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Inside The Anna Paul Scandal · Outspoken the Podcast

0:01
Speaker 1: Before we get into the show, we want to point
0:02
Speaker 1: out we recorded this episode yesterday afternoon just before Anna
0:06
Speaker 1: Paul released her response to Michaela Tester's allegations on TikTok.
0:10
Speaker 1: We will be delving into Anna's response in more detail
0:13
Speaker 1: on Friday's show. It's important to point out that Anna
0:16
Speaker 1: has denied body shaming a fan. She also said stories
0:20
Speaker 1: about her family's wealth have been greatly exaggerated and has
0:23
Speaker 1: called on social media users to end the hate and bullying,
0:26
Speaker 1: saying it's all internet fun until someone dies. Hello and
0:32
Speaker 1: welcome to Outspoken. It's your dose of the hottest influencer
0:36
Speaker 1: and pop culture news twice a week. I'm Sophie Torber
0:39
Speaker 1: and on today's show, we're going to be diving into the.
0:42
Speaker 2: Anna Paul and Michaela Testers scandal.
0:44
Speaker 1: But first, Kate, you're back in the studio following your
0:47
Speaker 1: snake drama. Everyone wants a bit of an update. Well,
0:49
Speaker 1: it's been a week and the snake still has not emerged.
0:52
Speaker 1: So we have had a net set up over the
0:55
Speaker 1: retaining wall that it went into. And we were told
0:58
Speaker 1: that it should be out within 24 to 48 hours
1:00
Speaker 1: but to give it a week just in case. So
1:03
Speaker 1: we're at the stage where we're like, do we take
1:05
Speaker 1: the snake net down?
1:06
Speaker 2: That snake is long gone, Kate.
1:07
Speaker 1: Does he come back and get the net? Or does
1:09
Speaker 1: that just, he gives it away for free? Well, we
1:11
Speaker 1: did pay $ 180 for the snake catcher to come and
1:13
Speaker 1: not catch any snakes.
1:14
Speaker 2: I suppose it's for free.
1:15
Speaker 1: You've been sending me these hilarious Snapchats of our mum
1:19
Speaker 1: going over to help you out with Jack and she's
1:21
Speaker 1: out hanging your laundry, but she's got a whistle in
1:23
Speaker 1: her mouth She's been like hoping the vibrations of the
1:26
Speaker 1: whistle will keep any snakes away from her. It was
1:29
Speaker 1: so funny because I thought she was just going to
1:30
Speaker 1: blow the whistle once and then go outside. However, she
1:33
Speaker 1: blew it the whole time she was outside continuously.
1:35
Speaker 2: Yeah, she looked like Terry Crews.
1:37
Speaker 1: From White Chicks. You know that scene where in the
1:39
Speaker 1: nightclub he's got that whistle in his mouth.
1:41
Speaker 3: Boop, boop, boop. It's been a big day for the Australians.
1:50
Speaker 4: Let's go. Michaela Tester, Anna Paul, we're on.
1:52
Speaker 2: This is our James Charles Jeffery star Tati Westbrook moment.
1:55
Speaker 2: All right, this is Dramageddon, Bogan version.
1:59
Speaker 1: Australia's biggest influencer scandal is playing out in real time.
2:03
Speaker 1: Beloved TikToker and OnlyFans creator Anna Paul's reputation is in
2:07
Speaker 1: tatters following explosive claims made in an eight-minute video by
2:12
Speaker 1: her former friend and fellow creator Michaela Tester.
2:15
Speaker 2: The bust up has.
2:16
Speaker 1: Been dominating millennial and Gen Zers for you pages with
2:20
Speaker 1: the level of the scandal being compared to the 2019
2:23
Speaker 1: Taddy Westbrook and James Charles drama. Now, before we get
2:26
Speaker 1: into the scandal, Kate, can you bring listeners up to
2:29
Speaker 1: speed on who Anna and Michaela are and how they're connected? Yeah,
2:32
Speaker 1: so we have spoken a lot about Anna Paul on
2:35
Speaker 1: this podcast, but for new listeners, she is one of
2:37
Speaker 1: Australia's biggest influencers. She has over 7 million followers on
2:42
Speaker 1: TikTok and 2 million on Instagram.
2:44
Speaker 2: Well, she did. She used to.
2:46
Speaker 1: Now, to give you an insight into just how big
2:48
Speaker 1: she is, in 2022, she shut down Perth CBD when
2:53
Speaker 1: she did a meet and greet. And at the end
2:54
Speaker 1: of 2023, she launched her own skincare brand, Pauly Skin,
2:58
Speaker 1: which sold out instantly. Now, her fan base is predominantly
3:02
Speaker 1: young females who follow her daily vlogs, where she spreads
3:05
Speaker 1: messages about kindness and body positivity. Ironically, there is a
3:09
Speaker 1: large portion of her followers who are completely unaware that
3:13
Speaker 1: she also runs a very successful OnlyFans account where she
3:16
Speaker 1: shares explicit content. And I think a lot of their
3:19
Speaker 1: parents are unaware that she does also share OnlyFans content.
3:22
Speaker 1: Because also when you say that her audience is predominantly
3:25
Speaker 1: young females, I have to point out they're mostly schoolgirls. Yeah,
3:28
Speaker 1: and if you read Anna's comments on TikTok, there are
3:30
Speaker 1: a lot of people that are completely surprised when they
3:33
Speaker 1: find out she has an OnlyFans account. In saying that,
3:36
Speaker 1: she is one of the nation's top earners on the platform.
3:39
Speaker 1: Before she launched her skincare range, the AFR estimated she
3:43
Speaker 1: earned $ 220, 000 a month on OnlyFans. As for Mikayla Tester,
3:48
Speaker 1: she is also a top earner on OnlyFans. It's estimated
3:52
Speaker 1: she earns around $ 160, 000 a month on the platform, so
3:53
Speaker 1: slightly less than Anna Pohl. She also has close to
3:59
Speaker 1: 900,000 followers on Instagram and 2.4 million on TikTok. Now,
4:03
Speaker 1: Michaela and Anna have been friends for years, and they
4:06
Speaker 1: became particularly close when Michaela started dating Anna's brother, Addis,
4:10
Speaker 1: in 2019. Now, they ended up breaking up in June 2022,
4:15
Speaker 1: but Michaela and Anna continue to publicly stay friends.
4:18
Speaker 2: They left a lot of supportive.
4:19
Speaker 1: Messages on each other's social media accounts and everything seemed
4:22
Speaker 1: okay between them.
4:24
Speaker 3: Yeah.
4:24
Speaker 1: And when Michaela was dating Addis, the Paul family really
4:28
Speaker 1: took her in as one of their own. And Anna
4:30
Speaker 1: even referred to Michaela as her sister. And I remember
4:33
Speaker 1: when they broke up, Michaela was particularly upset because she
4:35
Speaker 1: was no.
4:36
Speaker 2: Longer a member of the family. It wasn't just all
4:38
Speaker 2: about Addis.
4:39
Speaker 1: And I think that's because Michaela has been very open
4:41
Speaker 1: about her fractured relationship with her own family. They disowned
4:45
Speaker 1: her when she started OnlyFans when she was a teenager,
4:48
Speaker 1: pretty much. So The Paul family has been a second
4:51
Speaker 1: family to her. And just recently in December, Michaela shared
4:55
Speaker 1: a video where she said her family had failed her
4:58
Speaker 1: in the worst way you could possibly imagine. So she
5:01
Speaker 1: alleged that she was abused by two much older male
5:04
Speaker 1: family members when she was a child, which is just
5:07
Speaker 1: horrific to hear. And it kind of gives you an
5:09
Speaker 1: insight into her mindset at the moment. She clearly is
5:13
Speaker 1: looking to open up about a lot of things that
5:15
Speaker 1: have gone on in her.
5:16
Speaker 2: Life, allegedly.
5:17
Speaker 1: It seemed like for quite a number of years that
5:19
Speaker 1: Michaela Testa really wanted to get back together with Addis Pohl.
5:22
Speaker 2: She created a lot of content around it. But last year,
5:25
Speaker 2: she actually met.
5:26
Speaker 1: A new guy. They have since gone on to get engaged.
5:29
Speaker 1: He's an American bodybuilder called Maxwell Krauss. He also has
5:32
Speaker 1: quite a large following on social media. She seems very
5:35
Speaker 1: happy with him. And I think Michaela being in this
5:37
Speaker 1: happy relationship has a lot to do with the timing
5:40
Speaker 1: of why these allegations are coming out because it's clear
5:43
Speaker 1: that she is at a place now where she feels
5:45
Speaker 1: comfortable enough to start speaking on this topic. And safe
5:48
Speaker 1: and supported clearly too. So now that we are up
5:51
Speaker 1: to speed, let's get into this scandal. So the drama
5:54
Speaker 1: kicked off last weekend after Anna Paul told her followers
5:58
Speaker 1: she would be randomly gifting new subscribers to her OnlyFans
6:01
Speaker 1: account CashRewards. Now, this isn't something new. So Anna has
6:06
Speaker 1: used similar incentives for her followers to promote her skincare
6:09
Speaker 1: line poorly and also her OnlyFans account in the past.
6:13
Speaker 2: Anna went on to.
6:13
Speaker 1: Share screenshots from various followers who she'd ended up sending
6:17
Speaker 1: $ 200 to $ 1, 000 to as a cashback reward. Now, last Monday,
6:22
Speaker 1: Michaela Tester weighed in, writing on her Instagram story, if
6:25
Speaker 1: you have to incentivize people to buy your exclusive website,
6:29
Speaker 1: By running cash giveaways on there and then posting screenshots
6:33
Speaker 1: of your Instagram so your underage followers spend $ 10 to
6:36
Speaker 1: hopefully win $ 1, 000, you're basically running an illegal lottery and
6:40
Speaker 1: taking advantage of children.
6:42
Speaker 2: It's gross.
6:43
Speaker 1: While she didn't initially name Anna, it was pretty clear
6:46
Speaker 1: who she was talking about. And eight hours later, she
6:49
Speaker 1: decided to go one step further and name Anna, writing,
6:53
Speaker 1: I'm speaking on this because it's not only horrible, but
6:56
Speaker 1: every time Anna pulls one of these cash giveaways, money grabs.
6:59
Speaker 1: My DMs are filled with hundreds of people asking me
7:02
Speaker 1: for funds slash help with all sorts of devastating things
7:06
Speaker 1: because they're at a loss for her. If your OnlyFans
7:09
Speaker 1: isn't selling and you need to pull cash grabs just
7:11
Speaker 1: to get subs or sell your skincare, then you need
7:14
Speaker 1: to re-evaluate. Stop using and manipulating less fortunate people into
7:19
Speaker 1: sending their last $ 10 because you're promising the chance at more.
7:23
Speaker 1: I've had enough and I wish more people called a
7:25
Speaker 1: spade for a spade.
7:27
Speaker 2: This is exploitation. I was really shocked.
7:30
Speaker 1: When I saw this pop up because I was under
7:32
Speaker 1: the impression that Michaela and Anna were still friends. Well,
7:35
Speaker 1: I think Anna was under that impression because Anna actually
7:37
Speaker 1: commented on Michaela's recent photo, which was uploaded on the
7:41
Speaker 1: Monday saying sexy. Anna must have been unaware because that
7:44
Speaker 1: same day Michaela had unfollowed her on Instagram. Anna still
7:48
Speaker 1: does follow her and follows her to this day. Well, Anna,
7:51
Speaker 1: didn't respond to Michaela's call out, but she ended up
7:54
Speaker 1: deleting Instagram stories, which related to the giveaway. And she
7:58
Speaker 1: said in her daily vlog on TikTok this.
8:02
Speaker 2: Things in my room that make me happy when I'm sad.
8:05
Speaker 1: Anna looked visibly upset in this vlog. And this is
8:07
Speaker 1: the last vlog that she has posted on TikTok since
8:10
Speaker 1: this scandal.
8:11
Speaker 3: Yeah.
8:11
Speaker 1: So on Wednesday, things escalated even further when Michaela uploaded
8:15
Speaker 1: an explosive eight minute expose on Anna to TikTok. My
8:20
Speaker 1: jaw dropped when I saw this video. The way Michaela
8:23
Speaker 1: began the video was so sensationalized and the allegations just went.
8:28
Speaker 4: On and on.
8:29
Speaker 1: It almost felt like something we shouldn't be watching. Let's
8:32
Speaker 1: have a listen to how Michaela began the video.
8:35
Speaker 4: There's a lot of things wrong with Anna Paul. It's
8:37
Speaker 4: way easier to hate me for calling her out when
8:39
Speaker 4: she's wrong than accepting that the Anna you guys love
8:41
Speaker 4: and idolize so much never existed. You don't know her.
8:45
Speaker 4: You don't know her like I know her. You have
8:47
Speaker 4: never met her, and if you have, it's nothing more
8:49
Speaker 4: than a five-second selfie. These people that watch her don't
8:53
Speaker 4: know the Anna that I know. They know the other Anna,
8:56
Speaker 4: the one she wears when the camera starts rolling.
8:59
Speaker 1: The opening line of this video has become a trending
9:02
Speaker 1: sound on TikTok. It shows what a savvy TikTok creator
9:05
Speaker 1: Michaela is though.
9:06
Speaker 2: She knew exactly which notes to hit with that.
9:09
Speaker 1: Well, she was clearly reading a written statement as well.
9:12
Speaker 1: It's not like she just jumped on her stories and
9:14
Speaker 1: said whatever she felt like.
9:15
Speaker 2: And clicked upload.
9:16
Speaker 1: And I think that's why people took it so seriously
9:18
Speaker 1: because this was obviously something that was very considered.
9:21
Speaker 2: It's very different to the other videos she has put
9:23
Speaker 2: out there.
9:24
Speaker 1: And she made some very big accusations against not only Anna,
9:28
Speaker 1: but Anna's brother, Addis Poole, who is Michaela's ex-boyfriend.
9:32
Speaker 2: The allegations leveled.
9:33
Speaker 1: At Addis Poole are extremely serious in nature and due
9:35
Speaker 1: to legal reasons, we will not be delving into those.
9:39
Speaker 1: We will be discussing the allegations leveled at Anna to
9:42
Speaker 1: do with her public persona though. And we do want
9:44
Speaker 1: to reiterate that the allegations Michaela made are unfounded and
9:48
Speaker 1: are yet to be proven to be true. So we're
9:50
Speaker 1: not saying that they are true, but we're just simply
9:52
Speaker 1: reporting on what Michaela has alleged. Now, in the eight
9:55
Speaker 1: minute video, Michaela spoke in more depth about Anna's cash giveaway,
10:00
Speaker 1: and she likened the giveaway's entry mechanism to that of
10:03
Speaker 1: a lottery.
10:04
Speaker 2: She also alleged.
10:05
Speaker 1: That it was unethical for Anna to direct her underage
10:08
Speaker 1: fan base to her OnlyFans platform in order to enter
10:12
Speaker 1: the giveaway. Here's more of what she said.
10:15
Speaker 4: Anna's performative generosity, like hiding money in cities or dishing
10:19
Speaker 4: out giveaways behind a paywall, reek of superiority. Watching her
10:23
Speaker 4: fans scramble over scraps, fighting each other because they need
10:25
Speaker 4: these funds while she films it, flaunts her designer labels,
10:28
Speaker 4: endless holidays and material excess. This is dystopian and out
10:32
Speaker 4: of touch. Anna is preying on the vulnerability and desperation
10:36
Speaker 4: of impressionable young fans for her profit under the disguise
10:39
Speaker 4: of self-love, empowerment and giving back. Anna may give back
10:43
Speaker 4: to the odd few people. who she can post on
10:46
Speaker 4: her Instagram story for more promotion, but everyone else falls short. Anna,
10:50
Speaker 4: if you truly wanted to give back to your fans,
10:52
Speaker 4: you would use a free platform such as your giant
10:54
Speaker 4: Instagram page with over 2.4 million followers. Or, if you
10:58
Speaker 4: truly wanted to give back to your OF subscribers, you
11:00
Speaker 4: would do it privately within that platform. By posting IG
11:03
Speaker 4: stories advertising that you're sending money to subscribers, you are
11:06
Speaker 4: directly trying to lure new customers over to your page,
11:09
Speaker 4: a page which costs $.
11:10
Speaker 1: 16 to access.
11:13
Speaker 4: This $ 16 is essentially a lottery ticket.
11:17
Speaker 1: I was interested to know more about the legalities of
11:20
Speaker 1: Anna's cash giveaway.
11:21
Speaker 2: And what I found was it really is a gray area.
11:24
Speaker 1: So from what I can establish, it depends whether Anna's
11:27
Speaker 1: giveaway fits under the category of a cashback offer or
11:31
Speaker 1: a lottery. And because Anna didn't specifically sell tickets or
11:35
Speaker 1: organize dates or even set rules for her giveaway, by definition,
11:39
Speaker 1: it doesn't technically fit into the category of a lottery.
11:43
Speaker 1: What it does fit into is the ACCC's definition of
11:46
Speaker 1: a cashback offer. So from what I can gauge, it
11:50
Speaker 1: doesn't appear that Anna has.
11:51
Speaker 2: Broken any rules. However, moving forward, I think a lot
11:55
Speaker 2: of influencers are going.
11:55
Speaker 1: To be really careful about doing online giveaways because it
11:59
Speaker 1: is such a great area. Well, we have seen recently
12:02
Speaker 1: Adrian Portelli, who's known as the Lambo guy or that
12:04
Speaker 1: guy that buys all the properties on the block. He
12:06
Speaker 1: also actually dated Michaela Testa for a short period of
12:09
Speaker 1: time during her breakup without his pole.
12:11
Speaker 2: I totally forgot about that.
12:12
Speaker 1: Well, he was recently charged with conducting an unlawful lottery
12:15
Speaker 1: in South Australia in December last year. So essentially, the
12:19
Speaker 1: way his business works is people sign up to a
12:22
Speaker 1: membership to receive shopping discounts. And as part of the
12:25
Speaker 1: membership offering, members are also granted entry into monthly draws
12:29
Speaker 1: for cash and prizes. And the law states that any
12:32
Speaker 1: lottery that is not licensed in the state is unlawful
12:35
Speaker 1: and organizers face a maximum penalty of $ 10, 000. So the
12:38
Speaker 1: bow you're trying to draw here is that Adrian has
12:41
Speaker 1: been asking his audience to to basically subscribe and become
12:44
Speaker 1: members to a shopping discount page, which is totally unrelated
12:48
Speaker 1: to the lottery, which is somewhat similar to Anna asking
12:51
Speaker 1: her followers. to sign up and become members of an
12:54
Speaker 1: OnlyFans account in order to win money that is totally unrelated.
12:57
Speaker 2: Yeah, uncommon entry mechanism.
12:59
Speaker 1: You've just got to dot the I's and cross the
13:01
Speaker 1: T's and make sure your T's and C's match up
13:03
Speaker 1: with what you're doing. Well, the issue is Anna didn't
13:05
Speaker 1: have any terms and conditions and I think this is
13:07
Speaker 1: why so many consumers might have felt misled. Yeah, I
13:10
Speaker 1: think there's going to be a lot of influencers taking
13:12
Speaker 1: note and making sure that they actually have T's and
13:14
Speaker 1: C's moving forward because I think social media is a
13:16
Speaker 1: little bit of a wild west with competitions and people
13:19
Speaker 1: don't generally think that they're going to be crack down on.
13:22
Speaker 1: Even aside from the legalities, I think Michaela also raised
13:26
Speaker 1: an important question around the ethics and appropriateness of marketing
13:30
Speaker 1: OnlyFans accounts to underage followers because this is essentially what
13:34
Speaker 1: Anna was doing. She has made it very clear that
13:37
Speaker 1: a large percentage of her audience are under 18. If
13:41
Speaker 1: you look at her TikTok content, it very much appeals
13:43
Speaker 1: to an underage audience. There's been a lot of discussion
13:47
Speaker 1: on TikTok since this scandal hit that Anna speaks quite
13:50
Speaker 1: often in a baby voice in her videos. And she
13:53
Speaker 1: lives with her mom and dad. She calls the mama
13:55
Speaker 1: and papa. It's all quite, I don't want to say juvenile,
13:59
Speaker 1: but it is very childlike the way she acts on there.
14:01
Speaker 3: Yeah.
14:02
Speaker 1: And she has been accused of glamorizing sex work to
14:05
Speaker 1: her underage followers. And one really popular sex worker on TikTok,
14:09
Speaker 1: Kayla Jade, she weighed into it and she didn't specifically
14:12
Speaker 1: name Anna, but she told her followers, it's important for
14:15
Speaker 1: sex workers to be mindful of the content they create.
14:18
Speaker 1: so there's no confusion around it. She said there's nothing
14:21
Speaker 1: morally wrong with being a sex worker and wanting to
14:24
Speaker 1: promote it online, but there is a problem when it's
14:27
Speaker 1: exposed to the wrong audience, so she likened this to
14:29
Speaker 1: horror movies. She said there's nothing wrong with enjoying horror movies,
14:33
Speaker 1: but would you show Texas Chainsaw Massacre to a room
14:35
Speaker 1: full of preschool kids? Kayla also made a really great
14:38
Speaker 1: point about the need for creators to be mindful and
14:41
Speaker 1: consistent across all platforms so their audiences are aware of
14:45
Speaker 1: what they're consuming. Let's have a listen to what she said.
14:48
Speaker 3: The majority of my audience is 25 to 35 because
14:52
Speaker 3: it's clear exactly what I do and I'm not trying
14:54
Speaker 3: to target a younger audience. If your audience is constantly
14:57
Speaker 3: under the age of 18 and you're an SW, then
14:59
Speaker 3: you have to reassess what you're doing and it is
15:01
Speaker 3: your responsibility to fix it. You can either change your
15:04
Speaker 3: content to be more appropriate for a younger audience, i.e.
15:07
Speaker 3: stop promoting SW content on all platforms or make the
15:10
Speaker 3: changes necessary to ensure your marketing to an adult audience.
15:13
Speaker 3: Parents also shouldn't be leaving their kids unsupervised online. It's
15:16
Speaker 3: just like the internet, they're going to see some shit
15:18
Speaker 3: they probably shouldn't. There are so many people in my
15:20
Speaker 3: space that do things that are crossing a line and
15:22
Speaker 3: don't sit right with me. And it can be frustrating
15:24
Speaker 3: because it brings negative attention to the whole industry.
15:27
Speaker 1: There's been so many people weighing into the Anna Paul situation.
15:30
Speaker 1: And in this case, I think it's really important to
15:32
Speaker 1: hear the perspective of someone who not only works as
15:35
Speaker 1: a sex worker as well, but works in.
15:37
Speaker 2: The TikTok space.
15:38
Speaker 1: So to hear that she has a direct strategy with
15:41
Speaker 1: the content that she's putting out, making sure that it
15:43
Speaker 1: is appropriate for her target demographic.
15:45
Speaker 2: I think is really interesting.
15:46
Speaker 1: I think the big difference between Kayla and Anna's content
15:50
Speaker 1: is that Anna puts out a very glamorous view of
15:53
Speaker 1: being a sex worker. So if you look at her TikToks,
15:55
Speaker 1: it's all about her jetting around the world. She's eating
15:58
Speaker 1: in glamorous restaurants, driving luxury cars. Money clearly isn't an
16:02
Speaker 1: issue for her. And her fan base is predominantly teenagers
16:06
Speaker 1: who would be lapping up this type of content. They
16:09
Speaker 1: want to live the life that Anna Paul lives. But
16:11
Speaker 1: when you look at Kayla's content, she's done a really
16:13
Speaker 1: good job of not romanticizing sex work. I mean, she
16:16
Speaker 1: has said that she believes it's important to also show
16:19
Speaker 1: the unflattering side.
16:21
Speaker 2: And she does that.
16:21
Speaker 1: She tells some pretty full on stories, which makes it
16:24
Speaker 1: not the most appealing job to have. However, you would
16:27
Speaker 1: see being a sex worker as the most glamorous thing ever.
16:30
Speaker 1: One thing that Kayla does do is she does often
16:32
Speaker 1: count wads of cash that she's made from the night
16:35
Speaker 1: before to start her videos. But then you hear the
16:38
Speaker 1: reality of how she has got that money. And as
16:41
Speaker 1: you said, Amy, some of these stories, I mean, the
16:42
Speaker 1: reason she's so popular is because these stories have you
16:45
Speaker 1: on the edge of your seat.
16:46
Speaker 2: But it doesn't glamorize it. It just portrays the reality.
16:49
Speaker 1: And when you look at Kayla's content, it is clearly
16:53
Speaker 1: aimed at 18 plus. She is pretty consistent with the
16:56
Speaker 1: type of content she shares. You would look at Anna's
17:00
Speaker 1: TikTok and be unaware that she actually was on OnlyFans.
17:03
Speaker 1: But is that because the algorithm punishes creators who do
17:07
Speaker 1: try and push people from Instagram or TikTok to OnlyFans?
17:11
Speaker 1: Because I've noticed that a lot of OnlyFans creators, they
17:14
Speaker 1: have to use specific language like, oh, spicy content and
17:17
Speaker 1: really play around with it to suggest people to go
17:21
Speaker 1: onto their platform. But also because Anna is a sex worker,
17:23
Speaker 1: does that mean that she doesn't have another life?
17:25
Speaker 2: Like, does this mean that she has she.
17:27
Speaker 1: Isn't allowed to travel and have a glamorous life and
17:30
Speaker 1: she isn't allowed to be a nice person. She is
17:32
Speaker 1: breaking down the stigma that a sex worker has particular
17:36
Speaker 1: personality attributes and characters.
17:38
Speaker 2: I agree.
17:38
Speaker 1: She's doing a really good job at breaking down the stigma,
17:41
Speaker 1: but she can't be relying on her underage audience to
17:44
Speaker 1: bump up her OnlyFans earnings. And if you look at OnlyFans' rules,
17:49
Speaker 1: it states that users must agree they are 18 years
17:52
Speaker 1: or older before they're able to purchase any explicit content.
17:55
Speaker 1: I feel like the word that they must agree is
17:58
Speaker 1: important because this site is not foolproof. Minors are lying
18:01
Speaker 1: about their age and falsifying their age in order to
18:03
Speaker 1: gain access to it. It's pretty similar to social media
18:06
Speaker 1: platforms where kids are pretending that they're older in order
18:09
Speaker 1: to get them. Now let's get back into Michaela's allegations.
18:11
Speaker 1: So she really hit Anna where it hurt. She alleged
18:14
Speaker 1: that Anna doesn't care about her fans and that the
18:17
Speaker 1: way she presents herself publicly is very different to the
18:20
Speaker 1: real Anna. This is some of what she said.
18:45
Speaker 4: Everything people accuse me of being is exactly who you are.
18:49
Speaker 4: That was just the beginning of the pot that started
18:51
Speaker 4: boiling within me.
18:52
Speaker 1: I find it really interesting that Michaela has brought up
18:56
Speaker 1: Anna's pets. We all know that Anna travels the world,
18:59
Speaker 1: yet her pets have become a huge part of her
19:01
Speaker 1: personal brand. So she has a number of hairless cats.
19:04
Speaker 1: who remain at home for most of the time, there
19:06
Speaker 1: is a bit of a question mark over who actually
19:08
Speaker 1: looks after these pets whilst they're traveling all year. And
19:11
Speaker 1: to say that your fans and also your animals mean
19:14
Speaker 1: nothing to you is a really big thing to say
19:16
Speaker 1: to someone like Anna Paul, who has based this online
19:19
Speaker 1: brand about being kind. And, you know, if someone can't
19:22
Speaker 1: be kind to animals, that does say a lot about them.
19:25
Speaker 1: It just shows how much this video went there because
19:27
Speaker 1: literally every aspect of Anna was being put under the
19:30
Speaker 1: microscope and criticized. Well, she really did go for the jugular,
19:33
Speaker 1: particularly when she started talking about Anna's messaging around body
19:37
Speaker 1: positivity and saying that essentially she was virtue signaling and
19:41
Speaker 1: doing it for clout. She then recounted a time Anna
19:44
Speaker 1: met a fan saying this.
19:47
Speaker 4: Anna, remember that god-awful trend of people posting photos of
19:50
Speaker 4: influencers that they would and wouldn't feel comfortable wearing a
19:52
Speaker 4: bikini around remember those slideshows people would make with everyone
19:56
Speaker 4: in the family of all of you being labeled as
19:58
Speaker 4: safe and my photo is at the end marked as
20:00
Speaker 4: i would never feel safe in a Meanwhile, right before
20:04
Speaker 4: these videos were trending in 2021 on the South Bank
20:07
Speaker 4: Bridge when you were peak body positivity, love yourself version
20:10
Speaker 4: of Anna, a plus-sized fan came up to you and
20:14
Speaker 4: asked for a hug and a picture. You smiled at her.
20:17
Speaker 4: You told her that you loved her. She told you
20:19
Speaker 4: how your words online have helped her be more comfortable
20:21
Speaker 4: in her body. The moment she walked away, you told
20:24
Speaker 4: Addis that she was annoying and gross and you didn't
20:26
Speaker 4: want to agree to the hug because she was fat
20:28
Speaker 4: and sweaty.
20:29
Speaker 2: Addis laughed.
20:30
Speaker 4: These were your words, Anna.
20:32
Speaker 2: I heard them.
20:33
Speaker 4: Things like this were a common occurrence.
20:36
Speaker 1: It was really sad because after Michaela made these claims,
20:40
Speaker 1: there were a number of women on TikTok who created
20:42
Speaker 1: videos where they shared their fan photos with Anna and
20:45
Speaker 1: they were saying, oh my God, I hope that this
20:47
Speaker 1: wasn't about me. And they then retold their story of
20:50
Speaker 1: meeting her. And as I said earlier, it's clear how
20:53
Speaker 1: strategic Michaela has been with this messaging because it kind
20:57
Speaker 1: of reminds me of Mean Girls when Cady Haring hits
20:59
Speaker 1: Regina George where it hurts, you.
21:01
Speaker 2: Know, her man candy and her army of skanks.
21:04
Speaker 1: Like it's literally, she's gone body positivity, her fans, her pets,
21:08
Speaker 1: like everything that we like about Anna, she's saying is
21:12
Speaker 1: not true. And this is how I'm going to show
21:14
Speaker 1: you it's not true and prove it. Because a lot
21:16
Speaker 1: of people want to meet Anna Paul. She shut down
21:18
Speaker 1: Perth CBD and it's an experience that you always remember.
21:22
Speaker 1: And you think, oh my God, it was so great
21:23
Speaker 1: when I met her.
21:24
Speaker 2: She was just like she is on TikTok. But then
21:27
Speaker 2: to hear the conversation that.
21:29
Speaker 1: Occurs, what allegedly occurred after she met a fan, it
21:32
Speaker 1: just hits you viscerally because you're like, I cannot imagine
21:36
Speaker 1: having such a positive experience, but then having it completely
21:39
Speaker 1: altered hearing the reality of what happened afterwards. Well, on
21:42
Speaker 1: the Mean Girls comparison, somebody said it reminds them of
21:45
Speaker 1: when Regina George would compliment someone on their tartan skirt.
21:48
Speaker 2: Or their bracelet and then be like, that's the fuggliest
21:51
Speaker 2: thing I've ever seen.
21:52
Speaker 1: An accusation that's been gaining a lot of traction on
21:54
Speaker 1: TikTok is around Anna's upbringing. So Michaela alleged that Anna
21:59
Speaker 1: lied about it. So she has spoken in depth on
22:01
Speaker 1: her social media channels about supposedly growing up poor. And
22:05
Speaker 1: I think that this has been a big part of
22:07
Speaker 1: her appeal, this rags to riches story.
22:09
Speaker 2: Because it's kept her relatable.
22:11
Speaker 1: Because even though we see her documenting this very lavish
22:14
Speaker 1: lifestyle online, We're reminded by the fact that this is
22:17
Speaker 1: the first time she's experiencing it because, you know, she
22:20
Speaker 1: grew up with no Christmas presents and her family lived
22:23
Speaker 1: in a very humble house. Well, people feel happy for
22:25
Speaker 1: her that she's been able to gain this success. Particularly
22:28
Speaker 1: when she gifts her parents very lavish things that she
22:30
Speaker 1: positions that they couldn't afford and that she wants to
22:33
Speaker 1: spoil them. Well, according to Michaela, she says that Anna
22:36
Speaker 1: allegedly grew up in an upper middle class family. Here's
22:39
Speaker 1: some of what she said.
22:42
Speaker 4: Their dad making triple the average Australian income per week.
22:45
Speaker 4: I had them living in a beautiful house on the
22:47
Speaker 4: water with a built-in pool. I've seen the house in person.
22:50
Speaker 2: It's beautiful. Being upper middle class is not.
22:52
Speaker 4: Being poor, Anna. Your exaggerated stories for the internet has
22:56
Speaker 4: always made your dad upset and me, well, just angry.
22:59
Speaker 4: I was a real victim of the system and poverty
23:01
Speaker 4: like you portrayed yourself online. Remember that time when he
23:05
Speaker 4: called you out in the living room? He didn't understand
23:07
Speaker 4: why you would post such things and he called them liars.
23:10
Speaker 4: But you need this story, faking your poverty, so people
23:13
Speaker 4: excuse your schemes and wealth and feel bad for you.
23:16
Speaker 4: Every calculated story serving such an important role in supporting
23:19
Speaker 4: the other lies, this web you're weaving to entrap these
23:21
Speaker 4: people's pity.
23:23
Speaker 1: These allegations have led to a lot of people going
23:26
Speaker 1: back and doing their own research. I've seen some TikTokers
23:30
Speaker 1: finding realestate.com listings of the house that Anna allegedly grew
23:35
Speaker 1: up in showing that It was a beautiful house on
23:38
Speaker 1: the waterfront. It was a $ 2 million house somebody has alleged.
23:41
Speaker 2: These are allegations. We don't know how true they are.
23:43
Speaker 2: Everyone's turned into detectives, haven't they?
23:45
Speaker 1: And so many of Anna Paul's supposed primary school and
23:49
Speaker 1: high school friends have come out of the woodwork giving
23:51
Speaker 1: their view.
23:52
Speaker 2: On what she was like.
23:53
Speaker 1: Well, there's been also a lot of people trolling back through,
23:56
Speaker 1: I'm going to say her papa, I can't remember his name,
23:58
Speaker 1: but his Instagram account to prove that he had a
24:01
Speaker 1: number of nice cars whilst they were growing up because
24:05
Speaker 1: Anna did make a claim that her parents had to
24:08
Speaker 1: be given a car because they couldn't afford one. And
24:11
Speaker 1: I'm seeing a lot of people clipping up content that
24:14
Speaker 1: Anna has previously shared as a teenager and then showing
24:17
Speaker 1: her completely contradicting herself in more recent vlogs. Well, it
24:21
Speaker 1: does play into the allegations that Veruca Salt made back
24:24
Speaker 1: in March last year. So she accused Anna of allegedly
24:29
Speaker 1: neglecting her father, Hans. So she claimed that her babysitter
24:33
Speaker 1: was dating Anna's dad and that she told her Hans
24:36
Speaker 1: lived in his van and didn't have money for food.
24:39
Speaker 1: And Veruca went on to say that she shared a
24:41
Speaker 1: mutual friend with the Pauls who backed up the babysitter's
24:44
Speaker 1: claims and allegedly the way Anna and Addis treated their
24:47
Speaker 1: dad was, quote, disgusting. Now, Anna's dad later came out
24:50
Speaker 1: and said that the allegations were toxic misinformation. Interestingly, at
24:54
Speaker 1: the time, Michaela Testa weighed into the argument saying that
24:57
Speaker 1: Veruca's comments were not true. but did say that Hans
25:01
Speaker 1: was a hippie and he was known for sleeping in
25:03
Speaker 1: his van. We're getting two very different pictures here because
25:07
Speaker 1: Veruca's allegations are centered around the fact that the Paul
25:11
Speaker 1: kids didn't support their father to the point where he's
25:13
Speaker 1: having to live in a caravan. And he needed support
25:16
Speaker 1: is what she's saying. Then from Michaela, we are being
25:20
Speaker 1: given the impression that Hans has been very upset about
25:23
Speaker 1: the way that Anna has portrayed her childhood because he
25:26
Speaker 1: worked hard to provide for his family. And from all accounts,
25:30
Speaker 1: it sounds like they grew up in a very nice household.
25:33
Speaker 3: Yeah.
25:33
Speaker 2: Well, the claims don't really match up.
25:35
Speaker 1: I mean, in saying that it is possible for people's
25:38
Speaker 1: financial situations to change throughout their lifestyle.
25:41
Speaker 2: And a lot of people.
25:41
Speaker 1: Were waiting for Veruca to weigh in on Michaela's recent
25:45
Speaker 1: claims and she didn't disappoint. So she came out swinging,
25:48
Speaker 1: labelling Anna manipulative and a compulsive liar. She wrote, she
25:52
Speaker 1: allowed the internet to rip me a new one while
25:54
Speaker 1: she sat in a room on a cruise ship screaming
25:57
Speaker 1: at her dad to tell her what he said to
25:59
Speaker 1: my son's babysitter, in brackets, his partner. She knows everything
26:02
Speaker 1: I said was true. She was more than happy to
26:04
Speaker 1: sit in silence and let her fans bully me when
26:07
Speaker 1: I had pure intentions and told no lies only one
26:10
Speaker 1: month after my son's death.
26:11
Speaker 2: Now, among her.
26:12
Speaker 1: Allegations, she accused Anna of cosplaying being poor and stealing
26:16
Speaker 1: pieces of Michaela's life story and presenting them as her own.
26:20
Speaker 1: Veruca also alleged that Anna purposely set up Michaela with
26:23
Speaker 1: Addis so he could get a cut of her OnlyFans earnings.
26:26
Speaker 1: She ended up writing, This story took me five minutes
26:28
Speaker 1: to write and post because it's factual. I know Anna
26:30
Speaker 1: is sitting in her room talking to Addis and plotting
26:33
Speaker 1: her response to Michaela. That's why it's taking so long.
26:36
Speaker 1: If Anna was who she says she is, she could
26:39
Speaker 1: open her camera, talk, click, post. She has to plan
26:42
Speaker 1: her words carefully because it's going to be bullshit. This
26:45
Speaker 1: may just be my algorithm. But one thing I've been
26:48
Speaker 1: quite surprised about is the number of large creators who
26:52
Speaker 1: are siding with Michaela and who are quite happy for
26:55
Speaker 1: Anna Paul to be receiving this negativity. Now, I don't
26:58
Speaker 1: know whether it comes down to jealousy within the industry
27:01
Speaker 1: because Anna really has become TikTok's sweetheart. Anything she touches
27:07
Speaker 1: previously has turned to gold. She's incredibly popular and maybe
27:11
Speaker 1: some creators, I'm not saying Veruca here, but maybe there
27:13
Speaker 1: are some creators who are seeing this as an opportunity
27:16
Speaker 1: to to take her position. Well, people are definitely taking
27:19
Speaker 1: joy out of it. There seems to have been this
27:21
Speaker 1: mass pile on. And to me, it kind of seems
27:23
Speaker 1: that everyone's been waiting for that gotcha moment with Anna Paul.
27:27
Speaker 2: And now it's come.
27:28
Speaker 1: I am really not surprised that this has happened. I
27:30
Speaker 1: actually predicted that Anna Paul would be cancelled this year.
27:33
Speaker 1: And it's not something that I am joyous and getting right,
27:35
Speaker 1: because it's horrible to see anyone get cancelled, no matter
27:38
Speaker 1: what the allegations are against them. And in saying that,
27:42
Speaker 1: I mean, as we said, we can't get into it legally,
27:44
Speaker 1: but it does annoy me that people are piling on
27:48
Speaker 1: Anna when there have been a lot of worse things
27:50
Speaker 1: said about her brother?
27:52
Speaker 2: That is what is so confusing about the situation.
27:54
Speaker 1: Does it come down to the fact that we expect
27:56
Speaker 1: a lot less from Addis? And that's why we're not
27:58
Speaker 1: really shocked by these claims. And it's not such a
28:00
Speaker 1: big deal because when he first came to prominence in 2020,
28:04
Speaker 1: I think all of our initial opinions of him were
28:06
Speaker 1: quite low. If you reflect on the stories that we
28:09
Speaker 1: were covering in 2020, it was around him trying to
28:13
Speaker 1: sell cryptocurrency to his impressionable audience.
28:16
Speaker 2: He had this real dickhead persona.
28:18
Speaker 1: He boasted about his fast cars and his boats. In
28:22
Speaker 1: saying that, since 2022, he's gone through this real transformation.
28:25
Speaker 1: That was after he broke up with Michaela Tester. He
28:28
Speaker 1: started to present himself completely differently.
28:30
Speaker 2: He grew his hair. He wore more feminine clothes.
28:33
Speaker 1: Well, he also took himself offline. So he doesn't actually
28:35
Speaker 1: post content anymore. He only appears in Anna's content. It
28:38
Speaker 1: also looked like he was living a simpler lifestyle. Like, yes,
28:41
Speaker 1: he was going on these holidays, but he was in
28:43
Speaker 1: touch with his feelings, journaling, he was painting. I more
28:46
Speaker 1: think it's because the mainstream media can't actually report on
28:50
Speaker 1: what's been.
28:50
Speaker 2: Said about him.
28:51
Speaker 1: Yeah, but that's not stopping people on TikTok. On TikTok,
28:54
Speaker 1: people don't seem to understand the legal ramifications. And that's
28:57
Speaker 1: why I'm confused that there is not more upset being
29:00
Speaker 1: directed at Addis Poll. Well, it also has something to
29:02
Speaker 1: do with the fact that Anna's got a much larger
29:03
Speaker 1: profile and he no longer is online. He only appears
29:06
Speaker 1: in the background. I think it's also because Anna hasn't
29:09
Speaker 1: come out and said anything. So everyone's been almost creating
29:12
Speaker 1: their own narrative on TikTok and it's become a sport
29:14
Speaker 1: to have a go at Anna Paul. No, I think
29:17
Speaker 1: it also comes down to the fact that people feel cheated.
29:20
Speaker 1: They're like, you've told us that you're one way and
29:22
Speaker 1: then apparently behind closed doors, you're another. You do make
29:25
Speaker 1: a really good point because it seems like Anna Paul's
29:27
Speaker 1: biggest crime at the moment is that she isn't a
29:30
Speaker 1: nice person as she presents herself on TikTok. It reminds
29:33
Speaker 1: me of the cancellation of Ellen DeGeneres. It was like,
29:35
Speaker 1: oh my God, what? She's not exactly the same when
29:37
Speaker 1: the cameras aren't rolling anymore. I also think it's a
29:40
Speaker 1: gendered thing. And as a society, we seem to have
29:42
Speaker 1: this thing where we love to tear women down. And
29:45
Speaker 1: it's almost a bit of a case of tall poppy. Again,
29:48
Speaker 1: we can't get into the allegations made against Addis Paul,
29:51
Speaker 1: but they are far worse than the allegations that have
29:53
Speaker 1: been made against Anna Paul There is no comparison. Now,
29:57
Speaker 1: we did hold off on discussing this scandal until today's
30:00
Speaker 1: show because we were hoping that Anna Paul would have
30:03
Speaker 1: had an opportunity to reply to the allegations. At the
30:06
Speaker 1: time of recording, though, she has not. And this is
30:09
Speaker 1: despite it nearly being a full week since Michaela made
30:12
Speaker 1: the allegations. And this has been very detrimental to her.
30:15
Speaker 1: So far, she's lost over 400,000 followers on TikTok and
30:18
Speaker 1: 59,000 on Instagram. Her skincare brand, Pauly, has also lost
30:23
Speaker 1: over 13,000 followers. On the contrary though, Michaela has done
30:27
Speaker 1: well out of this situation. She has gained over 200,000
30:30
Speaker 1: followers on TikTok and 45,000 on Instagram. It seems like
30:35
Speaker 1: a lot of people have left Anna's page to go
30:37
Speaker 1: and follow Michaela. I'm not entirely surprised that Anna hasn't
30:41
Speaker 1: said anything yet because She used the same strategy of
30:44
Speaker 1: staying quiet when Veruca Salt made the allegations against her dad.
30:48
Speaker 1: At the time, her dad did come out and label
30:50
Speaker 1: it as toxic misinformation.
30:53
Speaker 2: I didn't really.
30:53
Speaker 1: Agree with Veruca Salt saying, oh, she should just jump
30:55
Speaker 1: on her stories and say something and quickly post it
30:58
Speaker 1: because these are really serious allegations that have huge reputational
31:02
Speaker 1: damage for Anna Paul. I think though what she was
31:04
Speaker 1: saying was if she's so real and raw, she should
31:07
Speaker 1: be able to explain away these comments. Yeah, but obviously
31:09
Speaker 1: there's a lot more brewing behind the scenes. What Michaela
31:12
Speaker 1: Testa has said is extremely serious and I'm quite certain
31:16
Speaker 1: that they are currently in talks with their lawyers.
31:18
Speaker 2: That's why they need to be really.
31:19
Speaker 1: Careful with what they say moving forward because anything that
31:22
Speaker 1: they do say will be used in evidence in.
31:24
Speaker 2: That court case.
31:25
Speaker 1: Well, from a PR perspective, I've been thinking about if
31:27
Speaker 1: I was managing Anna Paul and how I'd actually respond
31:30
Speaker 1: to this. And it's a really difficult one. We have
31:32
Speaker 1: to remember that this only really happened a week or
31:35
Speaker 1: so ago.
31:35
Speaker 2: Which is a lifetime on TikTok though.
31:37
Speaker 1: Yeah. I think Anna and her team wanted to wait
31:39
Speaker 1: to see what the response was like and analyze it
31:42
Speaker 1: from there.
31:43
Speaker 2: Was not being good.
31:43
Speaker 1: Well, Michaela, because Michaela has come out and made claims
31:46
Speaker 1: about Addis Paul in the past, which she herself said
31:49
Speaker 1: were unfounded and she actually made up previously just around
31:53
Speaker 1: their breakup and petty things in that. Maybe they were
31:55
Speaker 1: hoping that there might be a level of distrust towards Michaela.
31:58
Speaker 1: Or that this would all blow over and it's not
32:00
Speaker 1: blowing over. I don't think that they thought people would
32:03
Speaker 1: take what Michaela said as seriously and as verbatim as
32:07
Speaker 1: they had.
32:07
Speaker 2: I think that that is why they've left it brewing
32:09
Speaker 2: for a little bit.
32:10
Speaker 1: I also think that they didn't want to comment on
32:13
Speaker 1: anything straight away because There was a couple of days
32:16
Speaker 1: where the mainstream media wasn't reporting on this story. And
32:19
Speaker 1: if Anna was my client, I would say don't comment
32:21
Speaker 1: on it yet because the second that you comment on
32:24
Speaker 1: this story, that is when they can start running it.
32:26
Speaker 1: I would argue that the backlash on TikTok is more
32:30
Speaker 1: damaging to her than what's actually in the mainstream media.
32:33
Speaker 1: Particularly because the mainstream media are being really careful with
32:36
Speaker 1: how they report it, considering all the allegations that have
32:38
Speaker 1: been made against Addis Poole. Michaela Testa has seemingly gone
32:41
Speaker 1: quiet on her own platform. When you go over to
32:44
Speaker 1: her TikTok, she hasn't posted any new videos since that
32:47
Speaker 1: video on Wednesday. She has been reposting a lot of content.
32:51
Speaker 2: About Anna Paul.
32:52
Speaker 1: It speaks volumes that this video is still live on
32:55
Speaker 1: Michaela's TikTok account because quite often when scandals like this erupt,
32:59
Speaker 1: the video only lasts a few days before the other
33:03
Speaker 1: person's legal team has issued them a cease and desist
33:05
Speaker 1: and asked them to take it down immediately. It actually
33:08
Speaker 1: worries me a lot because as we said, presumably the
33:11
Speaker 1: Pauls have engaged a lawyer. And when it comes to defamation,
33:15
Speaker 1: they do take into consideration how many views a video has.
33:18
Speaker 1: That video is edging towards 20 million views. That is
33:22
Speaker 1: a lot of reputational damage to the polls. I did
33:26
Speaker 1: find it interesting that at no point Michaela used the
33:29
Speaker 1: word allegedly. And at one stage when she was talking
33:32
Speaker 1: about Addis, She referenced that her points would stand up
33:36
Speaker 1: in a court of law. Do you think she has
33:38
Speaker 1: had legal advice? Yes, I definitely think she has because
33:41
Speaker 1: this video was very different to other videos she's put
33:44
Speaker 1: out there.
33:44
Speaker 2: She read from a script.
33:46
Speaker 1: It's clear there was a lot of thought put into
33:47
Speaker 1: what was said. I wouldn't be surprised if the whole
33:50
Speaker 1: script was approved by a lawyer that she worked with
33:53
Speaker 1: or she formulated it with maybe a PR.
33:55
Speaker 2: Expert to hit all of the right spots.
33:57
Speaker 1: I think the reason this video is still up is
34:00
Speaker 1: because Anna and Michaela are on pretty level playing fields.
34:03
Speaker 1: They both make a lot of money. So it's not
34:06
Speaker 1: as if Anna is reaching out to a smaller creator
34:08
Speaker 1: and threatening her.
34:09
Speaker 2: It's not a David and Goliath battle. She doesn't have all.
34:12
Speaker 1: The power in this situation. And it is really hard
34:14
Speaker 1: to actually launch a successful defamation case. A lot of
34:19
Speaker 1: the claims that Michaela's brought up, the polls would not
34:22
Speaker 1: want these going to court because she might actually have
34:25
Speaker 1: some proof. This is where things get really messy sometimes.
34:28
Speaker 1: I totally understand, Amy, where you're coming from with the
34:31
Speaker 1: claims about Addis. What has sort of shocked me, though,
34:34
Speaker 1: is because Anna Paul does have such a loyal following,
34:37
Speaker 1: I'm surprised that we haven't seen many people defending her online. Yeah,
34:42
Speaker 1: I don't know if it's just my algorithm, but I've
34:44
Speaker 1: seen no one coming to Anna's defense. Particularly because some
34:46
Speaker 1: of the comments that Michaela has made about Anna. You
34:49
Speaker 1: could put them down to being pure hearsay. I understand
34:52
Speaker 1: that Michaela was in the inner sanctum. But when you
34:55
Speaker 1: look at her motive, she's a scorned lover.
34:58
Speaker 2: You know what I mean? Like she doesn't want things
35:00
Speaker 2: to go well for the Pauls.
35:01
Speaker 1: No, but the consensus is, and most people think this,
35:05
Speaker 1: people believe her. But is it because we want to
35:08
Speaker 1: believe that someone isn't that nice? Like why do we
35:11
Speaker 1: want to jump on that? The thing that's really sad
35:13
Speaker 1: about this is that these are two very young girls.
35:16
Speaker 1: They're both in their mid-20s.
35:18
Speaker 2: This scandal... has gone international.
35:20
Speaker 1: We're seeing a lot of American creators and UK creators
35:24
Speaker 1: commenting on it. It's going to be detrimental for Anna
35:27
Speaker 1: Paul's brand and career on a bigger scale if she
35:30
Speaker 1: doesn't come out and say something soon. I think it's
35:32
Speaker 1: because Michaela chose her timing very wisely. She didn't just
35:37
Speaker 1: do it after she broke up with Addis. you know,
35:40
Speaker 1: it's been years since they were a couple.
35:42
Speaker 2: It looks like she's moved on. She's engaged. She's happy. Yeah.
35:45
Speaker 1: And when you look at what's been going down with
35:47
Speaker 1: Anna Paul, her popularity has been on the decline ever
35:50
Speaker 1: since she broke up with her long-term boyfriend, Glenn, and
35:54
Speaker 1: when she launched her skincare brand, Pauly, because before she
35:58
Speaker 1: never used to do brand deals. She just used to
36:00
Speaker 1: give people content and there didn't seem to be any
36:03
Speaker 1: sort of transaction going on unless you were over on
36:05
Speaker 1: her OnlyFans account. But For most people who consumed her
36:08
Speaker 1: content on TikTok, she just put out content for free
36:11
Speaker 1: and she never pushed any brand deals. Now she's got
36:14
Speaker 1: a skincare brand that she spruiks. She's broken up with Glenn,
36:16
Speaker 1: who everyone loved in her videos. And there's a lot
36:19
Speaker 1: of rumors going on about her new boyfriend, Amrik. I mean,
36:21
Speaker 1: she hasn't actually officially said that he's her boyfriend, which
36:25
Speaker 1: has pissed off a lot of people. Yeah, and that's
36:26
Speaker 1: why people are upset. They feel like they've been let
36:28
Speaker 1: out of her life. They don't know what's going on.
36:30
Speaker 1: They say, well, what else is true?
36:32
Speaker 2: Yeah, exactly.
36:33
Speaker 1: And she's also done at a time where people are
36:35
Speaker 1: reflecting on the attention that.
36:38
Speaker 2: We give sex workers like Bonnie Blue.
36:40
Speaker 1: Do you guys think that Anna can come back from this?
36:43
Speaker 2: I think she.
36:43
Speaker 1: Can come back from this, but it's going to be
36:45
Speaker 1: very difficult. We need to hear from her soon and
36:48
Speaker 1: we need a convincing response because the longer the radio
36:52
Speaker 1: silence goes, the longer the anger grows and the more
36:55
Speaker 1: narratives people start making up about her.
36:57
Speaker 2: That rhymed, Sophie.
36:58
Speaker 1: Oh, did it?
36:59
Speaker 4: Yeah.
37:00
Speaker 1: I think that she probably will bounce back from this
37:03
Speaker 1: because the way the internet works, it's so rapid pace.
37:06
Speaker 1: I mean, a week of this scandal feels like forever.
37:10
Speaker 1: Everyone's like, I can't believe she hasn't spoken. But in
37:12
Speaker 1: a month or two's time, people are probably going to
37:15
Speaker 1: forget pretty quickly.
37:16
Speaker 2: People will forget about it.
37:17
Speaker 1: But what's crazy is that normally when a big scandal
37:19
Speaker 1: like this happens, people don't tend to lose as many followers.
37:23
Speaker 1: People actually gain more followers because people are interested in all.
37:26
Speaker 2: Of the drama.
37:26
Speaker 3: 400,000 followers.
37:28
Speaker 1: Regardless of if you started with 7 million, is a
37:31
Speaker 1: lot of people to have just discarded you. Yeah, we
37:33
Speaker 1: saw Matilda Jerff when her scandal happened. She actually gained followers.
37:37
Speaker 1: I think Anna could maybe gain some of those back
37:39
Speaker 1: when she does put out an explainer video. But is
37:42
Speaker 1: that just the way TikTok works? Because even if you
37:45
Speaker 1: unfollow Anna Paul, you're probably still going to get her
37:47
Speaker 1: content back in your algorithm. Like I find when I
37:49
Speaker 1: follow people, I usually see less of their content. So
37:52
Speaker 1: I don't know if it's going to affect her that much.
37:54
Speaker 1: A lot of the time, these big scandals actually end
37:57
Speaker 1: up bolstering both parties' careers and And I think that
38:00
Speaker 1: this was always going to happen to Anna Paul. There
38:02
Speaker 1: was always going to be a scandal that threatened to
38:05
Speaker 1: cancel her because that's the way we are, particularly in
38:08
Speaker 1: Australia with tall poppy syndrome. Whatever goes up has to
38:11
Speaker 1: come down. Well, that's where we're going to leave things today.
38:13
Speaker 1: Thank you so much for listening to another episode of Outspoken.
38:17
Speaker 1: If you did enjoy the episode, we would love if
38:19
Speaker 1: you could leave us a five-star review as it really
38:22
Speaker 1: helps the podcast. This episode was recorded on the traditional
38:25
Speaker 1: land of the Kaurna people of the Adelaide Plains. We
38:28
Speaker 1: pay respect to elders past and present.