Hey guys! All has been pretty mellow on this front. And honestly, it’s been really nice. Earlier months were packed with travel, which was extremely special, but nothing beats staying put, scorching in the Weho heat. I kid, well, kinda. Those who know me IRL know that mid-July through August test me more than any other parts of the year. It’s a little window of sun-drenched days I have to push through to get to the pot of gold at the end. The gold being fall. I think because I’m in a chill state of mind, the weather isn’t getting to me too much, but there were a few days two weeks ago when I couldn’t function. Does the weather (any type) affect you guys as much? Do I have any fellow sun-haters here?
To be fair, I do enjoy sun when I travel. And wanna know what’s crazy? It’s never sunny when I travel. Literally never. So, I dunno. But I can’t wait for fall. But I don’t wish it here too quickly, because it’s definitely the quickest moving season. I’ll share more about fall when the time comes, but there’s this magical four-week window of the year where everything counts. September 15 - October 15 (not even technically fall the entire time, but it’s when everything settles into calm). So we’re about a month away from that, which is crazy.
Highlights from this week included a personalized tour of the spectacular new Amouage boutique in Beverly Hills. The fragrance house’s first West Coast flagship opened two months ago, and it’s truly an exceptional work of art. I highly recommend checking it out, even just for a photo opp. But the scents are extraordinary, too (I’m a Guidance girl—what are you???).
I also did my first BBL+Moxi resurfacing facial. My skin feels like sandpaper. I’m so excited for the results. I don’t look too crazy (yet). We’re only on day 2 of recovery. But it’s not a super intensive facial, so I’m not too concerned. It came highly recommended at Dr. Michelle Lee’s PERK in BH. I posted a little GRWM to go out with no makeup the day after my treatment.
Lastly, I spent Saturday in Silverlake for Lion’s Gate Portal (Manifestation Day). I was invited into Subtle Senses Wellness Studio, and while I couldn’t get comfy during the sound healing experience, I felt every bit at ease. I’m deeply affected by ambiance, and the vibes at this studio were immaculate. As I squirmed through my session, I felt utmost gratitude, while envisioning what I want to attract most in life. And a little note to yoga mat brands: Please create thicker fabric. These mats do nothing for me. That aside, I felt refreshed post-session. Ashley joined me, and following our energetic refresh, we grabbed a bite at Bacari, reflected on our experience and went our separate ways.
Later that day, I attended the Smashbox Beauty Convergence in Culver City, and I swooped up some serious swag. Like, I know, I don’t need more beauty, but let me tell you… I snagged a lot of makeup I didn’t have prior and I was thrilled (three bottles of Armani Luminous Silk foundation?! Come on). It was an event for pro makeup artists, but your girl always finds a way ;). After that, I came home and manifested the night away. It was grounding and spiritual. I actually had quite the restful sleep, which can be challenging. And I woke up feeling refreshed.
Moving on… you guys, my favorite internet topic Emilie Kiser is back in the news! And this time her fanbase is turning on her ::gasp::. If you’ve been following me, you know Emilie (a popular Arizona-based mommy vlogger) lost her son Trigg tragically to a neglectful drowning incident a little more than a year ago. A police report revealed allegations that Emilie’s husband, Brady, was betting on sports inside the house while his son was alone in the backyard. Trigg allegedly fell into the pool and struggled for seven minutes. In addition to Brady’s apparent neglect, the parents refused to get a fence around their pool, as many followers pointed out over time.
At the time of the incident, I argued that Emilie could grieve in peace if she hadn’t made her son the focal point of her content. Because he was in so many videos and was infiltrated into her storytelling, naturally, her millions of followers cared when he passed. I made a case against family vlogging and child exploitation. That’s always been something I’ve stood strongly against. But some people (not all) came for me in the comments, calling me ruthless without a soul, “accidents happen,” etc…
Fast-forward to the past few weeks, Emilie and her family are experiencing backlash unlike ever before. She recently announced she’s having another baby with the same man who was reportedly distracted while her son drowned. People initially had their issues with this news, but the fans decided to support her either way. Then, shortly thereafter, Emilie went on a podcast and firmly declared she'd stop at nothing to take care of her living son Teddy, who was an infant when Trigg died.
"That was actually my final promise to [Trigg]” she said. “ ‘I will take care of your brother.’ At that time, I felt like I couldn't. It really just was too much. It felt I couldn't even take care of myself … [but] I'm going to fulfill it, and I'm gonna give Teddy the best life I possibly can, and that means showing up for him, showing up for myself, doing everything I possibly can to make sure that that happens.”
Almost immediately following, her toddler was seen on Brady’s lap on a small boat with friends, wearing no life jacket.
Thus, the floodgates opened.
For a full recounting of what transpired in the podcast-to-life-jacket pipeline, TikTok user @celestialcapricorntrash sums it up well. Meanwhile, fellow user @autumnsopinions has been extremely vocal about Emilie’s neglect, and is a well-informed resource for breaking down the discourse overall.
As this latest development has unfolded, shocking clips of Emilie have come to the surface. Among them are a video of her giggling after literally forgetting Trigg at the gym. Additionally, she admits to making things look cute on camera, despite Trigg hating certain experiences he’s forced to endure.
A definitive indicator of the fan shift came last month, when the mod team of the Emilie Kiser Subreddit announced it was stepping down as a “dedicated support hub” for the influencer. The declaration went on to say, “Like many of you, we had a lot of sympathy for Emilie and gave her the benefit of the doubt for a long time. However, the recent life vest situation, along with the blocking and deleting of respectful comments raising genuine concerns, has been disappointing to us. It has made it difficult for us to continue.”
While the mods acknowledged the account would no longer serve as a “support only space,” it isn’t transitioning into a snark page.
“Our goal is for this sub to remain civil and respectful while allowing for more open discussion,” the announcement concluded. “That reflects the direction many of our members have naturally taken.”
My goal in bringing all of this to the forefront is that same as it’s always been—to shed light on child exploitation and how easily it’s been dismissed. You don’t have to be a mother to fight to keep kids off camera. All of us have witnessed the toxicity of family vloggers, and how money and internet fame leads to relying on kids for content and losing the meaning (and responsibility) of parenthood. It’s disgusting and heartbreaking. Every single child deserves a chance to thrive at life, free from a camera.
Speaking of kids who are likely messed up from internet parents, Perez Hilton decided to subject everyone on TikTok to self-mutilation this week. Mind you, he was banned from the app in Dec. 2020 for starting drama with the internet’s angel Charli D’Amelio. He has since created endless accounts, and I have blocked every single one of them. I’m hoping that’s why I missed this disturbing moment. Apparently the livestream went on for 30 minutes, and it was a gory mess. No one from TikTok stepped in, which is crazy.
There’s obviously much discourse about Perez, karma and mental health. Here’s what I’ll say: He brilliantly (for better or worse) paved the way for two new avenues of media—blogging/digital news + instant virality. I remember starting my career as an Editorial Assistant at E! Online in 2008, and online reporting was just emerging. He was our reference point for everything. Also, celebrity gossip was decades old. But before the emergence of gossip blogs, you would go to an airport or checkout line at the grocery store, read your tabloid fodder and go on with your day. Perez normalized spreading that gossip rapidly by way of the web.
If you were alive during that era of media, you’ll recall how reliant we were on the blogs as news sources. And as salacious as they were, they were a lot of fun. We all fed into it. Perez confidently hated on everyone, and the rest of us just followed along because there was no one telling us to do otherwise. There were essentially no morals in social media and news at the time. The only time anyone cared about publishing something is if it would ruin their relationship with a talent publicist—not the celeb. And while I don’t care about protecting 90% of any celebrity’s reputation, his behavior was abhorrent.
In Perez’ heyday, he was outing peoples’ sexuality, clowning on peoples’ mental health struggles (oh, the irony), shaming their bodies (while he was significantly overweight) and publicizing inappropriate paparazzi shots of peoples’ private parts. A perfect example of this was Mischa Barton, whose weight and mental health he criticized incessantly. The trauma she endured on his behalf was evident years later, when the pair had a run-in on The Hills: New Beginnings in 2019.
“This bullying you did for so long to so many young girls, I find it hard to let go,” the former star of The O.C. told the blogger. “I really do. It’s not just about the body shaming, or outing people as gay before they’re out of the closet, like all of that stuff. I just really can’t accept the apology entirely on behalf of how I feel.”
Just before erupting in a defensive fit, Perez acknowledged, “I knew it was wrong in the past what I was doing. I was still doing it, even though I knew it was wrong.”
For one, at the height of Mischa’s career, she was, to this day, the most naturally beautiful actress I’ve ever seen. Young actresses are chewed up and spit out in Hollywood. It’s heartbreaking how things unfolded for Mischa, and we were collectively way too hard on her. For two, there was a fine line between laughing with a celeb and laughing at them.
Michael K (formerly of the iconic blog Dlisted—#iykyk) toed the line effortlessly. He would write the catchiest caption of Miley Cyrus openly smoking weed, but he would never think of outing someone’s sexuality or spreading unethical garbage. I always turned to him for comic relief. He could take the silliest photo post of, like, Kim K.’s cleavage and turn into top-tier groundbreaking news. He fed into the F-list paparazzi-fueled “characters” of the early aughts (ie. Shauna Sand, Phoebe Price—trust me you just had to be there). Perez, on the other hand, was so dark. And on top of that, his writing wasn’t even funny or witty. It was just pure hate.
All of this to say, not everyone deserves empathy, forgiveness or a second chance. People with mental health issues can indeed be very bad people. We don’t need to feel sorry for everyone because they’re going through a rough time. Yes, I feel sorry for his poor kids, of course. They didn’t choose this life. I feel sorry for the people who were accidentally subjected to his live trauma dump. I feel sorry for the people who he tormented; who lived in fear of him. But no, I am not exerting my energy to say a little prayer for Perez. If anything, it’s a reminder that karma is very real. It always takes time to see the light of day, but it does come around eventually.
With that, this was one of my longer recaps. I enjoy creating what can hopefully be a discussion here, and as always, I welcome everyone’s opinion. Let the past behavior of others be helpful lessons to all of us in the future.
Wishing you a wonderful week ahead. <3