Ray William Johnson: True Story Podcast - The Dark Truth Behind The Viral Dress - The Story of Keir Johnston and Grace Johnston

Episode Date: February 5, 2025

This is the story of Keir Johnston and Grace Johnston and the viral internet dress

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My whole world is falling apart right now. It's chaos. Watch the Hulu original series. The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives. Now streaming on Hulu and Hulu on Disney Plus for Bumno subscribers. Terms apply. At one point, this dress was the most famous dress in the entire world. It was a meme, and the creator of that meme just tried to unalive someone.

Now his name's Keir, and Keir's a normal dude, I think he works at a gas station, and he lives on a tiny little island in Scotland. And Keir is about to get married to this woman, Grace. So Keir and Grace, they're planning their wedding and whatnot, and one day Grace gets a text from her mom. And Grace's mom is at the store. store trying to pick out her dress for the wedding. And she texts Grace a few photos of some dresses, including this photo. And Grace, she mentions, oh, that white and gold dress. And Grace's mom is like,

no, no, you mean the blue and black one. And so then they argue a bit about the color. And so Grace, she shows the picture to Keir. Like, honey, look at this dress. What color do you think it is? And Keir's like, blue and black, of course. So then they get into a disagreement about it. Then Keir takes the photo over to the house next door to where he lives, because his parents just happen to live in that house next door. And his dad answers the door and Keir's like, Dad, what color is this dress? And dad's like, that's white and gold, son!

And so this whole family is disagreeing about the color of this dress. And so they show the photo to the people around them, and then soon everyone in the community is debating the color of this dress. And none of them can agree on it. And this goes on for weeks. And eventually, one of Grace's friends, she takes the photo and she posts it on social media, hoping that maybe the internet can weigh in and help them settle this debate once and for all.

And almost immediately after posting, kaboom, this post goes insanely viral. Everyone's talking about it and everyone's debating the color of this dress. And this picture gets shared around and it gets retweeted something like 11 million times. The national news and talk shows are covering it. White and gold versus blue and black. This thing is really breaking social media records. Meanwhile, while all this is blowing up,

Kieran Grace, they go and get married. And they're on their honeymoon and they're not really paying attention to the outside world. And they're somewhat unaware of how much traction this story is getting on social media. And then suddenly, bam, they get a call from a producer of the Ellen show. And the producer's like, will you please leave your honeymoon and come on the Ellen show and talk about this viral dress photo? And Kier and Grace are like, sure. So they all go on Ellen and they tell their story to the whole world. And I was like, no, mum, that's white and gold.

And if you think it's blue-black, you need to go to the doctors. Right. And Ellen gives them an all-expenses paid trip to Grenada and like $10,000. And it's just a really cool moment for them. And then so Kier and Grace, they have their fun and they go back to their tiny Scottish aisle. And they live happily ever after. Until. Seven years later, this is where it all goes south.

So Kier, he's been drinking a lot lately. And he's been really hard on Grace. And so their relationship just isn't going that well. And he starts isolating her from her friends and family, as well as like monitoring her and trying to control all her money. And he's convinced himself that she's sleeping around on him. Like, it's a whole mess. And so he starts getting abusive.

He sometimes puts hands on her. They allegedly got into an argument in a bar one night. And he put her in a headlock and he dragged her out. Like, this relationship is not going well. And so Grace, she's been looking for work. And she's been applying for jobs. in mainland Scotland. And one day she actually lands an interview for one of those jobs,

which is big news for her. I mean, she might get a gig on the mainland. But of course, when she tells Keir, he doesn't like it. And he blows the fuck up. Like, hell no, you're not going anywhere. I mean, this is a deal breaker for him, and his whole life is on that island. And so Grace is like, fine.

But she sneaks off to the interview anyway. And while she's gone, Keir's been drinking at the pub all day, and he's like, He's like guilt texting her the whole time saying, you don't do enough to support me. And he's just being an asshole. So Grace gets back home and luckily Keir's asleep. But when he wakes up, he is pissed and they start fighting. And it gets heated and eventually Keir's like, fine, I'm leaving you.

And he storms out of the house. And Grace, for some reason, she chases after him. She wants to convince him not to leave. And that is when things get physical. Kier grabs her and he slams her down on the ground and he pins her down where she can't move. and he starts strangling her with both hands. And Grace is terrified and she screams. And then a neighbor hears her scream and he comes running over and he pulls Kear off of her.

Then Keir goes back inside the house and he reappears moments later holding a large knife. And he threatens to finish her off. And so the arguing continues and he doesn't use the knife on her, but he does grab her and he strangles her once again. And she fights him off and she gets away from him. And then she runs into the house and she calls the police. And so police, she says, show up and then boom, they arrest Keir.

Here's his mugshot. And he eventually goes to trial and he pleads guilty to endangering his wife's life. And he's ultimately sentenced to four and a half years in prison. And I don't know if they're still together, I can't find any information on that, but I'm just glad she's okay. Shout out to the dress.