the time were very like on
and off and still are tost day, but like she,
we had very similar lives. So my first impression was like,
oh my god, this is like my twin yeah, and
like we have so much in common. And then I
got to know Tiffany and I was like, not my twin.
Speaker 2 (11:30):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (11:30):
Was she already YouTube famous at that point? She was,
but not to the level that she is now. I
don't remember how many subscribers she had. She's really popular
on this app called Musically before it turned into TikTok, right,
but I want to say she probably had close to like,
maybe one hundred thousand subscribers maybe I mean like sizable, right,
(11:52):
definitely a good amount. I don't fully remember.
Speaker 2 (11:55):
Okay, so you guys start hanging out and like how
did that evolve into the squad?
Speaker 1 (12:00):
Okay, so her and I did YouTube videos together. They
did really well, and they're like, I think we should
like expand it. So we met this kid named Gavin
and we ended up doing these like three videos. It
was like a trio. It was called Piso Gab and
they were like kind of like a crush thing. And
then like I was like, there but like we're all
best friends because we were like little, and so we
(12:21):
did these videos and then Tiffany was like, we need
to expand, like we need to get larger. She was
super influenced by Team ten, which was Logan Paul's like thing, yeah, right,
same thing. But the thing with Team ten is that
like they all got like screwed over and like gone
tracts and all this.
Speaker 4 (12:39):
So I was like, oh, yeah, okay, you're like cool,
you are inspired by somebody who.
Speaker 2 (12:45):
That seems a lot of theory though you could do
that in a way.
Speaker 1 (12:51):
That's fine and normal.
Speaker 4 (12:53):
If she were a normal person, she could just be
getting ideas from these people.
Speaker 2 (12:57):
Yeah, exactly.
Speaker 1 (12:58):
So we expanded it. We had a friend come in
from Georgia who would visit on and off. That's Karen,
And then we then met Sawyer and his mother through
I think he had like a gold digging video out
or something, and that's how we saw him. I'm not
like literal gold digging, like it was like pranking like
these like older women that he had this like Lamborghini
(13:20):
and was like trying to pick up.
Speaker 2 (13:21):
Yeah yeah right, yeah, So but.
Speaker 1 (13:24):
I don't really remember how we like fully met everybody.
I just know, like in the beginning, when it was
like the OG squad with like Gavin, it was just
about expanding. And then like later on we did the
whole audition process with lev and Jensen to get boyfriends
and whatnot.
Speaker 2 (13:40):
So he's been so long of.
Speaker 1 (13:43):
Like trying to remember like how exactly we met, because
I was also like the parents talking, and then I.
Speaker 4 (13:47):
Would just see the character and I was like, a friend,
I guess, really, what's happening is they're building this set
to look like it's real life, you know, like this
is just happening organically. The squad's all falling in love
with people and doing things and whatever.
Speaker 2 (14:02):
Yeah, but really it's kind of a little more orchestrated.
Speaker 1 (14:05):
No, yeah, it definitely was. And then I had like
one of my childhood best friends come on and he
was like kind of my crush for a little bit.
His name's Rider, and so like when you.
Speaker 2 (14:13):
Say your crush, you mean you're real crush or you'retube
like my YouTube.
Speaker 1 (14:17):
This was before Jensen, so like this was we were
like we should, you should come do YouTube video with us.
And then when Levin Jensen joined in, they were Riders friends,
which writer met them like that day. He was like, Okay, cool,
I guess we're like yeah right, so lad on myself. Well,
everything was like very orchestrated. Like even my best friend Walker,
(14:38):
he was I think the neighbors what we called him,
like the cute neighbor next door, and like he was
found off Instagram, like he was not a neighbor. He
like Burbank finds you and we're like those pretty genius.
Speaker 2 (14:49):
So okay, I like, as someone who's never engaged with
YouTube in this way, I guess I am a lot
older than you, and maybe for other listeners who just
like weren't on on this part of the internet, what
is happening in all of these videos? And like okay there,
they're all super different.
Speaker 1 (15:06):
So like a lot of them were challenges like last
to take your hand off the Lamborghini wins ten thousand
dollars not actually, but sorry to in case you guys
thought those were real. Then there was like handcuff to
each other, so like you'd be handcuff for twenty four
hours and then twenty four hours but not actually like
(15:27):
we would like take them off and then like I
put them back on, and then like continuity would be
messed up because somebody would put it on the wrong hand,
say ice bucket challenges, like they were all like very
like challenge oriented, and then it started to move into
more like crush content, which was like last to leave
FaceTime wins five thousand dollars to ten thousand dollars and
then like they just take cash prize it. Yeah, everything
(15:49):
was like ten thousand dollars, which I mean everyone thought
was super real, and so like when fans would come
up to us, they'd be like, oh my god, you
wont ten thousand dollars and I'd be like, yeah, no,
They're like, you're still in goodwill clothes though, We're confused,
but right, yeah, no, me and my ten k we
still go thrifting. But yeah, it was just like a
(16:10):
lot of like challenges, and then that entire era, like Gavin,
Piper and I blew up together and then we expanded
the squad and then it just kept getting larger, and
then Gavin and Piper and I ended up having a
falling out where Gavin like left whole thing and then
he kind of got replaced with Walker and Lev and
then Walker and Love were the new like love interests
(16:30):
of Piper. What happened with Gavin. Do you remember there
was Okay, so I don't remember exactly what the original
fight was over, but essentially, like I mean, Tiffany's crazy,
so like he went on and talked about it. But
Tiffany and Teresa, so Teresa's Gavin's mom, were very similar
(16:50):
but very different. Like Teresa I like to think is
like the less calculated version of like Tiffany, and like
she has these like crazy ideas and once her to
blow up and very big like industry mom. So they
kind of went like at it with each other, and
like there was just lots of like arguing between parents
and then I believe the final straw because Tiffany also
(17:12):
would like yell at all of us and so yeah,
on top of this, as in the kids, Yeah, it's
like Piper, Gavin and I and there was one night
we were all together and I don't even know what
like the argument was over, like I couldn't even tell you.
Probably over like a litter box not getting done to
be honest, But this was at Piper's house before I
lived with her, And it's Gavin, Piper and I and
Tiffany's just like screaming her head off going off, and
(17:36):
so we're like, what is going on? Like why is
she like so mad, because like she would get mad,
but we didn't like know what this reasoning was. And
so we go we hide in her closet and like
we all three lock ourselves in the closet because we
got scared because she was like screaming, like oh sad.
And then Gavin starts calling Teresa in the closet, like
(17:56):
trying to like get her to pick up. It's late.
I think I called and texted my I was having
a sleepover, so like she was not awake, So I'm like, Okay,
what do we do? What ended up happening? Tiffany like
found us in the closets, like banging on the door,
like get out. We're like what do we do? She
just had like a lot of like mental issues, and
like Avin saw that and like was a part of
(18:17):
a lot of it, and then he went he left.
Speaker 2 (18:30):
So Tiffany's showing red flags pretty pretty early on.
Speaker 1 (18:34):
Yeah, but there's a lot of things that like I
didn't necessarily know wasn't like normal, if that makes sense.
Like my friends growing up in like North Carolina, again,
I was a lot younger, their parents weren't like this,
but like maybe this is just like the new norm.
And like, also I really adored Piper and still do
to this day, Like I wish her nothing but the best,
(18:54):
and like I've made that very clear.
Speaker 2 (18:56):
No, you loved her so much, so cute, and I was.
Speaker 1 (19:00):
Like, go do your thing, like this is my best friend,
Like we're gonna ride this out if her mom's crazy
eats whatever. And then like the cameraman hunter who's also
dating Tiffany at the time for like a very long time.
Speaker 4 (19:10):
But Piper's mom is dating the the guy man who's like.
Speaker 1 (19:14):
Filming but also saying like online that that's her older brother.
So like, okay, okay, it was likely.
Speaker 4 (19:21):
I was, So Tiffany is dating the cameraman who's how
much younger than her?
Speaker 1 (19:25):
He's like probably like twenty four, so twenty three, twenty four, okay.
Speaker 4 (19:28):
So Piper's mother's in her late thirties and early forties.
I'm assuming, Yeah, she's dating the boy that they're pretending
is Piper's brother brother.
Speaker 1 (19:37):
Yeah, Like and from the get go when we met,
like I remember she like said this is my brother
and I was like, okay, so like I remember meeting
him and then not really knowing that him and like
Tiffany were like a thing, like they had a room
together and like Piper had her own room. But I
was like okay, like I don't know what's going on.
But we went to the beach, and what kind of
confirmed that is that like Hunter was driving Tiffany's in
(19:59):
the front seat and he made some comment where it
was like, yeah, it's crazy, everyone thinks that I'm Piper's dad.
Slip my mind. I was like okay, and then I
was like, wait, why would everyone think that your Piper's dad?
Like I like started to like come to it. It's
like wait, why I would people think that they were
Later like okay, like there's no brother, there's not even
a correlation of being related. It's just like we just
(20:20):
say that online it does better, and that's just.
Speaker 2 (20:21):
I serve to you, like totally normal. Well, the thing
that keeps tripping me out is that like if the
internet thinks that who cares because he's playing a character,
But it sounds like the lines were blurred sometimes between
what was real just what was the story online.
Speaker 1 (20:37):
Well, it was confusing to me too, because like at first,
like there wasn't like he introduced himself. He's like him Hunter.
I was like okay, and then at one point they
were like, oh yeah, like this is like brother and
I was like okay. And then it was like no,
he's like online brother, like fake brother. And I was
like okay, Like I remember I believe I told my mom.
I was like, I think she has a brother. I
don't really like I don't really know.
Speaker 2 (20:57):
What's going on, like because if it happened communicated to
you guys, like hey, this is my boyfriend, like that
would have not been weird.
Speaker 1 (21:05):
Like Hunter just seemed like younger to me, and like
there's fifty's a little older. So like it was just
like very odd, dynamic and then also trying to hide
it from people who are close to you and then
like taking.
Speaker 2 (21:15):
It back was odd.
Speaker 1 (21:16):
Yeah. And I think they recently came out or not recently,
about like a year or two ago, and they were
like that was all fake, by the way, and the
fans were like fine with it. I was like, okay, okay,
Well it mine boggled me for years. I was like,
why did you'll do that?
Speaker 2 (21:28):
This is all so trippy to me, Like just the
format I think itself where it's like and now this
is my boyfriend, and here's my brother, and this.
Speaker 1 (21:37):
Is my fake friend. Like it's just like this is
totally made up life, right, just.
Speaker 4 (21:42):
Like you said, it's a Disney show, but it's supposed
without the professional Yeah, without the clear delineation between real.
Speaker 1 (21:50):
Life and set when you're like also like growing up
with somebody too. It's like I would say, she was
a very big chapter of like a good portion of
my childhood. So like when I left, there was a
lot of things I was still doing that I thought
was like normal, and then people were like, hey, like
that's no, that wasn't normal. What was happening here? This
isn't normal? And it's like you have to like retrain
your brain kind of in a sense where it's like, Okay,
(22:12):
this thing that I like normify or normal normalize normalized.
There you go normalized normalized. Yeah, the thing that I
like normified normalized is not actually normal, And like you
have to like go back and then like figure out, okay,
well what is normal and then what is okay? And
like that sort of gist, which was super interesting because
(22:34):
again you can think that something's like wrong or off,
and this is kind of what happened with us a
lot is I would say like, Okay, this isn't normal,
Like I think that this isn't normal, and then they
would treat it as something so normal that I'd be like, Okay,
maybe it is, and I'm just like you're crazy.
Speaker 4 (22:49):
One what we see with people is that they're in
an environment where everybody's like, no, it's fine, yeah, but
that's what we do. And you're like, oh, okay.
Speaker 1 (22:58):
Yeah exactly. I'm like all right, sure, and then like
not like I didn't go to my mom about literally
anything that went on for and so like we left
and we had this whole interview and she saw that
like Tiffany would like yell and like she had like bipolarism,
Like like my mom knew about that stuff, but she
didn't know how deep it went into everything. So like
when I started to like explain stuff to her, she
(23:20):
was like, wait, what's going on? Like what is happening here?
Why didn't you tell her?
Speaker 2 (23:25):
I mean, and we'll get into more of what was
actually going on, but like, did you feel like you
couldn't talk about what Tiffany did?
Speaker 1 (23:31):
Like there were things that like I just there was
this one time and specific that I remember, like so clearly.
And we were on the way to drop off Piper
at this photo shoot and I went with Tiffany and
I like met the photographers. They're like nice to meet, yoush,
come to the next one whatever, And so we dropped
her off and like I'm walking and she has Frank
(23:52):
in her hands. Frank is just like talking bug.
Speaker 2 (23:57):
So he's a crazy that.
Speaker 4 (24:00):
He's just a cute, normal pog dog that Tiffany will
do a voice for and you can do the voice
for us in a bet.
Speaker 2 (24:05):
But she has she has.
Speaker 1 (24:07):
It's like a character.
Speaker 2 (24:07):
She take care but but he dog is real. The
dog is real, And so you have Frank the puglin.
Speaker 1 (24:13):
Right, and she just like talks for I think she
had Frank in her hands. It could have been Pablo
she has. Pablo is a bird who also talked, which
no one knows. I guess people don't know this. But
Pablo also had a voice.
Speaker 4 (24:23):
Oh no, that was also Tiffany's voice. Or was Pablo
a bird that could actually talk?
Speaker 1 (24:28):
No, it was Tiffany's. Yeah, So I try to think
if she had Frank in her hands, maybe not, maybe not,
But she started talking as Frank. No, I don't think
she did have Frank or maybe she did. No, she didn't.
She didn't have Frank in her hands. Sorry, she did
not have Frank in her hands. Were walking away, and
I thought it was Frank because all the damn animal
voices sound the same. She's got this whole cast of characters. Yeah,
(24:51):
there's like a whole like she should do some like
voice acting at this point, like what's going on?
Speaker 2 (24:55):
Well, there's only one voice, right, I'm yeah, true.
Speaker 1 (25:00):
Me there, but yeah no, So we're walking and I
can get like the kind of graphic right, yeah, whatever.
So we're walking and she does the voice and she's like, TOPI,
what's a dildo? Oh my god baby at the time, right,
So I laugh and I'm like because I don't know
what it is, and I have this lady asking me,
(25:21):
and I feel like my side note, sidebar, my grandpa
and I always act like we know everything even though
we lo ki don't, like we just like I have
this thing where I feel like I need to like
not impress people, but to like act like I know
things even sometimes if I don't.
Speaker 2 (25:36):
Yeah, like I don't know. We've all been there. I
was like that when I was younger, too.
Speaker 1 (25:38):
Yeah, yeah, so especially at that point. So yeah, I
just laughed and I was like, ah, you know, and
she was like, no, explain it to me or walking
to the car, and I was like, how do I
explain this to it? I don't even know what I'm explaining.
And I was like, just a thing people have, and
she was like, really, what's it used for? As like
the frank voice. So I'm like, I'm.
Speaker 2 (25:56):
Thinking it's okay. So the frank voice.
Speaker 4 (25:59):
Is pretty much and just because she's like doing it
in this weird voice, she feels this ease to say
the weirdest, creepiest shit to kids.
Speaker 2 (26:09):
She seem says that voice to be sexually inappropriate with children.
Speaker 1 (26:13):
Yes, And so I was very taken aback and like
I was trying. I don't think I think I had
heard that character, the sexual one. His name is Lenny,
and he's like a dead cat. Basically, long story short,
Piper had this cat. She really loved it, and Tiffany
had a voice for the cat and when it died,
she kept the voice going like that was like, oh cute,
wholesome story. Didn't realize that Lenny was like a sexual pervert.
Speaker 4 (26:35):
Okay, So Lenny the kitten was a sexual pervert when
Tiffany would do his voice and she just kept Lenny's
spirit and.
Speaker 1 (26:42):
Because Piper missed that, I guess, but sure, right, And
so I think I probably had heard Lenny's voice like
maybe a few times before that, but like this was
like really confusing to me. And I think I was like, Frank,
like what's going on? Like I like made a joke
like okay, Frank, and she was like it's not Frank,
Like what is going on? Like I was like okay,
(27:04):
And I got in the car and I sat there
and like she kind of let the whole dildo conversation
go and I'm sitting in the car with her. I
believe we went to like maybe like Starbucks or something
and came back and got Piper. But I was like
sitting there and I was like, what is a Tilda?
Like I need to know. So I'm like searching it.
I'm spelling it wrong. There's like literal dough that's coming
up on Google. I'm like, okay, Like I don't I'm
(27:26):
like I don't pick right, No, I don't know what
I'm looking for. And I remember seeing a photo of
one and I was like what like I don't know
what this is your like what is that? Like, IM
very confused.
Speaker 2 (27:39):
I hate this. I hate that you learn this term
for the first time from a mother, Like that's.
Speaker 1 (27:43):
As I'm thinking, it's like frank and whatnot. And so
then I like sat there and I was like okay,
and I remember, like to myself, I was like, I'm
not gonna like tell my mom about that because like that,
like I know she was going to like lose her
shit on this lady. So I was like, okay, like
it's fine, maybe she just misspoke or something whatever, but
like weird and like it's just that conversation, like the
dildo talk kept getting re like asked multiple times, like
(28:08):
as like days went further, like she like brought it
up again, and I'd be like like I was like, okay, dude,
a thing that people use, Like I was like getting
my context clues, but again I was still confused, like
yeah right, so like but now I've seen what one
looks like. I'm confused, but I'm like okay, you know,
and I literally I remember the second time she asked
(28:29):
me about it. I was like, you can look it up.
Speaker 2 (28:31):
Nice right right.
Speaker 1 (28:32):
I was like I ate down let's get Yeah, I
was like attitude no, but she didn't like that answer,
and it was like, why are you talking to an
adult that way? Like whole yelling? Why are you talking
to a child that way? Right? And so like that's
just kind of like how things would go. It's like
if you went against Lenny or like into it, she
would get really frustrated and upset. And like if you
(28:54):
ever like said like, oh, you're being creepy or weird
for example, it that like threw her.
Speaker 4 (29:00):
So Lenny, Frank, and Pablo are all her alter ego
animal voices, and if you go against these animal.
Speaker 1 (29:07):
Voices, you're like the problem.
Speaker 2 (29:09):
You're the problem. Yeah, got you.
Speaker 1 (29:11):
Like a lot of things from then, Like I think
I don't blame myself because I was young, but I
do think like I let things. I let the doors open,
if that makes sense. When it comes to like the
dildo stuff where it's like, okay, like maybe you just
don't act like you know everything, but you.
Speaker 2 (29:30):
You don't get that one.
Speaker 1 (29:33):
We're taking that away from him?
Speaker 5 (29:35):
No, no, no, no, just correct yes, right, So talk
about how things sort of started to pick up, like
everyone's followings were growing.
Speaker 1 (29:47):
Rape right, very rapid, So I got thrown into the
public eye super young, like Piper and I would and Gavin.
Like when we us three were a thing on YouTube,
we were the top like walk twelve year olds like
in the world at one point.
Speaker 2 (30:02):
Wow.
Speaker 1 (30:02):
Yeah, so like everyone like we would go to a
malls and it would be like swarms of people, like
just super like lots of lots of people. And that's
very pressuring at like twelve and like eleven and ten
and like all of us being so young and like
having to be careful and what we do on social
media like it honestly until I want to say, last year,
because last year, like I would get so scared that
(30:23):
I'd be like caught out on like because people would
like follow us with like in like film us and
like it also came to our house at one point
later on scary. Yeah, so like it followed me up
until like about a year ago that I would get
so scared that like somebody would like clip me if
I'm out on like a day or like like I'm
doing personal things and it's like okay, like is this
person following me? Because that's what happened at such a
(30:45):
young age, it's still like it, yeah, kind of like
you're paranoid, right, and then like you would meet people
and they would want to be your best friend, and
then they'd leave in a week and it's like okay,
like you just wanted to be on a YouTube video,
so like, oh, that's right. But we were all going
through it together. So it's like I I said this
in the documentary too, It's like we were all drowning,
but we were all drowning together, so it was like fine,
(31:06):
and like we all had the craziness behind the scenes,
but we also had the craziness like with like fans
and like what was going on there. So it's like
we all had this such a bond because we were
all so tight with each other and like understood like
what was happening. And I think that's what got us
super close so young, and like having like such a
connection at twelve years old, Like I don't think I
(31:29):
would believe like if I had a daughter she came
up to me and was like I have this beautiful
connection with somebody, I'd be like, okay, but you're also
like twelve, Like I think it's like hard to have
such an in depth friendship with somebody that young. Growing
up in the public eye was very like scary and
like I love it and I love that it happened,
but I also there's a lot that I would probably
(31:49):
like change or like I guess the way I look
at it is like when I have future kids, I'm like, no,
don't do social media, like just stay out of it.
It's fine.
Speaker 2 (31:56):
Just make you like hyper vigilant, like right were you
just like on edge all the time, like all the.
Speaker 1 (32:02):
Time on edge? And like also to like as you
grow up, as one does, like your teenage years, everything
like things get rough for people, or like you're experimenting,
you're trying new things, like you're drinking, you're exploring, and
like you're young. So to have all of that and
then be in the public eye was definitely like scary,
not that I was doing that at that age, but
(32:23):
still like going into it, it's like okay, like now
we're going through puberty and like I have the entire
internet judging me and thinking like, okay, I'm too skinny.
At one point, I'm to this, my face looks weird. Like,
so just having that and like having so much pressure
and so much hate and love at the same time
is very interesting.
Speaker 4 (32:40):
Literal nightmare, no right, And like for child stars of
the Old world media, it was still hard, but I
feel like they had more safeguards, you know, and this
is kind of the wild West, and you guys were
just like whoa.
Speaker 1 (32:50):
Yeah, like you're just kind of like thrown thrown out
there and it's like okay, like this person's gonna like
come up to you and ask you like a question
that you're probably not comfortable with, but they're also very
young and they want to know what's going on in
your personal lives. And I feel like a lot of
our fans created like these para parasocial relationships with us,
and like yes, we were online, but like felt like
they knew us too much, and like, yeah, there are
(33:12):
certain things where it's like I would never go up
to like Kylie Jenner and be like what's going on
in like the personal world? Like I just would never
do that, right, right, It's like, you know, like having
that with a kid who's not you know, like not
even really knowing yourself is definitely like interesting.
Speaker 4 (33:30):
Okay, well, Mattilda, that's what I'm calling this fake child
you're talking to Matilda, Yes, Telda, that's not Piper's real brother,
that's not my real boyfriend, and what's going on? Tiffany's
screaming at me time, you know, yeah, exactly.
Speaker 1 (33:44):
I'm like, I can't tell you anything that these helps like,
oh my god. My mom's just like smiling and waving.
She's like I love this. I like, you don't even know.
Speaker 4 (33:53):
So, I mean, I'm assuming you had to keep a
up from your mom because you want Also, were you
even goth?
Speaker 2 (33:58):
Did you just have to pretend to be god?
Speaker 4 (34:00):
Because you said one day like I'll be the goth kid,
and I are like stuck being goth?
Speaker 1 (34:04):
That was for the TV show, So for Manny, like, yes,
I was like emo gothic in that, and then like
but that was like a show acting whatever separate from this,
and then no, in the squad, I was just like
myself and like people to be like and what right
her makeup was different on YouTube?
Speaker 4 (34:22):
Absolutely, Megan, right, I'm sure like I kept secrets for
my mom because I wanted to go to a party
where a popular person might be you have you have
I want to keep a secret from my mom because
I'm like growing my career.
Speaker 2 (34:38):
So that's a whole different.
Speaker 1 (34:40):
Right, Like I'm in the public eye and also like
my mom like works her ass off. My entire life
has always been like a very hard worker. So like
when I when we had this life and like things
started to pick up too, It's like okay, like I'm
not gonna like throw that all away, and like maybe
some of this is normal, because like i would watch
Letting and Piper interact and I'd be like, Okay, this
(35:02):
is super normal to her, and like Lenny's the cat.
Lenny's Tiffany, but it's the cat. It's so it's so hard.
Speaker 4 (35:09):
So you would watch Piper and her mom interact, yes,
but her mom would be pretending to be a cat, right, yeah, okay,
and like is it like hand puppet or she was
just nowhere?
Speaker 1 (35:21):
Like it would basically like switch on and off, and
like as if like new characters came in, like new
like what's it called squad people would come in, Like
I would get so nervous that she would like do
the voice in front of them, and we'd like lose friends.
So I'd be like, okay, like maybe she won't and
she usually didn't like at first, right, So I'm like okay,
(35:41):
like we're good, like we saw friends, but no Lenny
basically we would be talking right and like I could
always I could always kind of like not tell necessarily,
but like I started to pick it up when like
it was changing into Lenny and so like she'd be
talking normally and then like she would just like get
quiet for a minute and then she would do like
the Frank. It sounded just like Frank, and she would
(36:02):
do that voice, and then it would be like like
which one is this? And then you could usually tell
right away when it was Lenny or Frank. And so
because they have different personalities, very different personalities, like Frank
on YouTube and whatnot wanted to like flirt with the moms,
was like this like flirty kind of like Pug character whatever,
and like he was kind of like an asshole of everybody,
like that was his thing, and the kids like watching
(36:24):
us loved it. Lenny was not like that. Like it
would just be like you'd be sitting there and I'd
be like when we lived there, like cleaning a litter box,
and like Tiffany would come in, it would switch on
and she would say something crazy shit as Lenny and
then just walk away and I'd be like okay, and then.
Speaker 2 (36:38):
Drinking is that what it is is it?
Speaker 1 (36:40):
Like, no, No, this is just like her, Like I
mean not that I noticed, like unless she was doing
it secretly.
Speaker 2 (36:47):
But have you guys seen I don't know. It's just
like giving split. Yes, So I wasna say, multiple personalities.
Speaker 1 (36:53):
There is this thing, multiple personalities disorder. And I was
watching this movie called Split, like not too long ago,
and Claire, who's also in the squad, like, we were
watching it together and like we're like, oh my god,
Like this is very similar to how Tiffany is. But
it's not like a fully different person. It's like she'll
be this person and then be like Tiffany. She knows
what she's doing, right.
Speaker 2 (37:14):
It's not just associative identity disorder, which is something you know, yeah, but.
Speaker 1 (37:18):
It's very similar to that, Like you can talk to Lenny,
who's its own person and its own entity, even though
it's not.
Speaker 2 (37:25):
I was gonna say, it reminds me of like, sorry
to bring up in triloquism again, it's a it's AULI
I can't stop talking about it. No, there's a there's
a movie called Magic with Anthony Hopkins from the eighties.
It's a horror movie about a ventriloquist and like there's
like a time.
Speaker 1 (37:43):
Character where like.
Speaker 2 (37:45):
There's this idea of people like they use the dummy
to like get out there nice.
Speaker 1 (37:49):
Yes, Okay, that's exactly like how it felt, because like
she would like say something and it's like basically backed
by or like justified because it's not Tiffany.
Speaker 2 (37:58):
It's funny ming through using and cute animal right right.
Speaker 1 (38:04):
I never met Lenny. I think I saw a photo
of him once, but she was like this tabby cat.
Never met Lenny, like the actual kitten because it died
when she was like back in George, I believe, like
I don't even think it the cat made it out
into la. That was like also odd to me, like
why because like all the other animals were living, so
why is this one dead one weirder?
Speaker 2 (38:25):
It's so much weirder. The whole thing is so creepy.
Speaker 1 (38:29):
Yeah, And like it was just super like vulgar like
words that she would use and like very vulgar things
that like she would do, and like it even ruined
like dating and like intimacy for me for a very
long time because I was like I can't like do
this because I'm getting like weirded out. And like I
also was very like not sexual, but like had a
(38:51):
lot of sexual experiences super young from that mom. So
like it freaked me out like going into that as
I got older, and so to explain like Okay, well
there's like this dead cat who like used to do things,
but it's not really a cat, it's a mom. And
then people look at you like you're crazy, and I'm like, okay, maybe.
Speaker 2 (39:06):
Just the documentary.
Speaker 1 (39:09):
Yeah no, And but that's just like the documentary is really,
in my opinion, just like the tip of the iceberg,
Like it's not even fully like in depth of like
the Lenny stuff and like what was going on. And
then like even from the documentary, people have their own opinions,
like Okay, I said something like I woke up and
she was on top of me, and they're like I
saw like this one lady and she was like she
didn't specify exactly what was going on. I'm like, okay, well,
(39:31):
first of all, you don't have to do that exactly.
And also it's like there's so much more to that.
It's not like she just did it once and like
I just overreacted. Like there was multiple people who have
met Lennie, like my best friend Claire who's in the documentary.
She's met Lennie. Her little sister met Lennie at like
eight years old. Like everybody had known this character, and
(39:54):
Gavin knew about Lenny too, and like talked about it.
When he left. He made his whole YouTube video which
was like explaining everything that Tiffany had done, and then
later on took it all back because now him and
Piper are a thing. I believe. Oh, like now, yeah,
they're like dating. I don't know if it's real, to
be honest, because.
Speaker 2 (40:11):
Like I've let's take a while guess that it's not.
Speaker 1 (40:14):
I would write, I would assume that it's not. But
then again, who knows. They got a lot in common,
so I don't, you know, yeah, who knows?
Speaker 2 (40:21):
Like okay, who knows.
Speaker 1 (40:22):
But it's like this weird you have to take everything
back and like worship us or you know, we're not
gonna see you again. That's where we're gonna leave Part
one with Sophie.
Speaker 2 (40:35):
Come back next week for part two to hear the
rest of her story, and until then, Megan question for you,
would you join Maybe not this exact squad since they
were children, but would you join a different squad one
hundred percent.
Speaker 4 (40:50):
Yes, I would join that squad if I was a child.
I love a good squad. I want to fit in.
Are you kidding me? Like built in friends and worships
that think I'm great?
Speaker 2 (41:01):
It's so true. Sign me up.
Speaker 4 (41:03):
I completely see how this happened, and all it takes
is one bad actor at the top to kind of
ruin it for everybody. You know, I could see growing
up without a Tiffany leader and being like, why was
I pretending to have a crush on someone that was weird?
But you know, I think it's pretty innocuous at the
(41:24):
core if it's not being led by a terrible person.
Speaker 2 (41:29):
Yeah, I fell one single influencer family. They're all adults.
It's like adult children with their parents. Ah, and I
love them so much. It's so wholesome. Is it? The
three guys with their dad? Yes? I love that.
Speaker 1 (41:45):
Wait what are they called?
Speaker 2 (41:46):
We should probably find that out.
Speaker 4 (41:48):
He's like always annoyed with them and like it's like
oldest child, middle child, youngest child.
Speaker 2 (41:53):
Wait, I don't know if that's the same thing. They
do a lot of content about dads and things that
are things that dad and it's very accurate. I think
this is the same. It's the McFarlands on Instagram and
they followed me back and I was so happy, and
I love them so much. They're all so funny and wholesome.
Are any of them single? I don't think so, because
(42:14):
if they were, Oh, this isn't the same one that
I This isn't the.
Speaker 4 (42:18):
Same one that I follow. But I do love these
ones too. Yeah, once they're older, like, go off, have fun.
Speaker 2 (42:24):
I mean also like if as a family they wanted
to participate and do content when they were young, and
that was something the kids want to do, who care?
Speaker 1 (42:30):
You know what I mean?
Speaker 2 (42:31):
Like what you were saying, there's not inherently anything wrong
with filming videos with your family, Like we filmed videos
at home all the time when we were kids. You know,
they just were on VHS tapes. But the key is
to make sure that it's done safely, in with responsible people,
and that the kids are being looked out for. Yeah.
Speaker 4 (42:47):
Absolutely, And next week we get into even more with
Sophie's story.
Speaker 2 (42:52):
As always, rate us five.
Speaker 4 (42:54):
Stars and remember to follow your guts, watch out for
red flags, and never ever trust me.
Speaker 2 (43:03):
Bye. This has been an exactly right production. Hosted by
me Lola Blanc and me Megan Elizabeth. Our senior producer
is G. Holly. This episode was mixed by John Bradley.
Speaker 4 (43:15):
Our associate producer is Christina Chamberlain, and our guest booker
is Patrick Kottner.
Speaker 2 (43:20):
Our theme song was composed by Holly Ambert Church.
Speaker 4 (43:23):
Trust Me as executive produced by Karen Kilgareth Georgia Hartstark
and Danielle Kramer.
Speaker 2 (43:28):
You can find us on Instagram at trust Me podcast
or on TikTok at trust Me Coult podcast.
Speaker 4 (43:33):
Got your own story about cults, extreme belief, our manipulation.
Shoot us an email at trustmepod at gmail dot com.
Speaker 2 (43:39):
Listen to trust Me on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts,
or wherever you get your podcasts
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