We’ve all scrolled past them—the picture-perfect children with doe-eyed stares and curated Instagram feeds, modeling outfits and lifestyles that would make most adults green with envy. They live in a picture perfect, rosy world and it seems that every “adorable moment” is captured on camera. But don’t be fooled. Behind these idyllic snapshots lies a far darker side to the digital fame game: parents exploiting their children all for personal gain.
Welcome to the disturbing world of influencer parents, where kids become famous long before they hit double digits. And as adorable as these little influencers may look, there’s an uncomfortable truth lurking beneath the surface. Much like child beauty pageants (and perhaps even worse), influencer parenting often crosses the line between proud parenting and just straight up abuse.
Kids as content aren’t inherently a problem; everyone nowadays with social media account wants to share their lives. But when every innocent moment is monetized, and these “performances” are crafted with an online audience in mind, things get dicey fast. Perhaps one of the most famous and unsettling stories is Wren Eleanor. With her millions of followers, Wren a prime example of when things go way too far in one parents quest for fame.
On her TikTok and Instagram accounts, we see her go from toddler to internet sensation, with an entire army of followers monitoring her every move. But according to The Rolling Stone, this exposure has come with backlash. Many followers have pointed out that some posts feel staged in unsettling ways, and Wren’s mother has faced criticism for failing to protect her daughter from unwanted attention that’s far from “adorable.”
Unfortunately, parent’s inappropriately exploiting their daughters online doesn’t stop here. One of the next disturbing examples is Jenny Popach, who’s full name is Roselie Arritola. She’s a Florida teenager who rose to fame on TikTok with her ‘sexualized’ dancing videos starting when she was only 14 years old.
Arritola, now 18, has amassed 7 million followers and frequently shocks fans with videos of herself twerking in bikinis, body rolling in revealing outfits, and lip-syncing to suggestive rap lyrics.
Her mother, Maria Ulacia, often appears in these risqué videos alongside her daughter and has even laughed off accusations of “pimping” her out.
If this all feels a bit familiar, that’s because we’ve seen it before. Think Toddlers & Tiaras, but with even more reach and, yes, an endless stream of sponsored content.
But things take an even more disturbing turn with mother Jessica Gasser, whose story eerily resembles the infamous case of Gypsy Rose Blanchard. Known online as “MedicalMamaJess,” Gasser attracted thousands of TikTok followers by sharing the “medical journey” of her 3-year-old daughter, supposedly battling a series of “rare illnesses.” The unsettling truth? Gasser’s daughter was perfectly healthy. It’s a classic case of Munchausen by proxy, with Gasser documenting her daughter’s supposed ailments and exposing her to a series of unnecessary treatments—all for the sake of social media attention.
Thankfully, Gasser was arrested in July 2023 after a months-long investigation into her actions. According to the New York Post, she now faces felony charges for injuring her child and deceiving medical professionals.
But Gasser isn’t the only mother who found herself behind bars in a desperate attempt to go viral at the expense of her children. Katie Sorensen is the influencer mom who went viral in 2020 with a chilling story: she claimed that two strangers tried to kidnap her children in a retail store. The story quickly took social media by storm, drawing a flood of new followers to her account—until it was revealed to be entirely false. Sorensen was eventually charged, but not before the public saw just how far some parents are willing to go for engagement.
Since her release from jail, Sorensen posted a video on Instagram in which she vehemently defended herself while criticizing the investigators. “I think the most unfortunate part of this situation is that people were pitted against one another wrongfully, and this is a situation that could have been so easily resolved,” she said.
While many of these cases present a clear-cut divide between right and wrong, some still linger in a gray area—enter the mother-daughter duo Bepop and Bebe. Their hyper-curated videos have amassed a cult following, yet fans and critics alike can’t shake an odd feeling. Are we witnessing a genuine bond, or is something more unsettling at play? In their videos, everything feels staged to the point of surrealism, leaving many to wonder if there’s something darker lurking beneath the polished surface. This duo has become a hot topic on forums like Reddit, where internet sleuths analyze every detail, speculating whether Bepop and Bebe might be under coercion or if Bebe herself is pushing her daughter into an online life she doesn’t truly want.
Sadly, these stories are just a handful among thousands. With everyone’s lives on display on social media, the pressure to perform—and outshine—affects parents and children alike.
There’s nothing inherently wrong with sharing moments of your child’s life with friends and family, but things can quickly take a darker turn when parents choose to broadcast it all to the public. It’s a slippery slope, one that blurs the line between proud parenting and exploitation.
Till next time, be wickedly wonderful.
