Tea at Four - Family vlogger controversy, will Rihanna headline Glasto and oversharing online

Episode Date: March 5, 2025

In today’s episode, Lauren and Billy cover some of the headlines of the week including Bonnie Blue’s latest antics, and the hate Millie Bobby Brown is getting recently. They dive into the debate of how much we’re sharing of ourselves on social media, and the dangers this could lead to. As well as touching on the recent controversy around family vloggers, Lauren has always been a fan of watching them, but is it to put a stop to it?We also read out a confession from a fan, sparking chat around parents getting intimate after they’ve had children…If you have any confessions you’d like to share with us, please send them to [e-mail], or DM us on Insta @teaatfourpod

I've got this condition where I don't feel pain. You're a superhero. This is how intense Nova Kane sounds. Oh wow. Imagine how it looks. Sam Orr? Yeah, big time. Nova Kane, forming theaters March 14th.

With the Fizz loyalty program, you get rewarded just for having a mobile plan. You know, for texting and stuff. And if you're not getting rewards like extra data and dollars off with your mobile plan, you're not with Fizz. Switch today, conditions apply, details at fizz.ca. Hey guys, welcome back to a quick cuppa, I'm Billy. And I'm Lauren, and Christie is ill this week. Poor Christie, we love you, get better soon.

Psst. Sip it up, sit up, up, pourin' up, drink. Oh my god, Rihanna at Glastonbury. Oh my gosh, I've seen about 4,000 articles now and I actually will die if it's not true. Absolutely, I mean she hasn't released a song in, but we're still holding on hope. We are, we are. I looked at my watch for all the listeners that can't see what I just did there. No, we were talking about how many years it's been.

I think she said apparently the other day I read that she has been working on this album for eight years and it's not going to sound commercially what... It was in Harper's Bazaar, so it is legit. There is something coming. In Harper's Bazaar she said like people... It's not going to do commercially well on the radio because it's so different to what she's used to. Yeah, didn't she say something like there's not actually a genre for this?

Oh my gosh, she's crazy! Crazy! Jokes, love it. Well yeah, that was the top of my celebrity headlines of the week. But let's see what we've got in store in our magic pot. Of celebrity! Milady? Bonnie Blue claims her extreme sex stunts are blank women.

Helps women? Supporting women? Yeah, I feel like she's trying to rage bait everyone and say like she's supporting women, helping women. Yeah, protecting women. Protecting women? She's part of the problem. Leave women out of this!

You can do your own thing and go... I think she's done way more damage than, although I did see one nice thing and I'll give credit where credit is due. Apparently she was doing a load of like talking about having a baby and it was all basically PR stunt, but apparently she wants to fund someone else's IVF treatment. So she's actually pregnant. She's not pregnant, but she's been saying she is, and she's been putting out these rumors that she's pregnant, but then she did a video

apparently saying that it's actually because she wants to raise awareness so she can fund someone's IVF treatment. I'm sorry, but it's 2025. We don't lie about being pregnant, or her and Lily Phillips both being in the news that last week, you're trying to get all the tension on you again because it was off you for five minutes. That's not the way to do it.

No, I think also rubbing like fake, I don't know, just there's something really dark about like not taking into consideration the experience that women have when the pregnancy doesn't always go to plan. 100%, yeah, yeah, it's a mockery. You're not protecting women at all. You're taking the piss out of them.

Also like she would have just drawn up as much attention for that fundraising as she just said, if she just said, I want to pay for someone's IVF treatment. She doesn't have to go around pretending to be pregnant. Yeah. And it's that whole thing as well, if it is for that very charitable reason, why sharing it online? If you're that good of a person inside, do it behind closed doors.

Don't do a fake fucking pregnancy announcement. No. Boring. Get more creative. Okay. Millie Bobby Brown gets criticized over her blank makeover. Oh, I thought it was going to be Pamela Anderson, but then people have been saying Peggy Mitchell. Yeah.

People say Peggy Mitchell, Ivana Trump, Don Donatella Versace and Vicky Pattinson. Do you mean Pollard? Pollard! Not Geordie Short! Not Geordie Short! Every time someone's been saying Vicky Pollard, I was like, she looks nothing like Geordie Short. Oh no! But yes, of course, that makes way more sense.

No, so any of those names, Bobbs? Hair makeover? It's mummy makeover. Mummy makeover. She's 21! 21? Also, like, I saw a post of this literally just a couple minutes ago, people, all they said was like, she looks so old, she's 40.

And there was like one comment where it's like, are we still commenting on women's appearance, blah, blah, blah, blah. I forget, she's like just turned 21. I feel for her. I mean, she, she's literally a classic child star that's grown up as a product of her environment. There's been a couple of instances where I think she's been a little bit snappy towards fans or towards like paparazzi and instantly I think I'm not, don't think there's anything wrong with it, but I do think it's built a perception of her that people just think oh

that's another person to tear down. Yeah. Easy. So we'll start with our new haircut. Yeah people either love her or hate her I think. Yeah. But the people that hate her are always the loudest like naturally with any celebrities the people who keyboard warriors you know sitting from like blank profiles you look 40. Well you probably are 40. At least you can afford sitting from like blank profiles. You look 40. You probably are 40. At least you can afford to get her done. You probably can't. I actually really like the blonde. Yeah, I actually really like it as well.

At least she looks great. Yeah. I don't really understand the hate. People don't, people will like, if someone does a drastic change, they have to find like a funny, similar look to kind of like compare it to. Yeah. But you know, poor cow. And blonde is a hard kind of thing to nail. I didn't mean to look at you, it's Bobby. I didn't mean to look at you.

But I'm saying when you're a new bright blonde, it's an adjustment. And I personally, if I was 21 and I just had my fucking boxed eye, nice and easy, Claire Tesco madness that I did to my fucking scout. I didn't understand a word you said then. Yeah, the blondes will out there. I would feel under scrutiny too because my hair through its blonde years has been horrifying at times. So some of the things I've seen this week, whilst scrolling through heaps of amounts of TikToks, is this conversation around married at first sight.

Oh. And I've only seen a couple of episodes of the UK one, but there's one going on in America at the moment. And the reason why it piques my interest is because there's a woman on there who was an influencer, micro-influencer, shared a fair following. Apparently she deftly slipped some of her followers that she was going on the show and now the person that she has been proposed to or is married to it's coming out that he was secretly following her before she went on the show

and changed all his answers to be, tried to be matched up with her and was all kind of like part of this strategic plan to get there. Whether or not I know if that's true or not, it just made me think of like how dangerous it is to be online or like how much information people really put out there. Yeah. Do you know what? That is firstly really weird, but now I'm kind of thinking over in my head, like a photo dump, it's got where the places are I like to eat, where I like to frequent at the weekends.

What's my favorite cocktail? What's my favorite way to dress up when I go out? I don't know. That is actually really alarming. Like on a much bigger scale, someone like Emma Watson, I saw an article the other day that she said that she doesn't like to take photos with fans. Not because she's precious of the way she looks, but because it puts her on a tracker. And if people put on Instagram, Oh, just seen Emma Watson at

the Savoy. Now everyone starts talking and knows exactly where she is. And that privacy level has been kind of like completely taken away from them. Like remember when Cameron Diaz and Drew Barrymore did Charlie's Angels. There's a photo of them coming out to the premiere and they're looking around. They're like, what's going on? I think they're in Tokyo and everyone had for the first time camera phones and they're like, what are they doing? What are those? And one of the publicist was like, oh, they're taking photos of you on their phone. And that was the moment they realized that their privacy was over. Oh my God.

Cause it wasn't just paparazzi you had to contend with, it's everyday people. That's so dark. It's quite scary. It is really scary. And I guess on that same beat, it's worth obviously mentioning like on the other end of the spectrum,

the privacy laws that are coming in around children. We've seen the whole- Yeah. So there's all this drama with family vloggers. And I think, yeah, as you say, I think it's probably time for it. I think I've had a bit of a cynical view around it. I've been watching family vloggers for like 10 years,

how long I've been watching YouTube. That's what I liked to consume. I was interested in seeing how families in America live and like what their kind of day-to-day looks like. But when I start deepening it, I have seen some of these children grow up since their birth vlog, which I've seen them come out their mother's vagina on the worldwide web and seeing them grow up every year through school. I've seen their birthdays, their Christmases, their first days of schools, their last days of schools. And that's a bit too much information

for me as a fucking stranger to comprehend. And there's no, like, I'm sure if you ask those children at the ages of 15 maybe, or like even younger, they love it, they love the attention, they love all this stuff. But the moment they turn like, if they're not gonna continue that life of being an influencer,

like Drew Barrymore speaks so much about not actually involving children in any kind of film work because how you feel as a child can be completely changed to when you're adult and the age of consent should really matter even in vlogging. Honestly, family vloggers are the new child stars of Hollywood. They are going to be f'ed up. And interestingly, a lot of the family vloggers I watch, and I'm not making any correlation here, are Mormon. And like they're big, big families.

And some of them especially adopt quite a lot. In a scenario where you've been adopted into a family in an environment that's very materialistic, very much your parents' mood and how much they treat you is dependent on an algorithm, could you imagine how much that would fuck you up? And that's not even something you chose to come into. Like, yeah, I completely agree. Especially, it's funny you touched on adoption because there's obviously the famous case with the Stroffers where she, for those of you who don't know, they're a YouTube family. They've stopped vlogging now because back in 2020 2020 they vlogged the whole process of them adopting a child from China who had learning disabilities and this was all part of their journey, something they wanted to do to help. And then in like 2022, they gave the child backup for adoption. And it was all for clout and clicks and they thought they could get away with it. Yeah. And now they've kind of obviously been canceled and they don't vlog anymore.

But it's just, it makes you question like some of these families that are putting their children online, you have to question like, do they have their kids best interests at heart? It's so true. And it's just so out of that child's control as much as people think like, oh yeah, but they defend them by saying there's only certain moments they get the camera out and there's certain moments they respect their privacy like one of these families that I watched they ended up adopting quite a few of their children and they actually changed

their birth names to fit in with the theme of the family's names that's so like all of the names ended in E's so now all these children have like come from Russia now have names ending in E and it's just a bit of the names ended in ease. So now all these children have like come from Russia. Now have names ending in E and it's just a bit of a mind fuck. It's like, oh my God, but this maybe has been happening around the world and it's not been caught on camera, but it does get to a bit of a point where it's like I really shouldn't be knowing this much about strangers. But I also feel like as much as it mainly of course it happens with vlogging, but there

is some things I feel like even everyday people overshare on Instagram. I've seen recently far too many newborns covered in placenta that I care to admit on like Instagram and Facebook. Oh my God. Where's the privacy in that? Like, why would you want people you've not spoken to for 15 years to see what you've just pushed out of your minge?

I agree. Like I watched someone's birth log the other day where they're in a birthing pool, having a fucking baby to silent night. And I'm five minutes in, I've got a tear rolling down my cheek and I'm like, what the actual F am I doing? I really don't get it.

Turn that off. It is very low, that is weird. It's like, yeah, you're right, but people from school are even weirder, but even weirder, a stranger. Yeah, a stranger. Like, where have we come to? People need to stop vlogging their children. Oh, you need to stop watching it. This is actually-

I'm the problem. We're not actually filming today, we're actually here to have a sit down talk with you. There was some crazy statistic though, there was this boy, not even family vloggers but like child influencers. In 2017, six year old Ryan Kaji raped in 11 million through his YouTube channel where his parents filmed him reviewing toys. Last year he earned 30 million, illustrating the stunning explosion of the child influencer and family vlogging industry. And then obviously in January this year there was a new law brought in in I think California where if a child is featured in at least 10% of a video then the parent has to put 65% of the earnings of that video into a trust

fund. Is that right? That's right because now loads of the families are moving to Tennessee with the same law does not exist. The red state. The red state, which is like, I saw a TikTok today, or no, the other day, and it was a woman basically explaining like, oh, you're wondering why your favorite family vloggers are moving to Tennessee?

Well, they're probably Republican. And they're trying to avoid paying their kids any kind of financial settlement or- But the thing that bothers me about that, and the person in question that's been in the news is a creator called Brittany Xavier. She said they're moving because of mold. Say it with your chest.

Like just say that maybe your views don't align with the California rules, even if it's not to do with that. She's been sharing things about not sitting right with the politics. Don't say it's because of the mould. It's actually embarrassing. I've got mould. Say it with your chest. Try living in a basement flat in London, babe. Yes! Louder! Say it for the people at the back of the room. Or in the basement.

Or in the basement flats. But I still just feel like icky. Yeah, I do as well. And there's a question in that like, oh, is it worth it then? You know, a lot of people will say 11 million. Wow. That's worth, that's a, that's worth this kid's time. But then you have to really question the morals and the ethics of the parent, right? Like, so 11 million is actually worth more to you than your kid's normal upbringing, your kid's normal experience of life. Yeah.

You know, that kid cannot change now for the fact that he has been blasted all over the internet seen by 11 million pounds worth of viewers. Yeah. And you're putting a price on your child's experience of life and I think it's kind of toxic. So true. So do you think that maybe any content at all online that have children in it shouldn't be monetized? I actually think that is the way. If you want to be a family vlogger and you're, it's because you know, I'm not completely against it. It's the monetization of your kids and you're like,

make like that Ruby Frank scenario. The daughter's recently done an interview and she was talking about how her mum would her mum's mood depended entirely on the performance of the channel their relationship was purely business and what happened to that family was absolutely awful for any of you who don't know it was a family who in 2023 were found the mother was torturing and abusing her children and like kids were being, their heads were being shaved if they were misbehaving. Tied to beds. Yeah and it was just an awful awful experience but a lot of the early years of their kind of unhappy lives you start to really see it don't you? If you see the old clips you can see

like there's a weird clip that keeps going around of the mum explaining how one of the kids hasn't had a bed for like However long six weeks because he misbehaved and he got he did a prank on one of the boys And so as punishment he had to sleep on the cold floor I will say I think you'd find if you took away the ability to monetize. Yes, that's family Vloggers then half of them wouldn't be on YouTube or they wouldn't bother sharing their life because it's like... It's also like, there's also instances where families

are having kids or adopting kids for the financial benefit, which is like, how do you stop that from happening? You take away the financial bonuses that you get from sharing that content. I almost definitely actually think that is the way forward. It's like, content that is primarily focused on children shouldn't be monetized. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

There's no reason why a family needs to share exactly what they do on their holiday and make money from it. Well, that's true. I think YouTube did get to a point in that where I think anything that has kids in, they took off all the comments or anything for YouTube kids,

they purposely took off the comments. So like if we're halfway there with that, the world obviously knows that this is a quite damaging territory for children to be blasted on to, quite frankly, millions and millions of people that could have really dangerous motives. Motives.

Yeah. Because even with like celebrities, they're aware of the dangers. And that's what I think is slightly worrying is that these bloggers don't tend to really understand that how many creeps that are out there or care to, you know, when like Molly May has a baby or, you know, Leanne from Little Mix. They always cover their faces. You know, they're not- Oh no, Bambi's blasted. Oh, okay. I'll take that back.

Retract. But most celebrities try now to like not have their kids in any photos. They get really protective because even they understand that it's not their choice to be famous. I know, but it's a dangerous, dangerous trap. Like if these kids are getting like all these amazing holidays, amazing Christmases and birthdays, why would they then go, yeah, let's just stop sharing our lives online.

It's really sticky, slippery slope. There's actually one family vlogger that I watched and I was telling you about it. And he openly said that someone asked her, why aren't you being in the vlogs anymore, the dad? And he was like, oh, I'm just not very uncomfortable with being on the vlogs at the moment but he's happy to film his fucking three daughters. That's creepy man. That's creepy. His five kids what are you doing? Why would you do that? Yeah. You're

literally just like working your kids like for your benefit. For your benefit. Yeah that's very dark. I just think it's creepy. I just don't think like that's a good experience of life to always like, cause when you, I've seen a couple of clips from these videos and the kids are performing. It's not a case of like, you're like being like, yeah, no, I'm okay, thanks dad.

It's like, what should I get with this five pounds? And it's just like, Five pounds? Five pounds, oh, maybe this. And it's just like, It's too much, it's too much. That's what the world's coming to. And then the kids do start resenting the adults, you start seeing it. Good, they should. Because if that's what the world's coming to, I hope that comment hits hard and fast. So we actually have a confession from one of our top fans that we are going to read out and review today.

I always wanted to tell this story to you guys for so long. Been a fan for two years now. Day one. That's a day one. So when I was around six years old, every single night I would hear some random squeaking noise coming from my parents bedroom and then one night it was louder. So I got up and walked down the hallway that leads to my parents room. I open my parents door and I see them having sex in a position I've never even wanted to know. I was really young, didn't understand what was happening, so my parents immediately covered themselves up.

I was really young and I didn't understand what was happening, so my parents immediately covered themselves up when they heard me and immediately grabbed a bottle of Tylenol. This left me scared for life and I will never get past this. When the frustration grows and the doubts start to creep in, we all need someone who has our back to tell us we'll be okay, to remind us of our ability to believe. Because their belief in us transfers to self-belief and reminds us of all that we're capable of.

We all need someone to make us believe. Hashtag, you got this. Stay two nights and get a $50 Best Western gift card. Life's the trip. Make the most of it at Best Western. Visit bestwestern.com for complete terms and conditions. What the chuff is Tyler in all? I don't know. Is it painkiller? Tyler. Oh, as in like acting like they've got a headache

or like in box heads. The wrestling. Have I ever had a similar situation? No, because my parents, I'm a child of divorce. Oh, wah wah wah. It's quite common though. I feel like I know a lot of my friends, or I know some friends who've said that they were younger and they can kind of remember a similar experience. I don't have that. I don't know. Thankfully not. Sorry we can't relate to you listener, but that sounds really

traumatizing. No, this is actually an interesting conversation and it feels weird to be talking about in a thing we've just been talking about exploiting children and family blockers. But like, It feels really weird. The idea of like, obviously if you're like a healthy and loving relationship parent, should you and you should be allowed to explore your your sexual connection under the roof of your family, but it's like To what extent?

Yeah, but you have to live your life People can't parents can't stop having sex just because they've got a kid. Yeah, I don't really know as a not a parent But you don't really know, as a not a parent, but yeah, I don't have sex. Yeah, it's really tricky, but unfortunately it is part of life. It's easier said than to accept, I think, because like, neither of us have experienced it and it was probably quite horrible to shake something like that off. But get over it. No, loads of people do talk about this kind of thing where they walked into their parents

or walked into a brother or sister. Johnny has, Bobby has. Why are you pointing like you've walked into Bobby? Really you have, what happened? Yeah, I've walked in on my parents. Really? Yeah, but I was like a teenager. Oh, that's even more. That's really awkward. What position were they in? I don't know. It's mostly erased

from my mind. Yeah, it was scary. And I immediately was like, because I knew it was happening, I was like, oh, and I just ran away basically. And yeah, scarred for life. I still don't blame you. I don't think you can shame your parents though because that might scare them into getting erections and stuff. What? Sorry. It's really interesting Johnny, thank you.

So to our number one fan, if you'd like to contact Johnny, his phone number is... Yeah, unfortunately these things happen and sex is natural, that's how you were born. So unfortunately it's just something you just got to take on the back. Oh, that was the wrong thing. That was wrong.

No, I meant take on the chin. No. Take with a pinch of salt. I mean, take Take with a pinch of salt? I mean... Take it with a pinch of salt? Oh my god, you have changed since hearing that story. You've been possessed. Oh yeah. By a freaking sex demon.

Sorry! Thank you guys for joining us this week and thank you for your gorgeous confession. If you guys have any more like that and you want us to react to them send them to us at tf4 at junglecreations.com or find us on all our socials which will probably be linked in the description. Woo! See you next time! Bye!