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Deep Dive: The Rise of Sarah's Day · Outspoken the Podcast

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: Before we get into the episode, we want to issue
• 0:02
  Speaker 1: a trigger warning as the episode does touch on themes
• 0:04
  Speaker 1: relating to eating disorders. Episode one, the rise of Sarah's Day.
• 0:15
  Speaker 1: Sarah Stevenson is one of Australia's biggest influencers. Her YouTube channel,
• 0:20
  Speaker 1: Sarah's Day, has over 1.5 million subscribers, while her Instagram
• 0:24
  Speaker 1: account boasts 1.2 million followers.
• 0:27
  Speaker 2: Good morning, guys, and official welcome back to my channel.
• 0:30
  Speaker 1: The self-proclaimed holistic health princess cultivated a devoted following for
• 0:34
  Speaker 1: her raw approach and passion for health and fitness. But
• 0:37
  Speaker 1: in 2017, the tide began to turn when Sarah claimed
• 0:41
  Speaker 1: she had healed her cervical dysplasia through healthy eating.
• 0:45
  Speaker 2: Of this video is just telling you all of the
• 0:47
  Speaker 2: healthy ways that I cured my cervix and how I
• 0:50
  Speaker 2: am now free, pretty much free from cervical dysplasia.
• 0:53
  Speaker 1: She was slammed by the press for spreading medical misinformation
• 0:56
  Speaker 1: and followers began to turn.
• 0:58
  Speaker 2: Some of the messages I'm getting you guys is like
• 1:00
  Speaker 2: full on like hate death threats.
• 1:03
  Speaker 1: Controversy has followed the 30 year old ever since. with
• 1:06
  Speaker 1: explosive reactions online to her every move.
• 1:10
  Speaker 2: One dollar will go towards St Vincent's bushfire appeal. I
• 1:14
  Speaker 2: just got so much hate on that post.
• 1:17
  Speaker 1: She's been accused of cultural appropriation, targeting people with eating
• 1:21
  Speaker 1: disorders and taking down small businesses. We are journalists Amy,
• 1:27
  Speaker 1: Kate and Sophie Torver and we're fascinated by the world
• 1:30
  Speaker 1: of influencers and the psychology of cancel culture. In this series,
• 1:34
  Speaker 1: we will delve into Sarah's Day's biggest scandals, her fall
• 1:38
  Speaker 1: from grace, cancel culture and the dangers of influence.
• 1:43
  Speaker 3: This is Outspoken Plus.
• 1:46
  Speaker 1: When you say the name Sarah's Day, it attracts one
• 1:49
  Speaker 1: of two reactions. People either love her or hate her.
• 1:52
  Speaker 1: When Sarah first started out on Instagram in 2013, she
• 1:55
  Speaker 1: was this very relatable 20-year-old girl who came from a middle-class.
• 1:59
  Speaker 3: Family in Cronulla.
• 2:01
  Speaker 1: And originally her channel was all about documenting her day,
• 2:04
  Speaker 1: hence the name Sarah's Day. Her channel name has led
• 2:07
  Speaker 1: to so much confusion because people think that Day is
• 2:10
  Speaker 1: her last name when it is in fact Stevenson. I
• 2:12
  Speaker 1: must admit I was one of those people to begin with.
• 2:15
  Speaker 1: It is really confusing and I feel like it's almost
• 2:17
  Speaker 1: worked in her favor since all these controversies have happened
• 2:20
  Speaker 1: because people are calling her not by her actual name.
• 2:22
  Speaker 1: Now when Sarah first broke into the social media scene,
• 2:25
  Speaker 1: it was just her side hustle. She was starting to
• 2:27
  Speaker 1: become a teacher and also working in retail. So I
• 2:30
  Speaker 1: don't think that she ever envisioned that this was going
• 2:33
  Speaker 1: to be a huge business for her. Well, at the time,
• 2:36
  Speaker 1: there weren't really influencers like there are now. Well, I
• 2:39
  Speaker 1: don't think the word influencer was even around. It was
• 2:42
  Speaker 1: so weird watching her first video on YouTube from 2013
• 2:45
  Speaker 1: and hearing her describe her channel.
• 2:47
  Speaker 3: Let's throw to what she said.
• 2:50
  Speaker 2: Everything, you know, I really believe in the power of
• 2:52
  Speaker 2: fruits and vegetables and the earth's, you know, natural ingredients.
• 2:56
  Speaker 2: So that's pretty.
• 2:57
  Speaker 1: Much what my Instagram is about. Now, in a second
• 3:00
  Speaker 1: YouTube video, Sarah shared a recipe for a juice that
• 3:03
  Speaker 1: she claimed would make you look good in a bodycon dress,
• 3:06
  Speaker 1: but also turn your poo red. This just says what
• 3:09
  Speaker 1: sort of time it was, though. The fact that it
• 3:11
  Speaker 1: was a bodycon dress, those were very popular in 2013.
• 3:14
  Speaker 1: I do love the disclaimer, though, because how many people
• 3:17
  Speaker 1: would have actually drunk it and gone, oh, shit. Well,
• 3:20
  Speaker 1: it sounds like Sarah did the exact same thing. I
• 3:22
  Speaker 1: think we need to wind the clock back 10 years
• 3:25
  Speaker 1: ago and take a look at what was happening in
• 3:27
  Speaker 1: the health and fitness space in Australia when Sarah emerged
• 3:30
  Speaker 1: on the scene. So the year was 2013. Instagram was
• 3:33
  Speaker 1: entering its prime and a new era of beauty standards
• 3:36
  Speaker 1: were quickly being established online. And the word fitspo was
• 3:40
  Speaker 1: dominating our social media feeds. The term is short for
• 3:43
  Speaker 1: fitspiration and it began trending as a response to the
• 3:46
  Speaker 1: concerning thinspo trend that dominated the early noughties. So harmful
• 3:50
  Speaker 1: mottos and posts were being shared across blog sites and
• 3:53
  Speaker 1: social media channels, motivating dramatic weight loss. And with this
• 3:57
  Speaker 1: in hindsight, it's interesting to look back now and see
• 4:00
  Speaker 1: that fitspo was actually created to counteract thinspo by shifting
• 4:05
  Speaker 1: the focus to achieving fitness instead of thinness. So whilst
• 4:08
  Speaker 1: it was first intended to promote health, Audiences were bombarded
• 4:13
  Speaker 1: with these perfect bodies and clean eating on social media sites.
• 4:16
  Speaker 1: So the trend triggered obsessive behaviors and it also created
• 4:20
  Speaker 1: impossible beauty standards to live up to. It even sparked
• 4:23
  Speaker 1: a new form of eating disorder known as orthorexia, which
• 4:26
  Speaker 1: is a condition that includes symptoms of obsessive behavior in
• 4:29
  Speaker 1: pursuit of a perceived healthy diet. So this ideal body
• 4:33
  Speaker 1: had changed among society. The new era of beauty was
• 4:36
  Speaker 1: epitomized by six-pack abs, a peachy bum, and a ripped body.
• 4:40
  Speaker 1: I'm not sure if it's much of an upgrade there
• 4:42
  Speaker 1: from Finspo. It's just another form of body that's really
• 4:45
  Speaker 1: hard to achieve. Now, fitness influencers were, of course, at
• 4:48
  Speaker 1: the heart of the Finspo movement, offering food and fitness
• 4:52
  Speaker 1: advice and often selling e-books filled with eating plans to
• 4:55
  Speaker 1: encourage the strict avoidance of food like meat, sugar, dairy,
• 4:59
  Speaker 1: and wheat. And despite having no formal training, Influencer's advice
• 5:03
  Speaker 1: was being sought after more than medical professionals. The two
• 5:07
  Speaker 1: biggest names in the fitness space at the time were
• 5:10
  Speaker 1: Ashy Bynes and Kayla Adsenas. Now, Ashy's online bikini body
• 5:14
  Speaker 1: challenge launched in 2011, while Kayla Adsenas launched her bikini
• 5:18
  Speaker 1: body guide in 2014. The pair became instant millionaires. Both
• 5:22
  Speaker 1: fitness plans included the word bikini, and it was all
• 5:25
  Speaker 1: about flogging yourself in the gym to be hashtag bikini ready.
• 5:29
  Speaker 1: This was, of course, well before the body positivity movement,
• 5:33
  Speaker 1: who now promote the fact that you just need a
• 5:35
  Speaker 1: bikini to be bikini ready. Now, I want people to
• 5:37
  Speaker 1: be honest. Who had which guide? I had the Kayla
• 5:40
  Speaker 1: at Stena's guide, and I didn't purchase it. It was
• 5:44
  Speaker 1: a copy that seemed to be passed on to a
• 5:46
  Speaker 1: lot of people in our friendship group. I had a
• 5:48
  Speaker 1: few tatty pieces of paper. Yeah, well, that was the
• 5:50
  Speaker 1: risk at the time, wasn't it? That they're selling PDFs,
• 5:52
  Speaker 1: so basically anyone could just send them around. Yeah, I
• 5:55
  Speaker 1: had the said copy, but I actually got mine bind.
• 5:58
  Speaker 1: So I have it still to this day. I actually
• 6:00
  Speaker 1: paid for mine. I'm guessing that's where we got our
• 6:02
  Speaker 1: copies from. Well, in 2021, Kayla announced that she would
• 6:06
  Speaker 1: be renaming her Bikini Body Guide workouts to High Intensity Workouts.
• 6:11
  Speaker 1: as she felt the name represented an outdated view of
• 6:14
  Speaker 1: health and fitness. And this was after the birth of
• 6:17
  Speaker 1: her daughter, Anna. She said that she felt it was
• 6:18
  Speaker 1: time to evolve and use language that feels more positive
• 6:22
  Speaker 1: for women today.
• 6:23
  Speaker 3: So you can just see how far we have come.
• 6:25
  Speaker 1: And when you compare somebody like Sarah to Kayla, I
• 6:28
  Speaker 1: think what initially attracted people to Sarah was that she
• 6:30
  Speaker 1: was an oversharer. Yeah, because all we really saw from
• 6:33
  Speaker 1: Kayla were her incredible abs. And at the time, Instagram
• 6:37
  Speaker 1: was really just a photo app. We didn't see much video.
• 6:40
  Speaker 1: So the fact that Sarah was able to use YouTube
• 6:43
  Speaker 1: to her advantage that early on and share so much
• 6:45
  Speaker 1: about her life is the reason I think she is
• 6:47
  Speaker 1: still very popular today. Exactly. And so many people were
• 6:51
  Speaker 1: drawn to her YouTube channels because she spoke a lot
• 6:53
  Speaker 1: about her struggles with hormonal acne. But it was her
• 6:56
  Speaker 1: breakup in June 2016 with her long-term boyfriend, Mitch, that
• 7:00
  Speaker 1: started gaining her a lot of traction.
• 7:03
  Speaker 2: Half day done at the snow. I have had a
• 7:05
  Speaker 2: bit of a hiccup. The reason I'm here by myself
• 7:08
  Speaker 2: is to, I guess, do some soul searching and find
• 7:11
  Speaker 2: who I am again by myself being single. When I
• 7:14
  Speaker 2: was riding down one of the mountains, I rode past
• 7:17
  Speaker 2: my ex-boyfriend. So that didn't give me the best vibes ever.
• 7:21
  Speaker 2: I can't really get the fact that he's here out
• 7:24
  Speaker 2: of my head.
• 7:25
  Speaker 1: This clip went viral and this is how so many
• 7:28
  Speaker 1: of her diehard supporters originally came across her content. In
• 7:32
  Speaker 1: a recent interview with influencer Grace Beverly, Sarah said that
• 7:35
  Speaker 1: this video pushed her channel onto YouTube's recommended page and
• 7:38
  Speaker 1: it actually led to her gaining over 40,000 new followers.
• 7:42
  Speaker 1: I always wondered what video it was that went viral
• 7:45
  Speaker 1: for her because when you go back and look at
• 7:47
  Speaker 1: some of the old videos about her hormonal acne, it's
• 7:50
  Speaker 1: not really interesting. Yeah, but she went there with their content.
• 7:53
  Speaker 1: I remember seeing stuff talking about like, her periods, about
• 7:56
  Speaker 1: her discharge. Nothing is off limit when it comes to
• 7:59
  Speaker 1: Sarah's day. I do find it also interesting that Sarah
• 8:02
  Speaker 1: very much in that interview with Grace Beverly was saying
• 8:05
  Speaker 1: that you had to have abs and look a certain
• 8:06
  Speaker 1: way on YouTube and Instagram. But it's ironic that it
• 8:09
  Speaker 1: was actually her revealing all these details about her personal
• 8:13
  Speaker 1: life is actually what got her noticed. And I feel
• 8:15
  Speaker 1: like she is still to this day trying to rebel
• 8:18
  Speaker 1: against that. We saw her earlier in the year not
• 8:20
  Speaker 1: wanting to do vlogs anymore, but she quickly always goes
• 8:22
  Speaker 1: back to that medium perspective. Because she knows that's what
• 8:25
  Speaker 1: people want to watch. And she really had this ability
• 8:27
  Speaker 1: to make followers feel like they were genuinely her friends.
• 8:30
  Speaker 1: And she does this by using specific language on her channel.
• 8:33
  Speaker 1: So she references her audience as being her sissies. And
• 8:37
  Speaker 1: she's also constantly using her own nickname.
• 8:40
  Speaker 2: I just want to bring it back to original Desi.
• 8:43
  Speaker 1: It sort of becomes endearing because you feel like, oh,
• 8:46
  Speaker 1: that's Sezzy. That's my friend. It's ironic that she's the
• 8:48
  Speaker 1: one pushing that name to you. Well, a big turning
• 8:51
  Speaker 1: point in Sarah's life and her YouTube career came in
• 8:54
  Speaker 1: November 2016. And this is when she met her now husband,
• 8:57
  Speaker 1: Kurt Tills. So just five months on from her breakup
• 9:00
  Speaker 1: with Mitch, she met Kurt. So he was a carpenter
• 9:03
  Speaker 1: by day and a budding photographer on the weekends. And
• 9:06
  Speaker 1: the pair had a whirlwind romance. They became official after
• 9:09
  Speaker 1: just a few weeks of dating.
• 9:11
  Speaker 2: I normally want bacon and eggs and he wants a
• 9:13
  Speaker 2: side bowl because he's a girl.
• 9:14
  Speaker 1: You look so great wearing stripes and a hat.
• 9:18
  Speaker 3: Hashtag couple gulp.
• 9:20
  Speaker 1: There has been a lot of speculation online about how
• 9:23
  Speaker 1: Kurt and Sarah actually met and the official line has
• 9:26
  Speaker 1: always been that they met organically. But word on the
• 9:29
  Speaker 1: street is that it was a Tinder meeting. I definitely
• 9:32
  Speaker 1: think that's correct because in her pregnancy announcement with her
• 9:36
  Speaker 1: first son, Fox, She said that her and Kurt met
• 9:39
  Speaker 1: up at 10 o'clock for a coffee at a random
• 9:41
  Speaker 1: coffee shop in the city. That to me is the
• 9:44
  Speaker 1: epitome of a Tinder date. No shade because I feel
• 9:47
  Speaker 1: like at this time and now everyone meets online.
• 9:50
  Speaker 3: I think it's funny that they're trying to hide it.
• 9:52
  Speaker 2: I know.
• 9:52
  Speaker 1: I remember in lots of vlogs, Sarah was saying that
• 9:54
  Speaker 1: she used to go walk down at the Esplanade at
• 9:56
  Speaker 1: Cronulla to try and meet her husband. I think Tinder
• 9:59
  Speaker 1: seems like a much, better spot other than just like
• 10:01
  Speaker 1: smiling at passersby. While their early relationship did look magical online,
• 10:06
  Speaker 1: Sarah recently revealed during an interview that she was initially
• 10:09
  Speaker 1: sus about Kurt's intentions. So on their second date, Kurt
• 10:14
  Speaker 1: basically love bombed her. And this led Sarah to question
• 10:17
  Speaker 1: his intention.
• 10:18
  Speaker 3: I actually can't believe he said, I love you on
• 10:20
  Speaker 3: the second day.
• 10:21
  Speaker 1: Well, it makes it pretty interesting because in this pregnancy announcement,
• 10:24
  Speaker 1: Sarah was saying that she thought she'd been friend zoned
• 10:26
  Speaker 1: and Kurt said it was love at first sight. And
• 10:28
  Speaker 1: I always thought that it was Sarah pushing the relationship
• 10:31
  Speaker 1: more than Kurt. So this added a really interesting element. Well,
• 10:35
  Speaker 1: I think Sarah really was in the driver's seat and
• 10:37
  Speaker 1: calling a lot of shots in this relationship because She
• 10:40
  Speaker 1: recently said on the Grace Beverly podcast that she tried
• 10:43
  Speaker 1: to break things off with Kurt only four months in,
• 10:46
  Speaker 1: which makes this timeline really interesting because They moved in
• 10:50
  Speaker 1: together after four months. So it must have either been, okay,
• 10:53
  Speaker 1: we're going to try and make this work or we're
• 10:55
  Speaker 1: going to end things. And at the time, they were
• 10:57
  Speaker 1: complete couple goals. I remember watching their YouTube and being
• 11:00
  Speaker 1: single and being jealous of this beautiful relationship we were
• 11:03
  Speaker 1: seeing unfold. Well, you can see why Sarah was questioning
• 11:06
  Speaker 1: his intentions because at the time, Kurt was living such
• 11:09
  Speaker 1: a different life to Sarah. He was a party boy
• 11:12
  Speaker 1: who had recently come out of a bad breakup and
• 11:14
  Speaker 1: he found himself in debt and revealed on his podcast,
• 11:17
  Speaker 1: The Health Code, that there were some weeks he couldn't
• 11:19
  Speaker 1: afford tuna or rice. And that's his staple, isn't it,
• 11:21
  Speaker 1: for the six pack, really? Exactly. Was that why he
• 11:23
  Speaker 1: was hanging out with Sarah? She had an abundance of
• 11:25
  Speaker 1: tuna and rice. Well, Kurt made the shock admission in
• 11:29
  Speaker 1: 2022 that he was so poor at the time he
• 11:31
  Speaker 1: looked into drug dealing before meeting Sarah and And he
• 11:34
  Speaker 1: also revealed he was offered a job as a mail stripper,
• 11:37
  Speaker 1: but couldn't go through with it because he didn't have
• 11:39
  Speaker 1: the confidence to do it.
• 11:40
  Speaker 3: Or the rhythm, it seems like. I think that was
• 11:42
  Speaker 3: a big factor too.
• 11:43
  Speaker 1: And this is perhaps why Sarah asked Kurt to sign
• 11:46
  Speaker 1: a contract on their second date. So after Kurt professed
• 11:49
  Speaker 1: his love to her, he also offered to help her
• 11:51
  Speaker 1: shoot the content for her very first ebook. And Sarah
• 11:55
  Speaker 1: responded by getting him to sign a contract saying he
• 11:57
  Speaker 1: wouldn't get a cut in it.
• 11:59
  Speaker 2: I was so sus of him. I was so sus
• 12:02
  Speaker 2: because he was a photographer and I remember telling him
• 12:04
  Speaker 2: I had this idea that I wanted to make this
• 12:06
  Speaker 2: fitness ebook, right? And he was a PT.
• 12:09
  Speaker 3: He was a photographer.
• 12:09
  Speaker 2: He was like, I believe in you. I believe in
• 12:11
  Speaker 2: your brand. Let me sign off because I'm not a PT.
• 12:14
  Speaker 2: You have to have a PT sign off. He's like,
• 12:16
  Speaker 2: let me look at all your workouts. I'll sign it
• 12:18
  Speaker 2: off and I'll take all the photos. And I was like,
• 12:21
  Speaker 2: what do you want from me?
• 12:22
  Speaker 1: This was like a week.
• 12:23
  Speaker 3: You sound like a user.
• 12:24
  Speaker 2: Literally, I was like, you're not getting a cut of
• 12:26
  Speaker 2: anything I make. So I made him sign a contract.
• 12:29
  Speaker 2: This was like our second date. And I was living
• 12:33
  Speaker 2: in my parents' house. I had no money.
• 12:34
  Speaker 3: I had nothing.
• 12:35
  Speaker 1: And he was like, who do you think you are?
• 12:36
  Speaker 3: I was acting a little late.
• 12:38
  Speaker 2: I'm not using you. And I was like, I'm going
• 12:39
  Speaker 2: to be massive, okay? So I made him sign this contract,
• 12:42
  Speaker 2: which still we talk about, and I'm like, you still
• 12:44
  Speaker 2: get no cut of it.
• 12:45
  Speaker 1: Yeah. When I heard that, it surprised me. But then
• 12:49
  Speaker 1: when I reflect on Sarah's behavior around money, it always
• 12:52
  Speaker 1: really has been her money and Kurt's money.
• 12:55
  Speaker 3: It's always, this is my house and this is my office.
• 12:58
  Speaker 1: But do you blame her? This is the second date
• 13:00
  Speaker 1: she's on with this guy who's just told her he
• 13:02
  Speaker 1: loves her when he's meant to be this bad boy.
• 13:05
  Speaker 1: Like she's obviously thinking what the hell's going on. Well,
• 13:07
  Speaker 1: I think even if you're not a bad boy, not
• 13:09
  Speaker 1: too many normal people drop, I love you on a
• 13:11
  Speaker 1: second date. I think it's pretty ballsy of her to
• 13:14
  Speaker 1: rock up and be like, sign this before we go
• 13:16
  Speaker 1: any further. Particularly because she said she was just living
• 13:19
  Speaker 1: at home at the time. She had a hundred thousand subscribers.
• 13:21
  Speaker 1: She wasn't really a big deal like she is now.
• 13:24
  Speaker 3: Makes me think, do they have a prenup?
• 13:27
  Speaker 1: Well, after making things YouTube official in late 2016, Kurt
• 13:31
  Speaker 1: was a constant feature on Sarah's channel and Sarah and
• 13:34
  Speaker 1: Kurt became hashtag couple goals. So now she had the
• 13:38
  Speaker 1: hot boyfriend, a new beachside apartment And she was living
• 13:41
  Speaker 1: this very aesthetic couple goal Instagram life. I really enjoyed
• 13:46
  Speaker 1: this time during her content. So did I. I think
• 13:49
  Speaker 1: it was the most aspirational part of Sarah's life so far.
• 13:52
  Speaker 1: I think the craziest part of this timeline is just
• 13:55
  Speaker 1: days after moving in together, Sarah launched her first ebook,
• 13:58
  Speaker 1: Sweat It to Shred It. And I think it was
• 14:00
  Speaker 1: a little bit premature picking out this sort of modest
• 14:02
  Speaker 1: apartment because she quickly made a lot of money. Yeah,
• 14:06
  Speaker 1: sales came in so quickly that her PayPal account got
• 14:09
  Speaker 1: shut down because They deemed it a suspicious activity. And
• 14:13
  Speaker 1: while she didn't confirm how much she made, she said
• 14:16
  Speaker 1: she was able to instantly wipe her uni debt. Well,
• 14:19
  Speaker 1: she did say that over a thousand people rocked up
• 14:21
  Speaker 1: to the e-book release. And this was actually at a gym.
• 14:24
  Speaker 1: She was worried no one would turn up. So it
• 14:26
  Speaker 1: was shocked when so many people arrived. But think about it,
• 14:29
  Speaker 1: $ 69 a.
• 14:30
  Speaker 3: Pop for Sweat It to Shred It.
• 14:32
  Speaker 1: That's over $ 69, 000 if each person bought an e-book. And
• 14:35
  Speaker 1: that's just in person as well. I did love the
• 14:38
  Speaker 1: tidbit that her ex-boyfriend Mitch had noticed the crowd forming
• 14:41
  Speaker 1: and did a little well done text to her. Yeah,
• 14:45
  Speaker 1: he'd be spewing. Well, with Kurt now by her side,
• 14:47
  Speaker 1: Sarah quickly brought in sponsorship deals with Loving Earth, Tropica,
• 14:51
  Speaker 1: Le Bang, White Fox Boutique and Mazda. She seemed to
• 14:55
  Speaker 1: be living the dream. But as we know with Instagram,
• 14:57
  Speaker 1: it is a highlight reel. And whilst her life appeared perfect,
• 15:01
  Speaker 1: It was far from reality. So what people didn't know
• 15:04
  Speaker 1: at the time was that Sarah was suffering from what
• 15:06
  Speaker 1: she has described as disordered eating.
• 15:09
  Speaker 3: Here's what she said.
• 15:11
  Speaker 2: Honestly, I thought how embarrassing that like I'm on social
• 15:15
  Speaker 2: media to be this fitness person. And like, I look
• 15:17
  Speaker 2: like this. I honestly thought I had so much weight
• 15:20
  Speaker 2: to lose and I was so flabby and squishy. And
• 15:23
  Speaker 2: I look back, I'm like, I look 12.
• 15:25
  Speaker 3: I was so, I was so lean.
• 15:28
  Speaker 1: And not in a cool way, in like a, oh, Sarah,
• 15:31
  Speaker 1: what are you doing?
• 15:32
  Speaker 2: I truly eat for beautiful skin and beautiful hair and
• 15:39
  Speaker 2: a mind that can concentrate. I eat so much for
• 15:42
  Speaker 2: my mind now.
• 15:44
  Speaker 1: So whilst writing her ebook, Sarah said she lost her
• 15:46
  Speaker 1: period and admitted in a recent interview that she looked
• 15:49
  Speaker 1: like a ripped 12-year-old who was living off a diet
• 15:52
  Speaker 1: of chicken, pumpkin, and protein shakes. She even admitted to
• 15:56
  Speaker 1: being shocked this year when an old video of her
• 15:58
  Speaker 1: popped up on YouTube as a recommendation. And in this video,
• 16:01
  Speaker 1: Sarah made toast with protein bread, which she topped with
• 16:05
  Speaker 1: protein powder. She obviously realized that there was something wrong
• 16:09
  Speaker 1: with the video, but it's not as if she's deleted
• 16:11
  Speaker 1: any of the offending videos, but she's mentioned publicly how
• 16:14
  Speaker 1: they were wrong, or they're clearly making her money steal
• 16:17
  Speaker 1: and attracting an audience of people who connect with her.
• 16:21
  Speaker 1: I found it particularly disappointing that she didn't say she
• 16:23
  Speaker 1: regretted making that content nor has actually deleted it. They're
• 16:26
  Speaker 1: all still monetized. Yeah. Well, the reality is that so
• 16:29
  Speaker 1: many health and fitness influencers actually suffer from eating disorders.
• 16:33
  Speaker 1: And while their initial intentions to share their lives online
• 16:36
  Speaker 1: may not be negative. They need to understand the power
• 16:39
  Speaker 1: of social media and just how many people they're impacting
• 16:42
  Speaker 1: by sharing their unhealthy habits and lifestyles online.
• 16:45
  Speaker 3: Yeah, that's the thing.
• 16:45
  Speaker 1: I feel like Instagram and YouTube was a real breeding
• 16:48
  Speaker 1: ground for people who had eating disorders and it was
• 16:51
  Speaker 1: almost a way to connect with like-minded people. And that's
• 16:54
  Speaker 1: what was so dangerous about it. And now that we're
• 16:57
  Speaker 1: looking back at it from 10 years ago, I just
• 17:00
  Speaker 1: think it's really confronting that this sort of information is one,
• 17:03
  Speaker 1: it's still allowed online and two, not being removed by
• 17:06
  Speaker 1: the content creators. So another big theme of Sarah's channel
• 17:10
  Speaker 1: in the early days was PCOS and periods.
• 17:12
  Speaker 3: The two Ps.
• 17:14
  Speaker 1: And in 2014, as she was documenting her process of
• 17:17
  Speaker 1: trying to naturally heal her acne, her naturopath diagnosed her
• 17:21
  Speaker 1: with PCOS via.
• 17:23
  Speaker 3: A saliva test. Not sure how accurate that actually is.
• 17:27
  Speaker 1: Now, of course, Sarah had a fix for it, which
• 17:29
  Speaker 1: was carb cycling. And this was quite a common thing
• 17:32
  Speaker 1: for Sarah to do. She always seemed to have some
• 17:35
  Speaker 1: kind of natural remedy on hand to fix any illness. Yeah,
• 17:38
  Speaker 1: and then you fast forward two years later and Sarah
• 17:41
  Speaker 1: was back at the doctors because she had missed her
• 17:43
  Speaker 1: period for eight months.
• 17:46
  Speaker 3: Again, this provided.
• 17:47
  Speaker 1: Content for a YouTube series about how she got her
• 17:49
  Speaker 1: period back naturally. It's pretty wild to watch this YouTube
• 17:53
  Speaker 1: series back because Sarah said in one of the videos
• 17:55
  Speaker 1: that she was 16% body fat and weighed 47 kilos altogether.
• 17:59
  Speaker 1: when she lost her period. And in the video, she
• 18:02
  Speaker 1: showed herself getting an ultrasound and read out her blood
• 18:05
  Speaker 1: test results, which was going into way too much detail.
• 18:09
  Speaker 1: She also filmed herself getting acupuncture and she later revealed
• 18:13
  Speaker 1: that the doctor said her ovaries indicated that she had PCOS,
• 18:17
  Speaker 1: but the blood results didn't reflect PCOS. So this PCOS
• 18:21
  Speaker 1: diagnosis seems to have been very sketchy Well, it's something
• 18:25
  Speaker 1: that people still talk about online now. They still query
• 18:28
  Speaker 1: whether she in fact had it. And whilst I think
• 18:29
  Speaker 1: it is wrong to be going into these details, the
• 18:33
  Speaker 1: truth is that Sarah let people in by oversharing about
• 18:36
  Speaker 1: her life. Who reads their own blood tests out in
• 18:39
  Speaker 1: a YouTube video?
• 18:40
  Speaker 3: It's just wild.
• 18:41
  Speaker 1: You can see why so many people are hooked to it.
• 18:43
  Speaker 1: And I don't know if you guys remember, but at
• 18:44
  Speaker 1: the time, Sarah blamed the stress of releasing her first
• 18:47
  Speaker 1: e-book coupled with training for her e-book as the reason
• 18:50
  Speaker 1: for losing her period. However, in March this year, Sarah
• 18:54
  Speaker 1: provided an insight into this time of her life on
• 18:56
  Speaker 1: Grace Beverly's podcast.
• 18:59
  Speaker 2: I lost my period and I look back and I'm like, sis,
• 19:03
  Speaker 2: you weren't eating enough. You weren't eating enough.
• 19:05
  Speaker 3: I was going through a breakup.
• 19:06
  Speaker 2: My job was to work out. I was at the
• 19:08
  Speaker 2: gym for three hours a day and I only ate
• 19:11
  Speaker 2: protein bread, protein powder and fish, pumpkin.
• 19:15
  Speaker 3: That's it.
• 19:16
  Speaker 1: That is it.
• 19:17
  Speaker 2: I didn't have my period, but I was so encapsulated
• 19:19
  Speaker 2: in that life. And I thought, I genuinely thought I
• 19:22
  Speaker 2: was being so healthy and so hashtag wellness that I
• 19:26
  Speaker 2: was doing these videos saying, I've lost my period. I
• 19:28
  Speaker 2: don't know why I have amenorrhea. You have amenorrhea because
• 19:31
  Speaker 2: your body's in fight or flight and you're working out
• 19:33
  Speaker 2: for three hours a day. You're not eating enough calories.
• 19:35
  Speaker 2: You're not sleeping enough. You're getting up at 5am to train.
• 19:38
  Speaker 2: You're going to bed at 2am because you don't have
• 19:40
  Speaker 2: an editor. You're editing your own blogs. You know, I
• 19:43
  Speaker 2: look back and I'm like, I just wish I could
• 19:45
  Speaker 2: talk to her and say, go and eat some sourdough.
• 19:48
  Speaker 1: Yeah.
• 19:48
  Speaker 3: Go for a walk.
• 19:49
  Speaker 2: You don't have to do that.
• 19:51
  Speaker 1: Now at this time, although Sarah's following was rapidly growing,
• 19:55
  Speaker 1: she hadn't yet made a name for herself in the
• 19:58
  Speaker 1: mainstream media. the majority of her followers were young women
• 20:01
  Speaker 1: who were so invested in her always aesthetic and picture-perfect life.
• 20:06
  Speaker 1: Just like they did with their products, they bought in
• 20:09
  Speaker 1: big time and there was a thirst for her to
• 20:11
  Speaker 1: let them in more. And whether she liked to admit
• 20:13
  Speaker 1: it or not, Sarah positioned herself as a health expert
• 20:17
  Speaker 1: and followers came to her for advice. Now, despite her
• 20:20
  Speaker 1: audience being vast, there was little to no discourse in
• 20:23
  Speaker 1: the mainstream media about whether the information she was putting
• 20:26
  Speaker 1: out to her impressionable audience was in fact harmful and
• 20:30
  Speaker 1: triggering eating disorders. In late 2017, however, Sarah's name broke
• 20:35
  Speaker 1: through to the mainstream for one of her most memorable
• 20:38
  Speaker 1: and harmful scandals. In late December of that year, Sarah
• 20:42
  Speaker 1: left her audience on a cliffhanger. At the end of
• 20:44
  Speaker 1: a vlog, she wrote, I received a call from my doctor.
• 20:48
  Speaker 1: What she told me has shaken my entire life. I
• 20:51
  Speaker 1: need a time to understand and accept the news before
• 20:54
  Speaker 1: opening up. Thank you for caring. I will share more
• 20:57
  Speaker 1: in my next vlog. She left her audience on edge
• 21:00
  Speaker 1: for a week before releasing a YouTube video entitled Heartbreaking
• 21:04
  Speaker 1: News with a thumbnail of her crying. And in this video,
• 21:07
  Speaker 1: she revealed her pap smear had come back with abnormalities
• 21:11
  Speaker 1: and after follow-up tests, she had been diagnosed with high-grade
• 21:14
  Speaker 1: cervical dysplasia. Now, despite her gynecologist telling her to have
• 21:19
  Speaker 1: the precancerous cells surgically removed, she begged him to give
• 21:22
  Speaker 1: her three more months to see if she could cure
• 21:25
  Speaker 1: it herself. I want to highlight the use of the
• 21:28
  Speaker 1: word cure here because we are using it in quotations,
• 21:31
  Speaker 1: but this is in fact how she phrased it to
• 21:34
  Speaker 1: her very impressionable audience.
• 21:35
  Speaker 2: A couple of months ago, I got my PAX3 results back.
• 21:38
  Speaker 2: So I have SYN3, which is high-grade cervical dysplasia. I
• 21:42
  Speaker 2: went and got a biopsy, a colposcopy, all this stuff,
• 21:44
  Speaker 2: and he wanted to operate. So obviously, I wanted to
• 21:46
  Speaker 2: see if my body could heal itself on its own because...
• 21:49
  Speaker 2: If you have SYN1, if you have the lowest grade
• 21:51
  Speaker 2: of what I have, your body can actually overcome it
• 21:53
  Speaker 2: by itself and heal itself. So I was hoping that
• 21:56
  Speaker 2: maybe if I ate in a way and supplemented in
• 21:58
  Speaker 2: a way that supported healing, that maybe my cervix could
• 22:02
  Speaker 2: heal itself. I talked to my gynecologist about it and
• 22:04
  Speaker 2: he gave me two months to try to heal it.
• 22:06
  Speaker 3: On my own.
• 22:07
  Speaker 1: And of course, Sarah decided she would share this journey
• 22:10
  Speaker 1: with her audience of over one million people. And it
• 22:13
  Speaker 1: was at this point Sarah's online behavior began attracting mainstream criticism.
• 22:18
  Speaker 1: And that's where we leave today's episode.
• 22:20
  Speaker 3: Next week, we will be.
• 22:21
  Speaker 1: Diving headfirst into what happened next as we unpack Sarah's
• 22:24
  Speaker 1: biggest controversies. This podcast was recorded on the traditional land
• 22:29
  Speaker 1: of the Kaurna people of the Adelaide Plains. We pay
• 22:31
  Speaker 1: respects to elders past and present. Thank you so much
• 22:34
  Speaker 1: for listening to our first episode of Outspoken Plus. We'll
• 22:36
  Speaker 1: be back in your podcast feed next week with our
• 22:39
  Speaker 1: second installment in our Sarah's Day Deep Dive series.