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Deep Dive: Sarah's Day - 'Wellness Warrior' or 'Menace to Public Health'? · 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 we will be discussing medical misinformation
• 0:05
  Speaker 1: and also themes around eating disorders. Episode 2, Wellness Warrior
• 0:14
  Speaker 1: or Menace to Public Health? Sarah Stevenson was at the
• 0:19
  Speaker 1: peak of her influence. Fresh from launching her first ebook,
• 0:22
  Speaker 1: her YouTube career was exploding. The brand deals were flying
• 0:26
  Speaker 1: in and her ever-growing audience was captivated in her picture-perfect life.
• 0:37
  Speaker 1: Until a devastating call from her doctor stopped her in
• 0:40
  Speaker 1: her tracks. The holistic health princess had been diagnosed with
• 0:44
  Speaker 1: high-grade cervical dysplasia.
• 0:46
  Speaker 2: I'm at level three, which means I'm at the most
• 0:49
  Speaker 2: high risk stage. So basically there's stage one, stage two
• 0:53
  Speaker 2: and stage three. And then there's cervical cancer.
• 0:57
  Speaker 1: Instead of following her doctor's orders to have the precancerous
• 1:00
  Speaker 1: cells surgically removed, Sarah embarked on a mission to try
• 1:04
  Speaker 1: and cure herself naturally. Part of my plan of attack
• 1:07
  Speaker 1: to cure myself.
• 1:08
  Speaker 2: Is no coffee.
• 1:10
  Speaker 1: Of course, the YouTuber took her one million followers along
• 1:13
  Speaker 1: for the ride. blurring the lines between opinion, advice and advertising.
• 1:17
  Speaker 3: Alkaline greens and ultra cleanse because I'm all about that anti-inflammatory,
• 1:23
  Speaker 3: antioxidant and alkalizing life. And then also spirulina for the
• 1:28
  Speaker 3: immune boosting properties.
• 1:29
  Speaker 1: Seven months later, Sarah declared she had naturally cured her
• 1:33
  Speaker 1: cervical dysplasia.
• 1:34
  Speaker 2: The rest of this video is just telling you all
• 1:36
  Speaker 2: of the healthy ways that I cured my cervix and
• 1:39
  Speaker 2: how I am now free, pretty much free from cervical dysplasia.
• 1:42
  Speaker 1: This wild claim catapulted the 24-year-old into mainstream media discourse
• 1:48
  Speaker 1: and left people questioning whether Sarah's day was a wellness
• 1:51
  Speaker 1: warrior or a menace to public health. We are journalists Sophie,
• 1:56
  Speaker 1: Kate and Amy Torber. And we're fascinated by the world
• 1:59
  Speaker 1: of influences and the psychology of cancel culture. In this series,
• 2:03
  Speaker 1: we will delve into Sarah's day's biggest scandals, her fall
• 2:07
  Speaker 1: from grace and the dangers of influence. This is Outspoken Plus.
• 2:15
  Speaker 1: In episode one, we left you in 2018. Sarah had
• 2:18
  Speaker 1: just left her followers on a cliffhanger writing... I received
• 2:22
  Speaker 1: a call from my doctor. What she told me has
• 2:24
  Speaker 1: shaken my entire life. I need a time to understand
• 2:28
  Speaker 1: and accept the news before opening up. Thank you for caring.
• 2:31
  Speaker 1: I will share more in my next vlog. Now followers
• 2:34
  Speaker 1: had to wait a week before Sarah broke the news
• 2:37
  Speaker 1: that she had been diagnosed with high-grade cervical dysplasia. And
• 2:41
  Speaker 1: despite her gynecologist telling her to have the precancerous cells
• 2:45
  Speaker 1: surgically removed, she begged him to give her three more
• 2:48
  Speaker 1: months to see if she could cure herself. I'm so
• 2:51
  Speaker 1: glad that we have the opportunity to discuss this controversy
• 2:54
  Speaker 1: and debunk the medical misinformation that was being shared by
• 2:58
  Speaker 1: Sarah back in 2018. I think the worst part is
• 3:00
  Speaker 1: that this information is still online and able to be
• 3:04
  Speaker 1: accessed by impressionable young women and, of course, still monetized content.
• 3:08
  Speaker 1: After being diagnosed with SYN3, Sarah documented in her blogs
• 3:12
  Speaker 1: how she was using healthy food as a form of
• 3:15
  Speaker 1: medicine to try and cure her condition. On the 25th
• 3:18
  Speaker 1: of July, 2018, seven months after being diagnosed with SYN3,
• 3:23
  Speaker 1: Sarah declared in a YouTube video that she had naturally
• 3:26
  Speaker 1: cured her high-grade cervical dysplasia. Let's throw to a clip
• 3:30
  Speaker 1: of how she started this 16-minute YouTube video.
• 3:34
  Speaker 2: Everything in the health world, especially if it's like a
• 3:36
  Speaker 2: serious health issue, there's just so much backlash and judgment
• 3:40
  Speaker 2: that comes with it. But I'm really trying to like
• 3:41
  Speaker 2: not think about that and think about you guys and
• 3:44
  Speaker 2: the girls who are watching this video who are currently
• 3:46
  Speaker 2: going through this because when I found out that I
• 3:48
  Speaker 2: had cervical dysplasia, all I was doing was just like
• 3:50
  Speaker 2: researching every single night. So I'm making this video for
• 3:53
  Speaker 2: my past self. I'm gonna go through everything with you guys,
• 3:56
  Speaker 2: how I healed myself.
• 3:58
  Speaker 1: Sarah then made a bunch of disclaimers saying she wasn't
• 4:01
  Speaker 1: a medical professional and recommended seeking medical advice. But then
• 4:05
  Speaker 1: she went on to say this.
• 4:07
  Speaker 2: If you're watching this video right now and you're already
• 4:10
  Speaker 2: wanting to rip me to shreds for like talking about
• 4:12
  Speaker 2: healthy alternatives, you should probably just click off now because
• 4:15
  Speaker 2: the rest of this video is just telling you all
• 4:17
  Speaker 2: of the healthy ways that I cured my cervix and
• 4:19
  Speaker 2: how I am now free, pretty much free from cervical dysplasia.
• 4:23
  Speaker 2: So I'll just give you a moment to leave.
• 4:25
  Speaker 1: During the video, Sarah explained that her doctor advised her
• 4:28
  Speaker 1: to undergo a loop electrosurgical excision procedure known as LEAP.
• 4:33
  Speaker 1: In this procedure, a wire loop heated by electric current
• 4:37
  Speaker 1: is used to remove cells and tissues in the cervix.
• 4:40
  Speaker 1: In the video, Sarah outlined what she saw as pros
• 4:43
  Speaker 1: and cons of the procedure and explained she was concerned
• 4:46
  Speaker 1: about the negative side effects. Alarmingly in this video, Sarah
• 4:50
  Speaker 1: started handing out advice and going into explicit detail about
• 4:54
  Speaker 1: how she claims to have healed her SIN3. So before
• 4:57
  Speaker 1: we get into it, we want to outline that there
• 4:59
  Speaker 1: is no scientific research that has proven a correlation between
• 5:03
  Speaker 1: any of the claims Sarah is making. In fact, doctors
• 5:06
  Speaker 1: have since come out and said how dangerous her advice is. Now,
• 5:10
  Speaker 1: Sarah decided to do her own research, which involved reading
• 5:14
  Speaker 1: books and speaking to people like her mom, who also
• 5:17
  Speaker 1: had cervical dysplasia. Sarah later claimed her own mom had
• 5:21
  Speaker 1: cured her sin one herself. Now, a big part of
• 5:24
  Speaker 1: this process, according to Sarah, was revamping her nutrition, lifestyle,
• 5:29
  Speaker 1: and supplementation. Sarah then proceeded to list all the supplements
• 5:33
  Speaker 1: she took and explained she was only eating organic foods
• 5:36
  Speaker 1: to ensure she got the most nutrients possible. She also
• 5:39
  Speaker 1: said she prayed a lot and thought positively. I also
• 5:43
  Speaker 1: forgot about this tip. Sarah said that she had made
• 5:45
  Speaker 1: her own suppository, which as the name suggests, she put
• 5:49
  Speaker 1: up her bum. It's just so dangerous that she's going
• 5:51
  Speaker 1: into explicit detail, step by step of what she has done.
• 5:55
  Speaker 1: And then it's claiming that these are the steps to
• 5:57
  Speaker 1: cure yourself. I know. Well, towards the end of the video,
• 6:01
  Speaker 1: Sarah relayed a phone conversation she had between her and
• 6:04
  Speaker 1: a gynecologist regarding the results from the follow-up test. Let's
• 6:08
  Speaker 1: throw to what Sarah claims her doctor said.
• 6:11
  Speaker 2: So he was on the phone and he said, I'm
• 6:13
  Speaker 2: so excited and overwhelmed to tell you that you are
• 6:17
  Speaker 2: now possible low grade.
• 6:19
  Speaker 1: So for a second, I was like, is that good?
• 6:23
  Speaker 2: And he was basically like, yes, that's amazing. You're not
• 6:26
  Speaker 2: high grade anymore.
• 6:27
  Speaker 3: You're not even moderate grade.
• 6:28
  Speaker 1: You're not even low grade.
• 6:30
  Speaker 2: You are just possible low grade, which means that there's
• 6:33
  Speaker 2: possibly some abnormal cells on my cervix. Booking three months later,
• 6:39
  Speaker 2: which I think is now... I should probably book in now.
• 6:42
  Speaker 2: Possible low grade and if I keep doing what I'm doing,
• 6:45
  Speaker 2: it's highly likely that by the time I see him now,
• 6:48
  Speaker 2: which is July, that I'll be completely clear. And I
• 6:51
  Speaker 2: called my mom and I called my sisters and I
• 6:53
  Speaker 2: called Kurt and we're all crying. Thank you Jesus. It
• 6:55
  Speaker 2: was just like so amazing. I'm still so shocked. So
• 7:01
  Speaker 2: proud of myself that I did it. I really just
• 7:03
  Speaker 2: can't believe it. It's definitely the most serious health issue
• 7:06
  Speaker 2: that I've been able to tackle in a healthy, holistic,
• 7:10
  Speaker 2: natural way. Yeah, at the end of the day, my
• 7:12
  Speaker 2: takeaway is to increase immunity, increase antioxidants, eat as natural
• 7:17
  Speaker 2: and whole food based as possible. If you can get organic, great.
• 7:21
  Speaker 2: If you can't, don't stress. Try to decrease the stress
• 7:23
  Speaker 2: in your life. Yeah, that's pretty much how I did it.
• 7:26
  Speaker 1: Now, disturbingly, this video has amassed over 462,000 views and
• 7:28
  Speaker 1: has attracted over 2,000 comments. And there are countless women
• 7:36
  Speaker 1: thanking Sarah for sharing her knowledge. Some women said they
• 7:40
  Speaker 1: feel like they can now overcome their own cervical dysplasia
• 7:43
  Speaker 1: through lifestyle changes. Alarmingly, others even commented that they were
• 7:47
  Speaker 1: trying to heal themselves using Sarah's advice rather than having
• 7:51
  Speaker 1: the urgent surgery their gynecologist recommended. Now, before we get
• 7:55
  Speaker 1: into this next section, we must point out that we
• 7:57
  Speaker 1: are not medical professionals and the information we are presenting
• 8:00
  Speaker 1: is from the Cancer Council and Doctors. So firstly, cervical
• 8:04
  Speaker 1: dysplasia is the medical term used to describe when cells
• 8:07
  Speaker 1: have mutated but haven't yet become cancerous. According to the
• 8:11
  Speaker 1: Cancer Council, there is strong evidence that 28% of women
• 8:15
  Speaker 1: with SYN will regress spontaneously. However, there is no evidence
• 8:19
  Speaker 1: that there's anything a woman can do in terms of
• 8:21
  Speaker 1: diet or lifestyle that can promote regression. Therefore, it's very
• 8:25
  Speaker 1: likely that Sarah was in the lucky 28%. whose sin
• 8:29
  Speaker 1: regressed spontaneously and it had nothing to do with the
• 8:32
  Speaker 1: organic food she was eating or the supplements she was taking.
• 8:35
  Speaker 1: I think it was really irresponsible for Sarah to claim
• 8:38
  Speaker 1: she cured herself with healthy eating. Unfortunately, not everyone is
• 8:42
  Speaker 1: lucky enough to have their sin regress and delaying timely
• 8:45
  Speaker 1: gynecological interventions can potentially lead to someone developing cervical cancer.
• 8:50
  Speaker 1: And at this time, Sarah had built a name for
• 8:53
  Speaker 1: herself as a wellness warrior. So she was selling a healthy,
• 8:56
  Speaker 1: happy lifestyle to her followers. And when she spoke about health,
• 9:00
  Speaker 1: she did so with authority. And this is despite the
• 9:03
  Speaker 1: fact that Sarah, along with a vast majority of other
• 9:06
  Speaker 1: fitness influencers, have no medical training or expertise in health
• 9:11
  Speaker 1: and fitness. And what makes this particularly dangerous is that
• 9:14
  Speaker 1: many of these influencers speak with an inflated sense of self-belief.
• 9:19
  Speaker 1: They are so confident and wholeheartedly believe every word they're saying.
• 9:24
  Speaker 1: And it doesn't always come from a bad place. Most
• 9:27
  Speaker 1: of the time, they are genuinely passionate about the topics
• 9:30
  Speaker 1: they're speaking on and they go out and do their
• 9:32
  Speaker 1: own research. But generally, that involves a lot of Googling
• 9:36
  Speaker 1: and looking into sources that back up their own way
• 9:38
  Speaker 1: of thinking. And I personally think that the deliberate use
• 9:41
  Speaker 1: of the word cure and heal throughout these videos is
• 9:45
  Speaker 1: incredibly misleading. To me, it appears as though she was
• 9:49
  Speaker 1: impressed by her own perceived ability to improve her cervical
• 9:52
  Speaker 1: health that she now wanted to share this information with
• 9:55
  Speaker 1: her followers so they too knew exactly how to do it.
• 9:59
  Speaker 1: And also... to me by saying you cured or healed
• 10:02
  Speaker 1: yourself of a condition it gives you this huge sense
• 10:05
  Speaker 1: of power it gives you this god-like power and at
• 10:08
  Speaker 1: the very least you're sitting there saying that you know
• 10:11
  Speaker 1: more than medical professionals who have trained their whole life
• 10:14
  Speaker 1: to treat conditions like these. It's not just misleading, it's
• 10:17
  Speaker 1: irresponsible to be sharing this type of content. And I
• 10:20
  Speaker 1: do understand how distressing and overwhelming it would be to
• 10:24
  Speaker 1: find out that you have SYN3 on a smaller scale.
• 10:27
  Speaker 1: A couple of years ago, I found out that I
• 10:29
  Speaker 1: had SYN1 and the phone call from the doctor, it
• 10:31
  Speaker 1: left me really shaken and imagining every worst case scenario.
• 10:35
  Speaker 1: And I get that Sarah wouldn't have been in a
• 10:37
  Speaker 1: great headspace. But she did create this video once she
• 10:40
  Speaker 1: discovered that it had regressed. So this was months after
• 10:44
  Speaker 1: the initial diagnosis. It's interesting though, because when I was
• 10:47
  Speaker 1: trying to find information about this video recently on YouTube,
• 10:50
  Speaker 1: there are so many people with similar titles to Sarah
• 10:53
  Speaker 1: talking about how they healed themselves and cured themselves. I
• 10:57
  Speaker 1: wonder if it was a case of Sarah jumping on
• 10:59
  Speaker 1: that bandwagon, but because she had a million followers- It
• 11:02
  Speaker 1: got so much attention and backlash. I do feel like
• 11:05
  Speaker 1: Sarah presented this video under the guise of helping others,
• 11:09
  Speaker 1: but it actually ended up shaming those who haven't been
• 11:13
  Speaker 1: able to, quote, naturally heal themselves. And it probably left
• 11:17
  Speaker 1: a lot of her viewers wondering, had they done enough?
• 11:20
  Speaker 1: And had they taken the easier way out having a
• 11:22
  Speaker 1: leap procedure? And even for those who perhaps did take
• 11:25
  Speaker 1: the natural route, maybe they felt guilt over not picking
• 11:29
  Speaker 1: the right organic fruit and veg or not following it
• 11:31
  Speaker 1: to a T. Or not having money for organic fruit
• 11:34
  Speaker 1: and veg. And it puts a lot of pressure on you.
• 11:36
  Speaker 1: And it really annoys me considering that it is a
• 11:38
  Speaker 1: spontaneous thing, this regression. It has nothing to do with
• 11:41
  Speaker 1: anything you're eating. That's the thing. My SYN1 regressed after
• 11:44
  Speaker 1: six months. I had a retest. It had regressed. I
• 11:47
  Speaker 1: hadn't changed any of my health or lifestyle factors. Yeah.
• 11:50
  Speaker 1: And the thing that really annoys me is Sarah's job
• 11:53
  Speaker 1: is literally to influence young women to buy things. She
• 11:57
  Speaker 1: knows she has the power to influence women's health too.
• 12:00
  Speaker 1: And she has essentially provided a guide to follow to
• 12:03
  Speaker 1: apparently cure cervical dysplasia. And my question is, what if
• 12:07
  Speaker 1: this influence has stopped women from getting urgent treatment they require?
• 12:12
  Speaker 1: What happens if someone has lost their life because they
• 12:15
  Speaker 1: took on this advice rather than taking their doctor's recommendations?
• 12:20
  Speaker 1: Could she be liable or sued? Could YouTube be sued
• 12:23
  Speaker 1: for allowing this misinformation on their platform? Well, recently we've
• 12:26
  Speaker 1: been talking about the US fitness influencer, Brittany Dawn Davis,
• 12:30
  Speaker 1: who is being sued by the state of Texas for
• 12:33
  Speaker 1: allegedly misleading women with eating disorders with her fitness program.
• 12:37
  Speaker 1: And this is a real reckoning between influencers and the law.
• 12:41
  Speaker 1: So it's going to be really interesting to see what
• 12:43
  Speaker 1: happens and if this sets any precedents moving forward. I
• 12:46
  Speaker 1: definitely think this will have huge ramifications for the influencer industry.
• 12:51
  Speaker 1: And back to Sarah's advice, it seems pretty convenient that
• 12:54
  Speaker 1: the recommendations she was giving were directly linked to products
• 12:58
  Speaker 1: that she promotes. So essentially, Sarah was selling a remedy
• 13:02
  Speaker 1: to cure cervical dysplasia. And the only ones that were
• 13:05
  Speaker 1: benefiting were her And her sponsors. For context, she was
• 13:09
  Speaker 1: promoting the use of a number of Tropicas supplements in
• 13:12
  Speaker 1: her videos. And I'm sure sales would have skyrocketed then.
• 13:15
  Speaker 1: And you would think with six years of hindsight and reflection,
• 13:18
  Speaker 1: this whole saga would be something that Sarah regretted. But
• 13:22
  Speaker 1: she confirmed in a recent interview with Grace Beverly that
• 13:25
  Speaker 1: she had few regrets about her online behavior. Let's throw
• 13:28
  Speaker 1: to what she said.
• 13:30
  Speaker 2: I'd like to know when you look back, is there
• 13:33
  Speaker 2: anything that stands out to you as something that you
• 13:34
  Speaker 2: would have done differently?
• 13:36
  Speaker 1: No.
• 13:37
  Speaker 2: Because I feel like if you're a person and you
• 13:39
  Speaker 2: love where you are and you feel so, I hate
• 13:42
  Speaker 2: the word blessed, but you know, hashtag blessed. I am
• 13:45
  Speaker 2: so content in my life right now with my family,
• 13:48
  Speaker 2: with my job and everything. I get scared if I say, oh,
• 13:51
  Speaker 2: I would have changed this. Would I be here now?
• 13:52
  Speaker 2: I love everything about my life right now. I was
• 13:55
  Speaker 2: saying to my mom the other day, I'm living the
• 13:56
  Speaker 2: best years of my life as a mom, as a
• 13:58
  Speaker 2: business owner. I'm so content. So I'm like, yeah, do
• 14:03
  Speaker 2: I wish I could kind of go back and not
• 14:06
  Speaker 2: you know, maybe have that toxic reaction with people? Do
• 14:09
  Speaker 2: I wish I didn't do if it fits in macros?
• 14:11
  Speaker 2: Do I wish I didn't do as many ab selfies?
• 14:13
  Speaker 1: Yes, actually. I wish I didn't do.
• 14:17
  Speaker 2: This as much to the camera and like shred my
• 14:19
  Speaker 2: abs and take as many ab photos because I don't
• 14:23
  Speaker 2: think that's, positive and I don't think any audience is
• 14:27
  Speaker 2: going to leave that feeling empowered.
• 14:28
  Speaker 1: Yeah.
• 14:28
  Speaker 2: Everyone sees that.
• 14:29
  Speaker 1: I mean, I might be saying it's my motivation fault. Yeah.
• 14:32
  Speaker 2: So it's like that. But for me personally, if it's
• 14:34
  Speaker 2: about me, no, because it helped me learn and evolve
• 14:37
  Speaker 2: and I'm not that person anymore. But in terms of
• 14:39
  Speaker 2: my audience, yeah, I wish I didn't do that.
• 14:42
  Speaker 1: The deflection in this interview was really disappointing. That being said,
• 14:47
  Speaker 1: perhaps if she took ownership over her actions and apologised,
• 14:51
  Speaker 1: maybe she would open herself up to lawsuits in the future. Yeah,
• 14:55
  Speaker 1: you make a good point. I was really disappointed in
• 14:57
  Speaker 1: Grace Beverly throughout this whole interview because I thought she
• 15:00
  Speaker 1: gave Sarah an out a lot of the time. She
• 15:02
  Speaker 1: basically put words into her mouth, giving her a defense.
• 15:06
  Speaker 1: I mean, Grace even went on to defend Sarah's ab selfie,
• 15:09
  Speaker 1: saying that contextually at the time, everyone in the fitness
• 15:12
  Speaker 1: industry was doing it. I don't get the whole ab
• 15:15
  Speaker 1: selfie thing because they were poking fun at it, but
• 15:17
  Speaker 1: Sarah still creates that exact content. She's been promoting her
• 15:20
  Speaker 1: new activewear brand and all of the videos and photos
• 15:24
  Speaker 1: are ab selfies. Oh, she's always doing body checks in
• 15:26
  Speaker 1: the mirror. Now, the Shameless podcast was the first media
• 15:30
  Speaker 1: outlet to call out Sarah's day for her dangerous messaging.
• 15:34
  Speaker 1: And with all due respect to Shameless, I use the
• 15:37
  Speaker 1: term media outlet loosely as the podcast was in its
• 15:40
  Speaker 1: infancy and it's not the powerhouse we know today. It
• 15:43
  Speaker 1: was actually Shameless's ninth ever episode and was released back
• 15:47
  Speaker 1: on May 7th, 2018. The episode was called Fact Checking
• 15:51
  Speaker 1: a Healing Princess. And in this episode, Zara McDonald and
• 15:54
  Speaker 1: Michelle Andrews were collectively horrified by Sarah's messaging and compared
• 15:59
  Speaker 1: her actions to Belle Gibson's. So for those who don't know,
• 16:02
  Speaker 1: Belle Gibson is a disgraced Australian wellness blogger who was
• 16:06
  Speaker 1: found guilty of deceptive and misleading conduct in 2017 after
• 16:11
  Speaker 1: claiming to have cured her cancer with healthy eating and
• 16:14
  Speaker 1: alternative therapies. Now, Belle managed to build a social media
• 16:18
  Speaker 1: empire off the back of her fraudulent health claims. She
• 16:21
  Speaker 1: also made hundreds of thousands of dollars in the process,
• 16:24
  Speaker 1: including earning money from a cookbook and an app. Now,
• 16:28
  Speaker 1: it was later revealed Belle never had cancer. So she
• 16:32
  Speaker 1: made the startling admission in an interview with the Australian
• 16:35
  Speaker 1: Women's Weekly in 2015. Then in 2017, Bell was fined
• 16:41
  Speaker 1: $ 410, 000 by the federal court. With the court finding she
• 16:44
  Speaker 1: made false claims about donating a large portion of her
• 16:48
  Speaker 1: profits to charities and to the family of a boy
• 16:51
  Speaker 1: who had an inoperable brain tumour. Now, that figure later
• 16:54
  Speaker 1: increased over $ 500, 000. Now, it's important to note that we
• 16:58
  Speaker 1: are not saying that what Sarah did was in the
• 17:01
  Speaker 1: same realm as Bell Gibson by any means. Shameless also
• 17:05
  Speaker 1: reiterated that during the episode, they said Bell and Sarah's
• 17:08
  Speaker 1: claims were very different and Bell had claimed to cure
• 17:11
  Speaker 1: her cancer, whereas Sarah was claiming she cured precancerous cells
• 17:16
  Speaker 1: on her cervix. Michelle and Zara did, however, conclude that
• 17:20
  Speaker 1: Sarah's behavior was a step away from Bell's and she
• 17:23
  Speaker 1: was dangerous. So following the episode, Shameless received a statement
• 17:27
  Speaker 1: from Dr. Brad McKay about Sarah's claims. He wrote, promoting
• 17:31
  Speaker 1: a healthy lifestyle is admirable, but believing you've healed your
• 17:35
  Speaker 1: cervical dysplasia naturally is not grounded in reality. Your immune
• 17:39
  Speaker 1: system is extremely complex and you don't have much control
• 17:42
  Speaker 1: over it. It's narcissistic to believe that you can heal
• 17:45
  Speaker 1: your cervix with positive thoughts and green smoothies. Declaring that
• 17:49
  Speaker 1: you've healed your cervix naturally is not only ignorant, but
• 17:53
  Speaker 1: it's also insulting to those people who have been diagnosed
• 17:56
  Speaker 1: with cervical dysplasia or cervical cancer. It implies that if
• 18:00
  Speaker 1: you require treatment, you haven't prayed hard enough, haven't thought
• 18:03
  Speaker 1: positively enough or haven't eaten the right nutritional supplements. Sometimes
• 18:07
  Speaker 1: bad things happen and it's not helpful or accurate to
• 18:10
  Speaker 1: play the blame game. I'm glad to hear that a
• 18:12
  Speaker 1: high-grade cervical lesion is now a low-grade lesion. but it's
• 18:16
  Speaker 1: dangerous to recommend others to follow a sin-free routine based
• 18:19
  Speaker 1: on an anecdotal experience. Now, Dr. Brad McKay went on
• 18:23
  Speaker 1: to write about Sarah's day in his book called Fake Medicine,
• 18:27
  Speaker 1: which he released in 2021. So in his book, Dr.
• 18:30
  Speaker 1: McKay concluded by writing, this beautiful, bubbly, and charming young
• 18:34
  Speaker 1: woman appears innocent, but when she provides dodgy health advice
• 18:38
  Speaker 1: to a massive audience, ignores feedback from health professionals, and
• 18:41
  Speaker 1: and disregards the safety of her dedicated fans, we can
• 18:45
  Speaker 1: consider her to be a menace to public health. Sarah's
• 18:48
  Speaker 1: day will come when her fans notice the danger she
• 18:52
  Speaker 1: poses by preaching poor health advice and the blurred lines
• 18:55
  Speaker 1: she's created between opinion, advice and advertising. Despite the media backlash,
• 19:01
  Speaker 1: Sarah stayed quiet. Instead, she was in the process of
• 19:05
  Speaker 1: launching the Ultimate Secret Project. Just three months later, on
• 19:09
  Speaker 1: the 23rd of September 2018, Sarah announced she was pregnant.
• 19:14
  Speaker 1: The news was totally unexpected. Sarah had told her audience
• 19:18
  Speaker 1: it would be really hard for her to fall pregnant
• 19:20
  Speaker 1: due to her PCOS and unbalanced hormones. Her period had
• 19:24
  Speaker 1: only just returned in January 2018 after a year of amenorrhea.
• 19:28
  Speaker 1: It's wild to watch the pregnancy announcement back. Do you
• 19:31
  Speaker 1: guys remember it? Yeah, I remember it because it was
• 19:34
  Speaker 1: quite pivotal on her channel. I have in my mind,
• 19:37
  Speaker 1: this vision of her wearing denim overalls, her and Kurt
• 19:40
  Speaker 1: standing on this cliff front and a lot of blue
• 19:43
  Speaker 1: and pink balloons. Yeah, and they had Abby running along.
• 19:46
  Speaker 1: It was a very happy scene. I've watched the video
• 19:49
  Speaker 1: back and I... couldn't help but cringe at the acting
• 19:52
  Speaker 1: because the video actually starts with Sarah and Kurt pretending
• 19:55
  Speaker 1: they're at a couple's counsellor and answering questions. And it
• 19:59
  Speaker 1: was in that era where they used to do those
• 20:00
  Speaker 1: cringy David Attenborough accents. Yeah, I couldn't get around those accents.
• 20:04
  Speaker 1: They were very annoying. I know. Well, this scene was
• 20:07
  Speaker 1: followed by a bunch of romantic flashback clips of Sarah
• 20:10
  Speaker 1: and Kurt over their relationship. And it was very clear
• 20:14
  Speaker 1: that Sarah and Kurt were keen to push the narrative
• 20:16
  Speaker 1: that this pregnancy was a miracle. They were also trying
• 20:20
  Speaker 1: to push how special their personal relationship was. They had
• 20:24
  Speaker 1: only been together for 22 months at this point. And
• 20:26
  Speaker 1: while they had discussed children, this baby wasn't planned. Yeah,
• 20:30
  Speaker 1: and in the video narration, Sarah explains that in the
• 20:33
  Speaker 1: midst of her SYN3 diagnosis, her gynecologist told her that
• 20:37
  Speaker 1: it would be extremely difficult, if not impossible, for her
• 20:40
  Speaker 1: to naturally fall pregnant again. due to her unbalanced hormones
• 20:43
  Speaker 1: and PCOS. She then went on to say that all
• 20:46
  Speaker 1: she ever wanted was to be a mum and carry
• 20:49
  Speaker 1: her own babies. Now, Sophie, you mentioned it earlier, but
• 20:52
  Speaker 1: the final scene was this beautiful scenic shot of Sarah
• 20:55
  Speaker 1: Kerr and their dog, Abby, jogging along a cliff front,
• 20:58
  Speaker 1: holding balloons with blue and pink confetti inside. They went
• 21:02
  Speaker 1: on to say it was the biggest surprise of their
• 21:04
  Speaker 1: lives and something they've dreamed of. Let's throw to what
• 21:07
  Speaker 1: they said at the end.
• 21:10
  Speaker 2: So to our special new member of the squad, we
• 21:12
  Speaker 2: already love you so much and we can't.
• 21:15
  Speaker 1: Wait to be your bestie.
• 21:17
  Speaker 2: Ultimate secret project is coming in March.
• 21:20
  Speaker 1: See you soon, little one.
• 21:21
  Speaker 2: It's officially and finally time to activate MILF life.
• 21:27
  Speaker 1: I feel deeply uncomfortable with the last line when she
• 21:30
  Speaker 1: says time to activate MILF life. I just sort of think,
• 21:34
  Speaker 1: what tickets do you have in yourself to say that?
• 21:36
  Speaker 1: I don't even think it's tickets. I think that this
• 21:38
  Speaker 1: infatuation with being an attractive mum and that's your biggest
• 21:42
  Speaker 1: aim in life is a little bit sad and also reductive.
• 21:46
  Speaker 1: I also didn't like the reference to the ultimate secret
• 21:49
  Speaker 1: project is coming. It's like commodifying your child even before
• 21:52
  Speaker 1: it's born. Yeah, it definitely was convenient timing for this
• 21:56
  Speaker 1: pregnancy to come up. Well, a string of pregnancy videos followed,
• 22:00
  Speaker 1: which garnered millions of views. The cervical dysplasia controversy was
• 22:04
  Speaker 1: long in the past. The second video in the series
• 22:07
  Speaker 1: showed Sarah's raw reaction to finding out she was pregnant
• 22:10
  Speaker 1: after taking a pregnancy test. It was very awkward viewing.
• 22:14
  Speaker 1: Sarah's bawling her eyes out. She said it was her dream,
• 22:17
  Speaker 1: but she also said that she was really shocked and
• 22:19
  Speaker 1: nervous because she had so many work opportunities coming up.
• 22:23
  Speaker 1: And Sarah then went on to say that Kurt knew
• 22:25
  Speaker 1: she was taking a pregnancy test, but she was going
• 22:28
  Speaker 1: to tell him it was negative so she could capture
• 22:30
  Speaker 1: his surprise reaction on camera. Yeah, I think that's what's
• 22:33
  Speaker 1: uncomfortable about the whole thing. It just all seems for
• 22:37
  Speaker 1: the views. The fact that you're telling your partner, nah, babe,
• 22:40
  Speaker 1: don't worry about it, not pregnant. But then coming up
• 22:43
  Speaker 1: with this video that's going to attract attention online, it
• 22:46
  Speaker 1: just doesn't sit comfortably with me. And she also spoke
• 22:49
  Speaker 1: about how she'd been watching a lot of these baby
• 22:51
  Speaker 1: announcement videos. And one of the first things that popped
• 22:53
  Speaker 1: into her head was, oh, I better get the camera out. Like,
• 22:56
  Speaker 1: I can't imagine that being a part of your thought
• 22:58
  Speaker 1: process in a truly shocking moment like that, particularly if
• 23:01
  Speaker 1: you thought you couldn't have children. Now, the arrival of
• 23:05
  Speaker 1: Sarah's first child, Fox Ocean, was her biggest YouTube moment
• 23:09
  Speaker 1: to date. Of course, Sarah vlogged the experience and uploaded
• 23:13
  Speaker 1: it four days after her son was born. At the
• 23:16
  Speaker 1: time of recording, that video has 9.4 million views. I
• 23:21
  Speaker 1: remember at the time, everyone was hanging out to find
• 23:24
  Speaker 1: out what this baby's name was, and they ended up
• 23:27
  Speaker 1: releasing a separate video to announce the name, which got
• 23:30
  Speaker 1: a further 1.4 million likes. Now Sarah's pregnancy wasn't drama
• 23:35
  Speaker 1: free with some people accusing her of allegedly putting her
• 23:38
  Speaker 1: son in danger in order to have a natural delivery.
• 23:42
  Speaker 1: However all in all her transition into motherhood was a
• 23:45
  Speaker 1: popular one attracting Sarah more views and more followers. But
• 23:50
  Speaker 1: no one could have predicted what the following year would
• 23:52
  Speaker 1: hold for the world. There are fears more than 1,000
• 23:55
  Speaker 1: people could be infected with a deadly SARS-like virus in China.
• 23:59
  Speaker 1: The World Health Organisation has declared coronavirus a global pandemic.
• 24:04
  Speaker 1: The COVID-19 pandemic changed life as we knew it. Logged
• 24:08
  Speaker 1: inside our homes with more free time than ever, public
• 24:11
  Speaker 1: sentiment towards influencers began to shift and cancel culture began
• 24:16
  Speaker 1: to rise. The same year, the Black Lives Matter movement
• 24:19
  Speaker 1: shook the world as protests broke out around the globe
• 24:23
  Speaker 1: following the murder of George Floyd. Cities across the United
• 24:26
  Speaker 1: States remain in a state of high tension tonight as
• 24:29
  Speaker 1: the country braces itself for another wave of protests over
• 24:33
  Speaker 1: the death.
• 24:33
  Speaker 2: Of George Floyd.
• 24:38
  Speaker 1: Chaos, violence, fire and looting unfolding on the streets of Minneapolis.
• 24:43
  Speaker 1: 2020 was a horror year for everyone, but was also
• 24:46
  Speaker 1: the year when Sarah's Day's biggest controversies took place. Next week,
• 24:51
  Speaker 1: we will delve into Sarah's biggest controversies, including her bushfire fundraiser,
• 24:56
  Speaker 1: accusations of cultural appropriation and Ruggate. This podcast was recorded
• 25:02
  Speaker 1: on the traditional land of the Kaurna people of the
• 25:04
  Speaker 1: Adelaide Plains. We pay respects to elders past and present.
• 25:08
  Speaker 1: Thank you so much for listening to our second episode
• 25:10
  Speaker 1: of Outspoken Plus. We'll be back in your ears next
• 25:13
  Speaker 1: Wednesday with our third instalment in our Sarah's Day deep
• 25:16
  Speaker 1: dive series.