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Transcript

Sarah's Day The Rebrand · Outspoken the Podcast

0:00
Speaker 1: Before we get into the episode, we want to issue
0:02
Speaker 1: a trigger warning. We will be discussing themes around miscarriage
0:05
Speaker 1: and also eating disorders.
0:07
Speaker 2: Episode four, the rebrand.
0:10
Speaker 1: Fresh off the back of a horror 2020 full of controversy,
0:14
Speaker 1: Sarah's day was in desperate need of a rebrand. Her
0:17
Speaker 1: army of followers were turning into haters and restrictive eating
0:21
Speaker 1: and ab.
0:21
Speaker 2: Selfies were so last decade.
0:23
Speaker 1: So what do you do when the brand you have
0:25
Speaker 1: built has been battered?
0:27
Speaker 2: You pivot.
0:28
Speaker 1: Sarah dropped Holistic Health Princess from her bio and in
0:31
Speaker 1: doing so found God. The transition from wellness warrior to
0:35
Speaker 1: mummy blogger hasn't been a smooth one though. With lucrative
0:39
Speaker 1: brand deals to compete for and a hungry community of
0:42
Speaker 1: new mums yearning for connection, mummy blogging is a high-stakes
0:45
Speaker 1: business venture. But what happens when your kids start becoming content?
0:50
Speaker 1: And a heartbreaking diagnosis makes.
0:52
Speaker 2: You evaluate it all.
0:54
Speaker 1: We are journalists Amy, Kate and Sophie Torber and this
0:57
Speaker 1: is Outspoken Plus. Welcome back to our final installment of
1:02
Speaker 1: our deep dive series on Sarah's day and what a
1:05
Speaker 1: wild ride it has been. Last time we were in
1:08
Speaker 1: your ears we were discussing Sarah's three biggest controversies of
1:12
Speaker 1: 2020 but we're now in 2021 and it was a
1:14
Speaker 1: big year for Sarah professionally and personally. So in January 2021,
1:19
Speaker 1: she finally launched her cooking app, Sunny, which signaled a
1:22
Speaker 1: move to a subscription-based revenue model. Now, their move appeared
1:26
Speaker 1: to be very lucrative, with Sarah flashing her cash on
1:29
Speaker 1: expensive gifts for her family. So she actually gifted her
1:33
Speaker 1: dad an Aston Martin for his birthday and Kurt.
1:36
Speaker 2: A speedboat for Christmas.
1:38
Speaker 1: Can you believe the collective gifts would have set Sarah
1:40
Speaker 1: back around half a million dollars?
1:42
Speaker 2: At least she's being generous with her family.
1:44
Speaker 3: I know.
1:45
Speaker 2: It is pretty remarkable.
1:46
Speaker 1: 2021 was also the year Sarah got married and fell pregnant.
1:50
Speaker 2: Both story arcs provided.
1:51
Speaker 1: The perfect opportunity for redemption. Yes, but brewing in the
1:55
Speaker 1: background was an influx of anonymous hate pages directed solely
1:59
Speaker 1: at Sarah's day. The worst of the offenders was an
2:02
Speaker 1: Instagram account called Salty's Day, which attracted 8,000 followers and
2:07
Speaker 1: was allegedly run by a school teacher who used to
2:10
Speaker 1: be a fan of the YouTuber. Now, the account was
2:13
Speaker 1: a byproduct of gossip forum Tattle Life, as the user
2:16
Speaker 1: used to go under the name Salty's Day. So the
2:20
Speaker 1: account took on a gossip girl persona with its bio reading,
2:23
Speaker 1: you're one and only source into the scandalous lives of
2:26
Speaker 1: Cronulla's elite XOXO. I remember you had to request to
2:31
Speaker 1: follow this page that was set on private. And I
2:34
Speaker 1: did enjoy seeing all of the big influencer names who
2:37
Speaker 1: were following Salty's Day. Yeah, it was intriguing to see
2:40
Speaker 1: who actually wanted to follow along. Now, in terms of
2:43
Speaker 1: the content that Salty's Day would share, there was a
2:46
Speaker 1: really large discrepancy between information that held Sarah to account
2:50
Speaker 1: and then content that was just plain bullying. So whilst
2:54
Speaker 1: the account did shine a light on followers who wrote
2:57
Speaker 1: in saying that they allegedly suffered eating disorders after following
3:01
Speaker 1: Sarah's diet plans, The account would also comment on the
3:04
Speaker 1: alleged procedures that Sarah had had done to her face.
3:07
Speaker 1: They accused her of having Botox and lip fillers. It
3:10
Speaker 1: also called out her use of plastics, the way that
3:13
Speaker 1: she posed her leg. It was very critical of her recipes,
3:16
Speaker 1: saying that they looked like vomit. It also went as
3:19
Speaker 1: far as accusing her of being a cult leader. And
3:23
Speaker 1: the account owner had a real obsession with proving that
3:26
Speaker 1: Sarah allowed her son Fox to watch TV.
3:29
Speaker 2: So it got very, very petty.
3:32
Speaker 1: It's a perfect example of a site that went too far,
3:35
Speaker 1: as in you may have legitimate claims, but then to
3:37
Speaker 1: start picking on her child watching TV, that's when it
3:41
Speaker 1: gets a bit ridiculous and people start not listening. Yeah,
3:43
Speaker 1: the account owner really took it too far. And this
3:46
Speaker 1: was evident in the months leading up to Sarah's day's wedding.
3:49
Speaker 1: So The page released private details about the wedding, including
3:53
Speaker 1: the time, date and location. So you might be wondering,
3:56
Speaker 1: how did they actually come across these details? Apparently, all
4:00
Speaker 1: Salty's Day did was search Sarah's name on Google, which
4:04
Speaker 1: then led them to find an electronic wedding invite where
4:07
Speaker 1: guests could RSVP and also put in their dietary requirements.
4:12
Speaker 1: And on the page, it had all of these details
4:14
Speaker 1: about the date and location. And the account urged followers
4:18
Speaker 1: to wreak havoc on the wedding by entering fake guest
4:20
Speaker 1: names to cause confusion. Now, for me, them exposing these
4:25
Speaker 1: private wedding details really did cross a line in my
4:28
Speaker 1: eyes because it was so dangerous to put this information
4:32
Speaker 1: out there to a community of people who actively dislike
4:35
Speaker 1: her because it not only put her at risk, but
4:38
Speaker 1: also her family, friends, and young kids, because who knows
4:41
Speaker 1: what these people are going to do? They could potentially
4:44
Speaker 1: rock up to the wedding, egg her, heckle her, make
4:48
Speaker 1: her day really unpleasant. And it seemed like members of
4:51
Speaker 1: this page were sort of egging Salty's day on to
4:54
Speaker 1: share worse and worse information. Well, I just can't believe
4:57
Speaker 1: that this page was run by a school teacher. There
5:00
Speaker 1: was a rumor that her boyfriend found out that she
5:02
Speaker 1: was running it and then she stopped because she was
5:04
Speaker 1: so embarrassed. And I feel like forums like Tattle Life,
5:07
Speaker 1: it's sort of like extremist behavior where people go on
5:10
Speaker 1: there to have a bit of a rant about an
5:12
Speaker 1: influencer and And then they find these like-minded people that
5:15
Speaker 1: agree with them. And then it just keeps going too far.
5:17
Speaker 1: And more and more details about this person's life are
5:20
Speaker 1: picked on that really aren't that bad. Yeah. And at
5:22
Speaker 1: this time, Sarah did speak out about her concerns over
5:26
Speaker 1: her safety.
5:26
Speaker 2: Here's what she said.
5:29
Speaker 4: I've filmed this story section like five times because I
5:33
Speaker 4: have such anxiety of getting taken out of context.
5:36
Speaker 1: It's just like, I don't know.
5:38
Speaker 2: Social media these days, it's.
5:39
Speaker 4: Like people forget you're a real person with like a
5:42
Speaker 4: real family, real friends, you know what I mean? And
5:45
Speaker 4: I just like, I'm really kind of sick of myself
5:48
Speaker 4: or like being twisted.
5:50
Speaker 2: You know?
5:52
Speaker 4: In saying all of this, I needed to take a
5:54
Speaker 4: little mental health break. I guess one thing I really
5:57
Speaker 4: struggle with is like, I want to be open and honest.
5:59
Speaker 4: And when people say, why aren't you yourself on stories
6:02
Speaker 4: or why aren't you on stories? I want to tell you,
6:05
Speaker 4: I want to tell you everything, but I don't want
6:07
Speaker 4: to condone the type of behavior that that 5%. I
6:10
Speaker 4: don't want to, promote the things they do or promote
6:14
Speaker 4: the things they say. I don't want to highlight that
6:16
Speaker 4: because why would I big note that when there's so
6:19
Speaker 4: many other nice comments? It's just when it starts involving
6:22
Speaker 4: my family and like personal events and personal things and
6:26
Speaker 4: like where we live, like it's not funny anymore. And
6:29
Speaker 4: it's not just like cyber bullying.
6:30
Speaker 1: It's like dangerous.
6:32
Speaker 4: You know? So when it reaches that point, I'm like,
6:36
Speaker 4: it's beyond me. But yeah, just some things have happened
6:39
Speaker 4: this week. Then I'm like, what is wrong world? I
6:45
Speaker 4: don't want it to be someone who's being mean and
6:47
Speaker 4: being nasty. I'd rather it be someone who's doing good
6:49
Speaker 4: in the world or being supportive or even making me happy.
6:53
Speaker 4: I don't want to call out someone who's an online bully.
6:57
Speaker 1: It was quite rare at the time for her to
6:59
Speaker 1: acknowledge this hate page because she had stayed pretty quiet
7:02
Speaker 1: on the amount of hate that she was receiving. It
7:05
Speaker 1: seemed like it was a breaking point for her.
7:08
Speaker 2: Yeah, it really was.
7:09
Speaker 1: Sarah's page is quite real and raw in the sense
7:12
Speaker 1: that she is not just a highlights reel for her.
7:14
Speaker 1: She does talk about negative things that happen in her
7:16
Speaker 1: day-to-day life, but it's usually things that piss her off,
7:19
Speaker 1: like her neighbors playing loud music or having renovations. She
7:22
Speaker 1: doesn't really touch on negative feedback that she gets from trolls.
7:26
Speaker 1: I think originally she didn't want to give any oxygen
7:28
Speaker 1: to the page, but it got to the point where
7:30
Speaker 1: she had to address it because so many people were
7:32
Speaker 1: talking about it.
7:33
Speaker 2: And something that.
7:34
Speaker 1: Is becoming quite synonymous in influencer and celebrity culture is
7:37
Speaker 1: is that there's a tendency for super fans to turn
7:40
Speaker 1: into haters. And I read this really interesting article that
7:44
Speaker 1: took a look at when idolizing someone turns negative. So
7:49
Speaker 1: this article explained that there are two different theories about
7:52
Speaker 1: how this happens. And the first theory is that when
7:55
Speaker 1: you idolize someone, you're actually.
7:57
Speaker 2: More attached to what they represent to you.
8:00
Speaker 1: So you're attached to this image that you have of
8:02
Speaker 1: that person in your mind, and it somehow fulfills something
8:06
Speaker 1: inside of you. And that's actually called the Santa Claus complex.
8:10
Speaker 1: So for example, people may have idealized Sarah's day for
8:15
Speaker 1: the way that she seems like a kind person, the
8:17
Speaker 1: way that she eats clean, her perfect home. But the
8:22
Speaker 1: second that their image or the image that you have
8:24
Speaker 1: in your head of that person deviates, you decide that
8:28
Speaker 1: they're not what you thought they were. And I think
8:30
Speaker 1: that this happened a lot during a number of her scandals.
8:33
Speaker 1: So people were very disappointed in her for the cultural appropriation,
8:38
Speaker 1: the confusion over the bushfire money that was raised. So
8:42
Speaker 1: that turned into them being very distressed that their image
8:45
Speaker 1: of her wasn't what she.
8:47
Speaker 2: Actually represents or is.
8:49
Speaker 1: I read a similar article where they were talking about
8:51
Speaker 1: when you have a crush on somebody, but you don't
8:53
Speaker 1: even know them that well. So it might be someone
8:55
Speaker 1: at work that you don't talk to, or maybe it's
8:57
Speaker 1: a celebrity. And then when that person starts a new relationship,
9:00
Speaker 1: you actually mourn that person. It's more so the person
9:03
Speaker 1: that you invented in your mind. And I think the
9:06
Speaker 1: reason why so many people turned on Sarah's day was
9:09
Speaker 1: because they felt like her friends. So when these issues happened,
9:12
Speaker 1: her big scandals with the bushfires, people messaged her and
9:15
Speaker 1: were like, oh, Sarah, you should do this. And instead
9:17
Speaker 1: of her actually responding and saying, like taking the criticism
9:20
Speaker 1: on board and saying, I'm going.
9:21
Speaker 2: To do better.
9:22
Speaker 1: She just went and blocked a lot of these people.
9:24
Speaker 1: And I think they felt like their friendship with her
9:27
Speaker 1: had ended. And that's why so many of the people
9:29
Speaker 1: went to Tattle to talk to like-minded people. Yeah. And
9:31
Speaker 1: I think a lot of people bonded over the fact
9:33
Speaker 1: that they had all been blocked by Sarah's day. Well,
9:36
Speaker 1: there's also another theory and it's about human ego. So
9:39
Speaker 1: it's this need to compare. So when we idolize someone,
9:44
Speaker 1: very quickly we compare ourselves to the person that we idolize.
9:48
Speaker 1: So then we begin to feel inferior to that person.
9:51
Speaker 1: So the human ego can't handle this. And we then
9:54
Speaker 1: subconsciously try to gain an equal standing by tearing this
9:59
Speaker 1: person down. so we feel better than them so basically
10:02
Speaker 1: tall poppy syndrome yeah pretty much that's so true because
10:05
Speaker 1: i feel like sarah was most loved when she was
10:07
Speaker 1: an up-and-coming youtuber when she and kurt had just got
10:10
Speaker 1: that small apartment people loved them But I think when
10:13
Speaker 1: she started to get more and more successful off the
10:15
Speaker 1: back of the success of her e-books, that's when people
10:18
Speaker 1: began to turn on her. And it's this parasocial relationship
10:21
Speaker 1: that we all have with influencers. And for those who
10:25
Speaker 1: don't know, a parasocial relationship is a one-sided relationship where
10:28
Speaker 1: one person extends emotional energy, interest, and time, and the
10:32
Speaker 1: other party is completely unaware.
10:34
Speaker 2: Of the other's existence.
10:36
Speaker 1: So for Sarah, she gives all access to her life,
10:38
Speaker 1: particularly when she first broke out onto the scene as
10:41
Speaker 1: you were talking about, Amy. uploading videos every three days.
10:45
Speaker 1: So people genuinely felt like they knew her and knew
10:48
Speaker 1: what was best for her. Do you think also because
10:50
Speaker 1: she started to make a lot of money off the eBooks,
10:53
Speaker 1: people felt like she owed them because people had bought
10:56
Speaker 1: the eBooks and funded this lifestyle of hers and people thought, well, no,
11:00
Speaker 1: I should have a say in what you're doing.
11:02
Speaker 2: Yeah, I think so.
11:02
Speaker 1: Particularly if you are investing your own personal money into
11:06
Speaker 1: this person and then you're seeing them benefit from it.
11:08
Speaker 1: And then maybe people thought she changed a little bit
11:11
Speaker 1: with money. Now, we did briefly mention Tattle Life, and
11:14
Speaker 1: I do think that this forum plays a large role
11:17
Speaker 1: in cancel culture. And I'd say that Sarah's Day has
11:20
Speaker 1: one of the largest threads out of any Aussie influencer
11:23
Speaker 1: on there. Actually, I think Sophie Guedelin has her beaten
11:26
Speaker 1: at the moment. That thread is going so quickly. There's
11:29
Speaker 1: always a new one. And I'm like, hang on, I
11:30
Speaker 1: haven't read these 40 other pages. Well, something that's so
11:32
Speaker 1: fascinating about Tattle Life is that so many people come
11:36
Speaker 1: together on this page and they form friendships due to
11:39
Speaker 1: their mutual dislike of a celebrity, in this case, Sarah's day.
11:43
Speaker 1: And it's so weird because it's all of these people,
11:46
Speaker 1: as we said, who were super fans, but then they
11:49
Speaker 1: have this inherent dislike of her now. And they go
11:51
Speaker 1: as far as contacting Sarah's sponsors and demanding that they
11:55
Speaker 1: don't work with her anymore.
11:56
Speaker 2: But is that an issue?
11:57
Speaker 1: Because some of the scandals that happened with Sarah, I
12:01
Speaker 1: think that warranted that kind of response. And some of
12:04
Speaker 1: those people on there are super intelligent. When you read
12:07
Speaker 1: their posts, they're so articulate. And they probably think they're
12:10
Speaker 1: coming together to do the right thing. And in some instances,
12:13
Speaker 1: I think a lot of them have really good points.
12:16
Speaker 1: I think it's more so when it gets really petty,
12:18
Speaker 1: that's where I don't like it. I think it's the
12:20
Speaker 1: mob mentality on there and that they all have to
12:23
Speaker 1: go one up again. It's sort of like they're trying
12:24
Speaker 1: to impress each other of how much they can ruin
12:27
Speaker 1: this person's life. But that's what I feel uncomfortable with,
12:30
Speaker 1: the attempt to ruin someone's livelihood. You can be upset
12:34
Speaker 1: about what someone does, but I think when you start
12:37
Speaker 1: contacting people behind their back, I felt a bit.
12:39
Speaker 2: Uncomfortable about that.
12:41
Speaker 1: I can see sometimes that being a positive thing, but
12:43
Speaker 1: I know where you're coming from when Maybe someone hasn't
12:46
Speaker 1: really done the wrong thing. I think in the instance
12:49
Speaker 1: of Sarah's day, in some of those scandals, she deserved
12:52
Speaker 1: to have people emailing brands. I think it comes down
12:55
Speaker 1: to the objective though. Is the objective because they really
12:59
Speaker 1: care about this issue or are they just trying to
13:02
Speaker 1: ruin her because they personally don't like her? It reminds
13:05
Speaker 1: me a lot of the El Darby scandal and there
13:08
Speaker 1: was a huge hate thread on her on Tattle Life
13:10
Speaker 1: and a lot of people came together to reach out
13:13
Speaker 1: to every single brand that she'd ever worked with. I
13:16
Speaker 1: just think there's some people who like to kick people
13:18
Speaker 1: whilst they're down. I mean, those brands presumably probably don't
13:21
Speaker 1: want to work with the influencer anyway. They probably don't
13:24
Speaker 1: need your extra attention in trying to contact them. I
13:26
Speaker 1: think it's just when it feels like an orchestrated hate campaign,
13:29
Speaker 1: that's when you've got a problem with it. But if
13:31
Speaker 1: you are genuinely a consumer that you've noticed something that
13:34
Speaker 1: an influencer does and message a brand, I think that's fine.
13:38
Speaker 1: But when, as I said, it's very orchestrated and it's
13:41
Speaker 1: ganging up, I think that's.
13:42
Speaker 2: When there's an issue.
13:43
Speaker 1: Now, despite Salty's day's attempt to ruin Sarah and Kurt's wedding,
13:47
Speaker 1: they did get married in Byron Bay without a hitch.
13:50
Speaker 2: And the wedding seemed.
13:51
Speaker 1: Like the perfect opportunity for Sarah and Kurt to publicly
13:54
Speaker 1: discuss their Christian beliefs. So in their wedding video, which
13:57
Speaker 1: has amassed over 1.5 million views, Kurt spoke about how
14:02
Speaker 1: he and Sarah had both been brought up in Christian families.
14:05
Speaker 1: And Kurt explained that when Fox was born, they wanted
14:07
Speaker 1: to give him the same upbringing as they had. And
14:10
Speaker 1: it was a beautiful moment to bring them back into
14:12
Speaker 1: the church. God was mentioned a lot in their wedding
14:14
Speaker 1: vows and the couple's personal pastor delivered the service. Let's
14:18
Speaker 1: throw to what Kurt said in his vows.
14:21
Speaker 3: During a really dark period of my life, I became
14:24
Speaker 3: reconnected with God and I would pray for direction and
14:27
Speaker 3: purpose in my life. I prayed for a beautiful skinny.
14:32
Speaker 3: Thank you! Wife with some little surfy groms and just
14:40
Speaker 3: to live close to the coast. You, Sarah, really positively
14:44
Speaker 3: impacted my life and had such a massive influence on
14:48
Speaker 3: me and turned me into a better man.
14:50
Speaker 1: Who could forget the skinny wife comment? Where was his
14:54
Speaker 1: best man saying, maybe.
14:55
Speaker 2: Don't put that in mate?
14:56
Speaker 1: Well, isn't there a celebrant who looks over the vows
14:58
Speaker 1: and says, oh, maybe. They had their personal pastor there.
15:01
Speaker 1: So maybe it's different when it's a pastor compared to
15:03
Speaker 1: a celebrant. I remember it kind of came out of nowhere,
15:06
Speaker 1: all this mention to God, because Sarah had mentioned a
15:08
Speaker 1: few times that they were going to church on Christmas day.
15:11
Speaker 1: But when I saw that video, I was like, wow,
15:13
Speaker 1: I didn't realize they were so religious.
15:15
Speaker 2: Yeah, it was a bit of a shock.
15:16
Speaker 1: I mean, Sarah's sisters also spoke about Sarah finding religion again.
15:21
Speaker 1: So they said that she'd always been the black sheep
15:23
Speaker 1: of the family and never wanted to go to church. Apparently,
15:26
Speaker 1: she used to be embarrassed to talk about God, but
15:28
Speaker 1: her sisters were really happy to see that she was
15:30
Speaker 1: finally speaking about God publicly and also that Kurt was
15:33
Speaker 1: doing the same thing. Do you guys think that this
15:36
Speaker 1: sudden mention of God in Sarah's wedding video was a
15:39
Speaker 1: bit of a strategic way for her to try and
15:41
Speaker 1: break into the US market? Well, it was very interesting
15:44
Speaker 1: timing off the back of all of those controversies.
15:46
Speaker 2: And yeah, I do.
15:47
Speaker 1: I think that there was a lot of strategy involved
15:50
Speaker 1: She's trying to make herself look like a good person.
15:52
Speaker 1: I think it's quite clear that her family were particularly religious.
15:56
Speaker 1: So they're clearly happy. I'm not saying it's something that's
15:58
Speaker 1: just been pulled out of nowhere, but it was a
16:00
Speaker 1: big shift for her to suddenly be so religious in
16:03
Speaker 1: her videos. And we've also seen this used by other
16:06
Speaker 1: influencers as a bit of a tactic when facing scandal.
16:09
Speaker 1: So US fitness influencer, Brittany Dawn Davis, she suddenly became
16:13
Speaker 1: a Christian slash faith influencer after she was accused of
16:16
Speaker 1: misleading people with her ebook. So she's currently facing trial
16:20
Speaker 1: over the matter. Yeah, and upon reflection, I would say
16:23
Speaker 1: that Sarah's Day's core follower base is from the US
16:27
Speaker 1: because I feel like they've been somewhat removed from all
16:30
Speaker 1: of the drama that's been happening in Australia. After the
16:33
Speaker 1: promotion of this Sarah's Day special deep dive series, our
16:36
Speaker 1: US audience listeners have gone up and it's because they
16:40
Speaker 1: are so interested in Sarah. Well, a lot of the
16:42
Speaker 1: people leaving us hate and defending her were from America
16:45
Speaker 1: and they seem quite unaware of these scandals. Well, a
16:47
Speaker 1: couple of months after her wedding, pregnancy rumors started swirling
16:51
Speaker 1: when Sarah shared an Instagram story where a Facebook messenger
16:54
Speaker 1: conversation was visible. So part of the conversation read, sick
16:58
Speaker 1: the past two. as well as eight weeks today. Now,
17:02
Speaker 1: this accidental disclosure caused quite the reaction on social media.
17:05
Speaker 1: Sarah's stans were over the moon while her detractors accused
17:09
Speaker 1: Sarah of leaking the pregnancy details in an attempt to
17:11
Speaker 1: divert attention away from a radio segment on Hack that
17:14
Speaker 1: criticized her. People might think it's absurd that she planted
17:19
Speaker 1: this information because you really did have to zoom in
17:21
Speaker 1: to see these conversations taking place. But this was at
17:24
Speaker 1: a time when these anonymous influencer pages were on the rise.
17:28
Speaker 1: And People were wanting to create news out of anything.
17:31
Speaker 1: And people were so tapped in because so many people
17:33
Speaker 1: were in lockdown.
17:34
Speaker 2: They were at home.
17:35
Speaker 1: And you get a lot of attention if you were
17:37
Speaker 1: an influencer, if you appeared on one of these pages.
17:40
Speaker 1: Particularly with a pregnancy announcement. Like that is just big news. Well,
17:44
Speaker 1: we know it's huge business for her. I don't actually
17:47
Speaker 1: think that she purposely did it because remember there was
17:49
Speaker 1: that other scandal. where she left open a few photo
17:52
Speaker 1: files and it said like cellulite pic and that made.
17:55
Speaker 2: It all over.
17:56
Speaker 1: Anyone that knows Sarah knows that she's always leaving typos
17:59
Speaker 1: in her story. So I don't think she's got a
18:01
Speaker 1: huge attention to detail.
18:02
Speaker 2: Now, if you fast.
18:03
Speaker 1: Forward to late August, Sarah shocked her followers by announcing
18:07
Speaker 1: she was taking a break from social media. She wrote,
18:10
Speaker 1: be right back, just having a little social media break
18:12
Speaker 1: for the past two days and maybe tomorrow.
18:15
Speaker 2: Love you.
18:15
Speaker 1: Unsurprisingly, Sarah couldn't stay away. She shared a photo of
18:18
Speaker 1: her reading the Bible with the caption, where I go
18:21
Speaker 1: when no one can answer my questions or make sense
18:23
Speaker 1: of our circumstances. Sarah then shared a post where she wrote,
18:27
Speaker 1: to be as open as my heart will let me
18:29
Speaker 1: right now. I have chosen to openly admit that I
18:31
Speaker 1: am not okay and I'm going through some personal things
18:34
Speaker 1: right now. Maybe someday I'll open up about it, maybe not.
18:38
Speaker 1: I'm not even thinking about that right now. I don't
18:40
Speaker 1: want you to feel sorry for me, but I would
18:42
Speaker 1: appreciate prayer. Prayer for peace and clarity for our little family.
18:46
Speaker 1: This is not about lockdowns, COVID vaccinations or anything of
18:49
Speaker 1: that nature. She continued saying, honestly, I'm not coping very
18:52
Speaker 1: well and I can't jump on my stories and be
18:55
Speaker 1: my normal self.
18:56
Speaker 2: I never want to.
18:56
Speaker 1: Be fake happy or bubbly. It's also not the kind
18:59
Speaker 1: of thing I want to talk about or want others
19:01
Speaker 1: opinions on. I'm genuinely sorry for being somewhat secretive and confusing.
19:06
Speaker 1: But I'm only comprehending my emotions right now and don't
19:09
Speaker 1: feel like sharing with the entire world when I'm emotionally
19:11
Speaker 1: exhausted and confused. Now, despite saying that she wouldn't speak
19:15
Speaker 1: further on the very private matter, Sarah continued to post
19:19
Speaker 1: about her day. She said it was important to give
19:21
Speaker 1: herself a few days to cry, spiral a little and
19:24
Speaker 1: feel confused, angry and sit on the couch or in
19:27
Speaker 1: bed for 72 hours and not move. She said she
19:30
Speaker 1: wanted to forget the reality and try and act and
19:32
Speaker 1: feel normal. She continued to explain that for her, being
19:36
Speaker 1: online is normal. Sarah then went on to share a
19:38
Speaker 1: video of her cradling Fox and crying. She captioned the video,
19:40
Speaker 1: I find it so utterly confusing that influencers have to
19:42
Speaker 1: announce that they'll be taking a break. Like, That is
20:09
Speaker 1: just fueling speculation more. Why don't you just take the
20:12
Speaker 1: break and not say anything? Because it just leads to.
20:14
Speaker 2: More questions of people asking, why are they taking a break?
20:17
Speaker 2: What's going on? It does.
20:19
Speaker 1: But Sarah posts so frequently that she kind of had
20:21
Speaker 1: to mention that she was going to be off social media.
20:24
Speaker 2: I don't know about that.
20:25
Speaker 1: But all of these posts, it got the rumor mill going.
20:27
Speaker 1: And the first rumor was that Sarah had miscarried. And
20:30
Speaker 1: a lot of people thought these posts were actually baiting
20:33
Speaker 1: the miscarriage, which upset a lot of people. The second
20:36
Speaker 1: rumor was that Kurt was cheating on her, which Sarah
20:39
Speaker 1: swiftly shot down. And the third rumor was that Sarah
20:42
Speaker 1: and Kurt had found out their baby had an abnormality.
20:45
Speaker 1: So another month passed on social media and Sarah still
20:48
Speaker 1: hadn't updated her followers about the personal issue that she
20:51
Speaker 1: was going through. Instead, she announced on September 20 that
20:54
Speaker 1: she was starting an eight-week challenge.
20:56
Speaker 2: With her eBooks.
20:57
Speaker 1: So to make the deal a little bit sweeter, she
20:59
Speaker 1: discounted her eBooks by 20% and promised to do the
21:02
Speaker 1: fitness challenge with her subscribers. So the fans who signed
21:06
Speaker 1: up to do the challenge with Sarah got a big
21:08
Speaker 1: shock when two days later on the 22nd of September,
21:11
Speaker 1: she announced she was pregnant and therefore wouldn't be doing
21:14
Speaker 1: the challenge. Now, the announcement was really confusing and complicated
21:17
Speaker 1: for Sarah's followers. For one thing, it was very low
21:20
Speaker 1: key compared to Sarah's first pregnancy announcement with Fox. The
21:24
Speaker 1: video went for just over two minutes and was styled
21:26
Speaker 1: in an old VHS way. And the date on there
21:30
Speaker 1: said the 21st of January, 1993. And in the video,
21:34
Speaker 1: there were clips of pregnancy tests, celebrations, sonograms, bump shots,
21:37
Speaker 1: and then the date was updated to the 10th of May, 1992.
21:41
Speaker 1: The video ended with an assortment of Bible verses, which included,
21:45
Speaker 1: For you created my inmost being. You knit me together
21:48
Speaker 1: in my mother's womb. I praise you because I'm fearfully
21:51
Speaker 1: and wonderfully made. And the last verse was, For I
21:54
Speaker 1: know the plans I have for you. Declares the Lord
21:56
Speaker 1: plans to prosper you and not harm you. Plans to
21:59
Speaker 1: give you hope and a future. There were very mixed
22:02
Speaker 1: reactions to Sarah's pregnancy announcement. There was, of course, an
22:06
Speaker 1: outpouring of support from Sarah's fans, but there were also
22:09
Speaker 1: those who felt very triggered as though Sarah had been
22:11
Speaker 1: baiting them over a miscarriage. Others were quick to defend Sarah,
22:15
Speaker 1: saying it's best not to judge the situation until they
22:18
Speaker 1: heard directly from Sarah and Kurt.
22:21
Speaker 2: About what was going on.
22:22
Speaker 1: Now, followers had to wait another three weeks for an update.
22:25
Speaker 1: So on the 14th of October, Sarah uploaded a video
22:29
Speaker 1: entitled Opening Up About What's Been Going On and Our Baby.
22:32
Speaker 1: In the YouTube video, Sarah and Kurt shared that their
22:35
Speaker 1: unborn son had been diagnosed with some unforeseen health issues.
22:39
Speaker 1: The health issue had been picked up at the 10-week
22:41
Speaker 1: mark on a Harmony test during routine prenatal testing and screening.
22:45
Speaker 1: Sarah said the test came back with an abnormality that
22:48
Speaker 1: she had never heard of before. The couple did not
22:51
Speaker 1: disclose what the health issue is as they don't want
22:54
Speaker 1: it to define their son. They did, however, share that
22:57
Speaker 1: they were advised by doctors to terminate the pregnancy for
23:00
Speaker 1: their child's well-being as well as their own. Now, in
23:03
Speaker 1: a recent interview with Grace Beverly, Sarah opened up about
23:06
Speaker 1: the experience saying that she had never been in a
23:08
Speaker 1: black hole like that in her whole life and she
23:10
Speaker 1: was a shell of a person. So Sarah explained the
23:13
Speaker 1: situation was particularly hard to navigate because of her Christian faith.
23:17
Speaker 1: Let's throw to what she said about deciding against terminating
23:20
Speaker 1: her pregnancy.
23:23
Speaker 4: So I had to go in to numerous different genetic
23:26
Speaker 4: counselors and specialists in his genetic difference. and I couldn't
23:32
Speaker 4: go with my husband.
23:33
Speaker 2: So I went in and.
23:34
Speaker 4: He said, do you know anything about your baby's condition?
23:37
Speaker 4: And by that time it had been like three weeks.
23:39
Speaker 4: So I had like a month to sit on this.
23:41
Speaker 4: Oh my God. Yeah.
23:42
Speaker 2: The anxiety.
23:43
Speaker 1: Yeah.
23:43
Speaker 4: And I'm not going to, and so I'm, I'm a Christian.
23:46
Speaker 4: So that was even really hard for me to navigate
23:50
Speaker 4: because obviously Christian morals is life is life. But then
23:53
Speaker 4: I started researching this condition and this difference. And then
23:57
Speaker 4: I was trying to justify in my head, I was like, this.
23:59
Speaker 2: Is unfair for him. Is it selfless or is it selfless?
24:02
Speaker 1: Exactly.
24:02
Speaker 4: I'm like, am I doing him a disservice by bringing
24:05
Speaker 4: him into the world? And this, this, this. And I
24:07
Speaker 4: called my pastor, like our minister, and I was searching
24:11
Speaker 4: the Bible for a verse that gave me an out
24:14
Speaker 4: that was like, listen to your gut. And I basically
24:18
Speaker 4: couldn't find it.
24:20
Speaker 1: It's really sad because ever since Malachi was born, there's
24:23
Speaker 1: been this online guessing game of what genetic abnormality he has,
24:27
Speaker 1: which is so disgusting. And I feel awkward even talking.
24:30
Speaker 2: About it right now.
24:32
Speaker 1: Now, Sarah explained in a recent interview with Grace Beverly
24:35
Speaker 1: that people often message her demanding answers and criticize her
24:39
Speaker 1: for only telling half the details. Let's have a listen
24:42
Speaker 1: to what she said.
24:44
Speaker 4: I can imagine you have backlash that's like, Ridiculous accusations. Yeah,
24:47
Speaker 4: when people say, oh, he doesn't look like he had
24:48
Speaker 4: Down syndrome, I'm like, he never did. And then people
24:50
Speaker 4: were like, just confirm or deny, does he have Down syndrome?
24:53
Speaker 4: I'm like, I'm not going to play this game. I'm
24:55
Speaker 4: not going to say, oh, it's not that. It's not,
24:56
Speaker 4: it gets hot, hot, getting hotter, getting hotter.
24:59
Speaker 2: Like, we're not playing this game.
25:00
Speaker 4: We're not playing this game. There is no method or
25:03
Speaker 4: there is no strategy.
25:07
Speaker 1: Now, she went on to say it's not her place
25:09
Speaker 1: and she's not interested in being a spokesperson for the condition. However,
25:12
Speaker 1: if Malachi wants to one day talk about it, he can.
25:15
Speaker 1: Sarah also opened up about her decision to share that
25:18
Speaker 1: Malachi had a genetic abnormality. She said a part of
25:21
Speaker 1: the reason was that she was worried her midwives would
25:23
Speaker 1: spread the information as she had to disclose it on
25:26
Speaker 1: his medical records. I was really taken aback by this
25:29
Speaker 1: response as health professionals take patient privacy very seriously. It's
25:33
Speaker 1: hard to imagine that a midwife would risk losing their
25:36
Speaker 1: job just to spread gossip like this. I think all
25:39
Speaker 1: three of us have really found the Malachi situation a
25:42
Speaker 1: difficult topic to discuss and provide our opinion on because
25:45
Speaker 1: For me, it doesn't sit right to morally judge Sarah
25:48
Speaker 1: and Kurt's decision during a time of intense grief and pressure.
25:53
Speaker 2: I know there's a lot of.
25:54
Speaker 1: People saying Sarah shouldn't have shared it to begin with
25:57
Speaker 1: and it was very attention-seeking. But because her job does
26:01
Speaker 1: fall into the category of sharing about her life, It's
26:04
Speaker 1: a really tough one of where do you draw the line.
26:06
Speaker 1: It does make me feel really uncomfortable that there are
26:08
Speaker 1: so many people out there trying to guess this poor
26:11
Speaker 1: little boy's health condition when it's something.
26:13
Speaker 2: So deeply private.
26:14
Speaker 1: For me, though, I think that influencers could learn from
26:17
Speaker 1: this situation that they need to take a step back
26:19
Speaker 1: and actually go offline for an extended period of time
26:23
Speaker 1: rather than being rushed to give people an update because
26:25
Speaker 1: I feel like Sarah really fed into people's need for
26:28
Speaker 1: constant updates and information and maybe gave our information to
26:31
Speaker 1: that she regrets because it's impossible to take things back
26:34
Speaker 1: once you share them online. It's much easier to go
26:37
Speaker 1: quiet and provide clarity and updates later on.
26:40
Speaker 4: Yeah.
26:40
Speaker 1: And I can see why people are arguing that Sarah
26:42
Speaker 1: and Kurt should have never shared these details about Malachi
26:45
Speaker 1: because it is human nature for people to be curious
26:48
Speaker 1: and have the desire to learn more. Yeah, exactly right.
26:50
Speaker 1: And I think it's really difficult for Sarah because she
26:52
Speaker 1: is so used to sharing her children's lives online that
26:55
Speaker 1: it would have been this moment where she's like, I
26:57
Speaker 1: don't know what to do. Now, eight days after giving
27:00
Speaker 1: birth to her son Malachi, Sarah gave her followers a
27:03
Speaker 1: postpartum body update. She said that she had been inundated
27:07
Speaker 1: with followers asking for the update, but she did put
27:10
Speaker 1: out a disclaimer saying that she's very sensitive to other
27:13
Speaker 1: women's postpartum journeys and doesn't want anyone to compare their
27:17
Speaker 1: bodies with hers. She then proceeded to share videos of
27:21
Speaker 1: herself posing in front of a mirror in a sports
27:23
Speaker 1: bra and high-waisted bike shorts. There was a lot of
27:27
Speaker 1: flexing going on. She showed a lot of different angles
27:30
Speaker 1: and she looked very lean and fit with very clear
27:34
Speaker 1: ab definition and a thigh gap. It was very reminiscent
27:37
Speaker 1: of those body updates that she used to give during
27:40
Speaker 1: her project comebacks in 2017.
27:43
Speaker 2: And she also used this.
27:45
Speaker 1: Opportunity to announce that she and her physio Charlotte had
27:48
Speaker 1: joined forces to create an ebook called The Pregnancy Workout Guide.
27:53
Speaker 1: I found this body check situation very odd because she
27:57
Speaker 1: gave this sort of obligatory disclaimer about being sensitive to
28:01
Speaker 1: other women's journeys. But in the next breath, she was
28:03
Speaker 1: showing off her very toned stomach and flogging off a
28:06
Speaker 1: pregnancy workout guide.
28:08
Speaker 2: And it's sort of clear that she's aware that.
28:11
Speaker 1: She needs to give her disclaimers, but I think she
28:13
Speaker 1: believes if she gives a disclaimer, she can then continue
28:16
Speaker 1: and do whatever she wants. Everything's just monetized, isn't it though?
28:19
Speaker 1: Just every moment of Sarah's life, there seems to be
28:22
Speaker 1: a new product or new ebook brought out. Oh, well,
28:24
Speaker 1: this was clear strategy because when Sarah is pregnant or
28:27
Speaker 1: when she gives birth, that's when the most eyeballs are
28:29
Speaker 1: on her page. So the fact that she chose eight
28:32
Speaker 1: days after her son's birth to launch this.
28:34
Speaker 2: Collaboration, It was very clever and very strategic.
28:38
Speaker 1: She was also criticized for outlining her top tips for
28:41
Speaker 1: bouncing back after pregnancy during an episode of a Spotify
28:44
Speaker 1: exclusive podcast. So the episode was entitled Sez's Top Tips
28:48
Speaker 1: to Bounce Back After Pregnancy. And the episode description read,
28:52
Speaker 1: before we get shunned for using the term bounce back,
28:54
Speaker 1: we don't mean getting shredded abs. We're talking about stretch marks,
28:58
Speaker 1: ab separation and weight management. Here are a few tips
29:01
Speaker 1: of what to do during pregnancy to make your bounce
29:03
Speaker 1: back journey post pregnancy a little easier. I did laugh
29:06
Speaker 1: at the use of the word weight management because it's
29:09
Speaker 1: quite clear that they mean weight loss. I also didn't
29:13
Speaker 1: like how she touched on stretch marks because really, how
29:16
Speaker 1: do you bounce back from stretch marks?
29:19
Speaker 2: They're either there or they're not there.
29:21
Speaker 1: Yeah, well, Sarah was forced to edit the episode and
29:23
Speaker 1: issue an apology. The apology said, we totally agree that
29:26
Speaker 1: bounce back culture is toxic and has no place in 2022.
29:30
Speaker 1: While the episode itself was focused around taking care of
29:33
Speaker 1: yourself during postpartum and not at all about bouncing back,
29:36
Speaker 1: we know that the title the episode was given did
29:38
Speaker 1: not reflect this. In future, we will ensure that we
29:40
Speaker 1: personally cross-check all titles and social media posts before they
29:44
Speaker 1: go live to ensure they reflect the content of the
29:46
Speaker 1: episode itself in light of all of the above we
29:49
Speaker 1: have decided to remove the episode completely as we don't
29:51
Speaker 1: want to contribute to messaging that doesn't reflect our own
29:54
Speaker 1: values or empower women to always feel comfortable in their
29:57
Speaker 1: own skin Why didn't they just edit the title if
29:59
Speaker 1: it didn't.
30:00
Speaker 2: Reflect the episode? Talk about passing the buck as well.
30:03
Speaker 2: Which one is it? Because they always talk about.
30:05
Speaker 1: How, you know, hands-on they are with their content, but
30:08
Speaker 1: then anytime there's scrutiny around it, it's someone else's fault. Yeah, well, Amy,
30:12
Speaker 1: it's quite funny because in the actual podcast episode, Sarah
30:17
Speaker 1: says during the episode, now, before you send me hate,
30:20
Speaker 1: this title is called How I Bounced Backed. Now the
30:23
Speaker 1: word bounce back, oh my goodness, I was racking my brains.
30:26
Speaker 1: What else can I title this episode? So she actually
30:29
Speaker 1: said that she titled the episode. And then Kurt's like, nah,
30:32
Speaker 1: I don't care. Everyone's too sensitive. Who cares about disclaimers?
30:35
Speaker 1: Let's just get into it because honestly. So I love
30:38
Speaker 1: the statement that they agree that bounce back culture is
30:41
Speaker 1: toxic and has no place, but Kurt literally mocked the
30:44
Speaker 1: people who found it offensive and And labelled them as
30:48
Speaker 1: too sensitive.
30:48
Speaker 2: And ironically, they didn't actually end up removing the episode.
30:52
Speaker 1: They only removed that excerpt of Kurt saying that people
30:55
Speaker 1: are way too sensitive.
30:56
Speaker 2: It's just embarrassing.
30:57
Speaker 1: I think it just shows that they need to hire
31:00
Speaker 1: people outside of their little Cronulla bubble. Like this is
31:03
Speaker 1: a prime example that someone needed to listen to the episode,
31:06
Speaker 1: read the title and go, no, we can't have this.
31:09
Speaker 1: Wouldn't you think Spotify would be like, nah. But they're
31:12
Speaker 1: aware of it themselves. Like Sarah even said, oh, I
31:15
Speaker 1: didn't know what to call it. So if you're aware
31:16
Speaker 1: that it's offensive, I think with the Spotify thing, because
31:20
Speaker 1: they had to do a podcast every day, they'd almost
31:22
Speaker 1: run out of content and we're just like, oh, fuck it,
31:24
Speaker 1: we'll just do this one.
31:25
Speaker 2: The thing is though.
31:26
Speaker 1: Surely if she had a media advisor or PR manager,
31:29
Speaker 1: they could have come up with a better apology than that.
31:32
Speaker 2: Now, circling back.
31:33
Speaker 1: To the 1st of January 2022 and Sarah released her
31:36
Speaker 1: new ebook, Sweat It Limitless, which is the final progression
31:40
Speaker 1: in the series and touted as the most advanced. So
31:43
Speaker 1: the eight-week fitness plan was said to be designed to
31:46
Speaker 1: burn fat, sculpt and tone your muscles whilst making you
31:50
Speaker 1: fall in love with fitness. Now, it was marketed by
31:53
Speaker 1: Sarah as the fitness guide she followed in the lead
31:56
Speaker 1: up to her wedding. She even commented that she should
31:58
Speaker 1: have called the book Sweat It to Wet It. Now,
32:01
Speaker 1: for decades, there has, of course, been immense pressure placed
32:04
Speaker 1: on women to launch grueling fitness regimes in the lead
32:08
Speaker 1: up to their wedding. And we've seen so many phrases
32:10
Speaker 1: like shredding for the wedding become mainstream. In recent years, though,
32:15
Speaker 1: I really thought that there had.
32:16
Speaker 2: Been a big pushback on this term wedge shred.
32:19
Speaker 1: Because so many body positive activists and also eating disorder
32:22
Speaker 1: experts have highlighted how toxic this term is because it
32:26
Speaker 1: robs so many brides of actually enjoying the lead up
32:29
Speaker 1: to their big.
32:30
Speaker 2: Day and not feeling like they're enough.
32:32
Speaker 1: Things became more troubling when Sarah released a reel to
32:35
Speaker 1: her Instagram feed marketing the program further. Let's throw to
32:38
Speaker 1: the audio from that reel.
32:41
Speaker 4: To the girl who lays in bed every night and
32:43
Speaker 4: overthinks everything she ate that day. To the girl who
32:46
Speaker 4: forces herself to stay at the gym for over an hour.
32:50
Speaker 4: To the girl who dwells in guilt if she misses
32:53
Speaker 4: a workout.
32:54
Speaker 2: I was you. Getting myself to this point was far
32:57
Speaker 2: deeper than just the physical.
32:59
Speaker 4: It was about changing my mindset and creating a lifestyle.
33:03
Speaker 4: Nourishing my body. Listening to my body. Moving because I
33:07
Speaker 4: love my body, not because I'm trying to fix it.
33:10
Speaker 4: So shout out to the girls who have come full
33:12
Speaker 4: circle and can rest in balance.
33:15
Speaker 2: Consistency over burnout. Balance over restriction.
33:18
Speaker 4: And finally, listening to our bodies.
33:25
Speaker 1: Now, the backlash was swift with followers accusing Sarah of
33:29
Speaker 1: promoting her program to people struggling with disordered eating. One
33:33
Speaker 1: follower wrote, So the way I see this, you're telling
33:35
Speaker 1: me to join your workout plan because I have anorexia.
33:38
Speaker 1: Do you not see how specifically targeting eating disorders is immoral?
33:42
Speaker 1: Another wrote, Now, one commenter actually caught Sarah's attention, which
33:44
Speaker 1: sparked a response. So they wrote, This is such a
33:54
Speaker 1: damaging message. What you are essentially saying is that instead
33:57
Speaker 1: of working on yourself and learning to forgive yourself, we
34:00
Speaker 1: can purchase your exercise program and feed the obsession to
34:04
Speaker 1: have a certain body type. This comment was liked over
34:07
Speaker 1: 790 times. Sarah responded saying, yeah, no, that's what I'm
34:11
Speaker 1: not essentially saying at all. Sorry, you've taken this in
34:14
Speaker 1: a negative light. Now, leading Sydney-based eating disorder recovery coach
34:18
Speaker 1: Mia Finlay slammed the program's marketing campaign and said it
34:22
Speaker 1: was targeted at vulnerable people. In a YouTube video entitled
34:25
Speaker 1: Dear Sarah's Day, This Is Wrong, Mia said she had
34:28
Speaker 1: never seen a diet or exercise program specifically geared and
34:32
Speaker 1: targeted towards people who either have or are at risk
34:35
Speaker 1: of an eating disorder.
34:36
Speaker 2: She said while there are.
34:37
Speaker 1: Many fitness influencers now co-opting body positivity and intuitive eating,
34:41
Speaker 1: this is the first time she's seen someone co-opt eating
34:44
Speaker 1: disorders and recovery. The timing of this launch was also
34:48
Speaker 1: put under the spotlight because she did release the e-book
34:51
Speaker 1: on New Year's Day. And this is renowned as being
34:53
Speaker 1: the most lucrative time of the year for the diet
34:56
Speaker 1: industry because You're coming off the back of Christmas when
34:59
Speaker 1: people have usually overindulged. And then, of course, most people
35:03
Speaker 1: set fitness-based New Year's resolutions. So it was completely strategic
35:07
Speaker 1: to launch this program when she did. And the legitimacy
35:10
Speaker 1: of this program has also been questioned because Sarah said
35:14
Speaker 1: that she created the full fitness plan. And that is
35:16
Speaker 1: despite the fact that she has no formal qualifications in fitness.
35:20
Speaker 1: And she also spoke openly in the lead up to
35:22
Speaker 1: her wedding about actually working with a personal trainer for
35:25
Speaker 1: at least six months to prepare. Now, despite this, her
35:28
Speaker 1: PT got no mention or wasn't credited in the e-book. Now,
35:32
Speaker 1: moving on from the e-book drama, I really want to
35:34
Speaker 1: discuss Sarah using her kids as content because that came
35:37
Speaker 1: up in April 2022. So Sarah baited her then three-year-old
35:41
Speaker 1: son Fox's haircut for weeks. Now, this wasn't your average
35:45
Speaker 1: kid's haircut. Fox's hair used to be very beautiful. It
35:48
Speaker 1: was long, blonde ringlets, and it sat past his shoulders.
35:51
Speaker 1: So when Sarah finally shared the dramatic transformation, she disclaimed
35:55
Speaker 1: in the outro of the video that she doesn't use
35:57
Speaker 1: her kids for content. Let's throw to what she said.
36:00
Speaker 4: Yeah, like I said, I do feel a little bit
36:02
Speaker 4: weird of just like that was like the main part
36:04
Speaker 4: of the vlog because Malachi and Fox are the center
36:08
Speaker 4: of my life. Also Kurt, we love Kurt. But just
36:10
Speaker 4: being a mom, especially a mom of two now, my
36:13
Speaker 4: boys are just everything to me. I'm not going to
36:15
Speaker 4: become a family vlog channel. Like the boys are obviously
36:19
Speaker 4: a part of my vlogs, but I just don't ever
36:22
Speaker 4: want my videos to be centered around my kids. So
36:25
Speaker 4: this is kind of like an anomaly, just something a
36:27
Speaker 4: little bit different. But yeah, like moving forward and what
36:30
Speaker 4: I'll continue to do, this is the Sarah's Day channel.
36:32
Speaker 4: And I just want to make sure You know, I'm
36:34
Speaker 4: protecting them and, you know, they can be featured and
36:37
Speaker 4: you guys see them all the time. But, yeah, I
36:39
Speaker 4: just don't want my kids to be content, you know. So, yeah,
36:42
Speaker 4: obviously they're in my vlogs because they're with me all
36:44
Speaker 4: the time. But just moving forward, the vlogs will kind
36:47
Speaker 4: of not go back to normal. But, like, they'll be
36:49
Speaker 4: back to, like, Sarah's Day stuff of, like, you know,
36:52
Speaker 4: in two weeks I potentially get to go back to training.
36:54
Speaker 4: So I'll be vlogging all of that.
36:56
Speaker 1: This disclaimer was very much in response to the backlash
37:00
Speaker 1: that Sarah had been receiving for clickbaiting Fox's hair. And
37:04
Speaker 1: it was quite uncomfortable to watch because it felt like
37:07
Speaker 1: she was almost trying to convince herself that she wasn't
37:10
Speaker 1: using her son for content. And a lot of people
37:12
Speaker 1: found it very hypocritical that Sarah said that this sort
37:15
Speaker 1: of video was an anomaly. Considering her last three videos
37:19
Speaker 1: had been about her son, Along with the haircut video,
37:23
Speaker 1: she had shared a video of Fox meeting his baby
37:25
Speaker 1: brother Malachi for the first time. And before that, it
37:28
Speaker 1: had been Sarah's labor vlog. I think that she should
37:32
Speaker 1: just own the fact that she is moving over to.
37:34
Speaker 2: A family-esque channel. Exactly.
37:37
Speaker 1: And then just two months later, after saying she didn't
37:39
Speaker 1: want to use her kids' content, she revealed on her
37:42
Speaker 1: podcast that she was considering starting a YouTube channel for Fox.
37:46
Speaker 1: So a then three-year-old Fox had asked his parents if
37:48
Speaker 1: he could start his own cooking channel as he regularly
37:51
Speaker 1: cooks with Sarah on her channel. Now, Sarah said she
37:53
Speaker 1: was unsure whether she should let him and was concerned
37:56
Speaker 1: about trolling, while.
37:57
Speaker 2: Kurt said they should just do it.
37:59
Speaker 1: So he said, I think it's healthy for kids to
38:01
Speaker 1: do it. We live in a world of content now.
38:03
Speaker 1: You can't escape it. I love that it's like Oh,
38:06
Speaker 1: but he asked us to create it.
38:08
Speaker 2: He's three. I know.
38:10
Speaker 1: Kids want to be like a crocodile at age two.
38:11
Speaker 1: They don't understand the potential ramifications for having this channel,
38:15
Speaker 1: the trolling that might go in, the fact that you're
38:18
Speaker 1: also putting him out there to potential predators. But they
38:21
Speaker 1: should know because Sarah's been on YouTube for so many years. Yeah, well,
38:24
Speaker 1: I think the thing is Fox has been a main
38:26
Speaker 1: character on her channel for four years now. And you
38:29
Speaker 1: can see by watching Sarah's content that he loves being
38:32
Speaker 1: in front of a camera and And he's very aware
38:34
Speaker 1: of when he is being filmed. He often says things like,
38:37
Speaker 1: welcome back to my channel and talks to the camera
38:39
Speaker 1: as if it's a person, just.
38:40
Speaker 2: Like Sarah does. It's kind of sad and scary, isn't it?
38:43
Speaker 1: It kind of makes me feel sad watching it because
38:45
Speaker 1: he kind of comes across as this performing monkey when
38:47
Speaker 1: the camera comes out.
38:48
Speaker 2: I think that's a lot of kids though.
38:50
Speaker 1: We used to love it when our dad got the
38:52
Speaker 1: camera out, but I suppose it adds this added level
38:54
Speaker 1: that he knows that he's.
38:55
Speaker 2: Speaking to fans.
38:56
Speaker 1: Yeah, and also he's spoken on Sarah's story about the
38:59
Speaker 1: fact that he's had fans come up to him. So
39:01
Speaker 1: he's very aware of what's going on And I do
39:04
Speaker 1: wonder when he gets older, I mean, at the moment
39:06
Speaker 1: he currently plays up to the camera, but will he
39:09
Speaker 1: begin to get self-conscious and start to moderate his behavior
39:13
Speaker 1: as he starts considering how people perceive him online? I
39:16
Speaker 1: think it will all come to a head when he
39:18
Speaker 1: starts going to school and children start saying stuff in
39:22
Speaker 1: the schoolyard. Also, there might be issues around his privacy
39:26
Speaker 1: if Sarah shares about the fact that he's going to
39:29
Speaker 1: school or accidentally shares his school uniform. There's a lot
39:32
Speaker 1: of safety concerns around this type of exposure. For someone who, yes,
39:36
Speaker 1: influencers are famous, but then again, they don't have the
39:39
Speaker 1: security that you know top celebrities have. I just can't
39:43
Speaker 1: imagine what it would be like to have your most
39:45
Speaker 1: private moments as a child shared to millions of people.
39:48
Speaker 1: I mean Fox's birth vlog has over 9 million views
39:52
Speaker 1: and there's just such an interest in Sarah's kids lives
39:55
Speaker 1: and that's because she has always shared them as part
39:57
Speaker 1: of her content. Imagine when Fox starts dating because think
40:00
Speaker 1: about when you start dating someone you do a full
40:03
Speaker 1: deep dive on their social media and His potential date
40:06
Speaker 1: we'll be able to go see when he's born. We'll
40:08
Speaker 1: be able to see him toilet training. Well, no one
40:10
Speaker 1: knows the long-term impact that family vlogging is going to
40:13
Speaker 1: have on future children because it is such a new phenomenon.
40:17
Speaker 1: And can you imagine being a kid and that every
40:20
Speaker 1: outing you go on is turned into a content shoot?
40:23
Speaker 1: You would feel like you need to perform rather than
40:25
Speaker 1: actually just enjoy yourself. To me, it's quite clear that
40:28
Speaker 1: Sarah is confused not only about the direction of her channel,
40:31
Speaker 1: but also how she feels about her kids being content
40:34
Speaker 1: on it. And ever since Sarah fell pregnant, her channel
40:37
Speaker 1: has taken a massive shift from health and fitness towards
40:40
Speaker 1: lifestyle and family content. And to me, the change makes
40:44
Speaker 1: complete sense seeing as it now reflects her new season,
40:47
Speaker 1: as she would say. So I don't think it's so
40:49
Speaker 1: much that people have an issue with Sarah's channel evolving
40:52
Speaker 1: into a family channel. It's the fact that she's not
40:55
Speaker 1: owning it. And that being said, while people expect Sarah
40:58
Speaker 1: to share about her children and I think there's a
41:00
Speaker 1: line and there's a difference between having your kids appear
41:03
Speaker 1: in the background of a YouTube video to actually basing
41:06
Speaker 1: the whole video around the child. At the start of
41:08
Speaker 1: the year, Sarah did speak about how this year was
41:11
Speaker 1: very pivotal for her and her YouTube channel. She expressed
41:14
Speaker 1: that she didn't want to be sharing vlogs about her
41:18
Speaker 1: life anymore because her kids were getting to an age
41:20
Speaker 1: where she wanted to look after their privacy. It's interesting
41:23
Speaker 1: because she has now reverted back back to the vlogs.
41:26
Speaker 1: It didn't take her long to come back to that
41:28
Speaker 1: original content because it's clearly what everyone wants to hear.
41:31
Speaker 1: No one's interested in seeing her workout routines. They want
41:34
Speaker 1: to know what's going on in her day-to-day life. So
41:37
Speaker 1: what do you guys think the next couple of years
41:39
Speaker 1: will hold for Sarah's day? Do you think that she
41:41
Speaker 1: still will be a big presence on YouTube or do
41:43
Speaker 1: you think that perhaps she's trying to step away from
41:46
Speaker 1: the spotlight? Well, I think the fact that Sarah and
41:49
Speaker 1: Kurt launched a creative agency called House of Groms in 2022,
41:52
Speaker 1: it sort of shows the direction that they're moving in.
41:55
Speaker 2: So Kurt previously.
41:57
Speaker 1: Did own his own creative agency, which was called KJ Tills.
42:01
Speaker 1: But the new rebrand saw Kurt and Sarah come together
42:04
Speaker 1: and establish their own collective brand. And now Sarah's own
42:07
Speaker 1: brands and podcasts work under the umbrella of the House
42:11
Speaker 1: of Grom. So they've set up their own studio in Cronulla.
42:14
Speaker 1: They also have plans to establish a photography studio in
42:17
Speaker 1: their new holiday home that they purchased in March. So
42:20
Speaker 1: it's clear that they are trying to establish alternative revenue
42:23
Speaker 1: streams in case their influence does come crashing down. And
42:27
Speaker 1: as we've seen during this four-part series, there have been
42:30
Speaker 1: a lot of times when her influence has been tested.
42:33
Speaker 1: I found it quite interesting to look at their social
42:36
Speaker 1: blade accounts because while Sarah has 1.2 million followers on Instagram,
42:41
Speaker 1: that number has stayed very stagnant for the past few years.
42:45
Speaker 2: And I had a look.
42:46
Speaker 1: So I don't know whether it's because no one's interested
42:57
Speaker 1: in the new direction that she's potentially moving in. Even
43:00
Speaker 1: her Tattle Life thread has stopped, which she probably- Or
43:03
Speaker 1: slowed down. Yeah, it slowed down, which she probably likes,
43:06
Speaker 1: but I think it's indicative of Sarah sharing less content,
43:10
Speaker 1: being less controversial. At some point, people are going to
43:13
Speaker 1: be less interested because I think a lot of the
43:15
Speaker 1: haters are actually fueling her popularity at the moment on
43:18
Speaker 1: social media. See, I don't know if she's been less controversial-
43:21
Speaker 1: I feel like she is second guessing everything that she's saying.
43:25
Speaker 1: And perhaps that's why people are switching off because I
43:28
Speaker 1: think what was one of Sarah's real highlights and positives
43:31
Speaker 1: of her channel was that she was so real and raw.
43:35
Speaker 1: And now you feel like she is pretending and kind
43:38
Speaker 1: of having to second guess everything that she's saying. And
43:40
Speaker 1: it's not as enjoyable to watch. I think it's also
43:43
Speaker 1: the loss of frequency. You know, she was posting videos.
43:46
Speaker 1: three times a week that really got people engaged in
43:49
Speaker 1: her life. Now we don't know when we're going to
43:51
Speaker 1: see a new vlog and she seems to be putting
43:53
Speaker 1: up a few more barriers. It does leave many questioning
43:56
Speaker 1: if we will see her choose to step out of
43:59
Speaker 1: the limelight for a more quiet life, but something tells
44:02
Speaker 1: me that she is a habitual overshare and really does
44:06
Speaker 1: enjoy the attention. Well, I think that's where we will
44:10
Speaker 1: leave Sarah's story for now. We have thoroughly enjoyed researching
44:14
Speaker 1: and putting together this four-part series. Thank you so much
44:17
Speaker 1: for listening and it means the world to us that
44:19
Speaker 1: you are supporting Outspoken Plus. If you have enjoyed today's show,
44:23
Speaker 1: could you please make sure you share about the series.
44:26
Speaker 2: On your Instagram?
44:27
Speaker 1: And we'll be back in your ears next week for
44:30
Speaker 1: another episode of Outspoken Plus. This episode was recorded on
44:34
Speaker 1: the traditional land of the Kaurna people of the Adelaide Plains.
44:37
Speaker 1: We pay respect to elders past and present.