In today's era of personal IP prevalence, if you have a certain number of fans, that is the basis of the so-called traffic, and to some extent, it has become a benchmark for measuring its influence and value.
But today I want to talk about a girl with millions of fans and her mother, as well as many netizens intertwined with one thing, a thing that can be described as "tragic".
The girl in the photo is Venus Isabel Palermo, born in Switzerland in 1997, who moved to the Uk with her mother as a young man and later settled in Japan for a few years. The name may be unfamiliar to many, but friends interested in Lolita culture may know her.
Her story began to enter people's eyes in 2010. That year, at the age of 13, she became a YouTube video blogger with the help of her mother, Margaret.
At that time, she was still exploring her creative direction, so she recorded videos in Japanese about Japanese language learning lessons, nail art skills, makeup skills, etc. Although a small number of fans have been accumulated, it has not worked.
(Early Venus)
Until 2012, a video called "How to Look Like a Doll" instructing netizens to dress herself into a delicate doll was all the rage, coupled with her doll accent in the video, which made her an overnight hit, and fans also soared at a speed visible to the naked eye.
She explained that this is not a deliberate imitation of the doll's accent, but because she knows 5 languages, mixed together, and in fact, she really knows 5 languages. The video that made Venus popular has now exceeded 16 million views.
(Video that makes Venus popular)
Because the Lolita culture dressed like a doll at that time had not yet been rolled out on the English channel on the Internet, and the sudden popularity of venus, which was very cute and easy-going and friendly in the video, made many foreigners realize this culture, or rather became the influence of the Japanese style Lolita.
As a result, following the pace of Venus, more and more "live-action dolls" appeared on the Internet, forming a temporary trend.
(Other video bloggers)
Venus, which led this trend, naturally became the object of many people's familiarity. Later, her videos of imitating the characters of different anime works through makeup made her quickly become a blogger with millions of fans, and her popularity increased.
At that time, many magazines and others focused on this girl who caused a storm. At that time, Venus was just a 15- or 16-year-old child.
However, in the mainstream European and American culture at that time, lolita or dressed as a doll this culture is basically a marginal existence, so many voices are questioning why a European and American girl would dress up like this, and even in some interview programs, the host directly questioned that such a dress is really "abnormal" for children.
(2012 talk show)
There are identities and doubts, there are praises and denigrations, no matter what, Venus, who created the topic of public opinion, frequently appears in various interview programs, and has changed from a so-called ordinary person to a small half star. But from here, some strange things start to happen.
(Venus in the show)
In 2012, a girl named Kelsey, who also loves doll culture, left a message under Venus's video, thinking that she had found a confidant and hoping that Venus could come to her homepage to take a look, as a result, Kelsey was blocked.
in Kelsey
Kelsey then published an article hoping to reconcile with Venus, but Margaret was furious when she saw it and posted a post accusing Kelsey of plagiarizing Venus and saying a bunch of ugly things.
This incident caused quite a stir at the time, many people unknowingly sided with Venus, and some people sided with Kelsey, believing that Kelsey was only in normal contact with Venus and did not cross the line.
Later, some people who supported Venus supported her through videos, and at first there was nothing, but later it was found that some of these people's videos were reported and deleted, and they were gradually blacklisted by Venus.
At the same time, a number of trumpets with similar names appeared on the Internet, casting nets to attack Venus, and even support her netizens.
What is even more unimaginable is that over time, some girls who originally had a good relationship with Venus began to be treated the same, and were blocked and attacked by a group of trumpets.
Margaret also claimed that her daughter had been plagiarized by the men and harassed the normal life of the mother and daughter, and posted photos of herself as "victims."
(Margaret posted so-called "evidence")
The whole thing is going in a confusing direction, until a Japanese boy appears, Makoto Okada.
The strange lad began to appear frequently in Venus' videos, and the two even fell in love.
But in 2015, with no warning, Okada disappeared into Venus' video. Fans who had been following Venus began to worry about her romance, leaving messages on her social media platforms.
At the same time, there were many messages in Venus's account and Margaret's account, all of which were bad things about Okada.
Curiously, almost a month later, Venus posted that he was still dating Okada, but he didn't want to be disturbed by the outside world, and announced that he and Okada were engaged.
However, not long after, Venus again posted that he was still young, felt that he had married too early, wanted to repent, etc., which was quite confusing.
That same year, Venus posted a photo of a sweet date with Okada in South Korea on his social media account, but it was quickly deleted. She then left a message saying that she wanted to post some photos of playing with Okada but was deleted by her mother.
(Deleted information)
So far, fans who have been following Venus have realized some clues. It turned out that Margaret had been in control of Venus's social media accounts for all these years, and almost all the inconsistent developments in the past were posted by Margaret pretending to be Venus herself.
There are also those who pull black, claim to be harassed by fans, etc., netizens speculate that it is very likely that Margaret's self-directed self-acting. Venus has actually been in a "regulated" life over the years, and netizens have begun to worry about her physical and mental health.
(Venus taking off doll makeup)
So fans began to attack Margaret, which made Margaret start to be annoyed. She tried to break up Venus and Okada, and also claimed that Okada was a dangerous figure.
A few weeks later, Venus fled to Japan with Okada's help. Seeing that she had lost control of Venus, Margaret attacked her daughter directly.
In the video, she claims to have suffered from Venus's long-term manipulation, bullying herself, and that her daughter has such things as Asperger's syndrome, is prone to tantrums, and even once wanted to hurt herself. Margaret, declaring that Venus was no longer her own daughter.
(Video of Margaret "complaining")
Subsequently, Venus also stated in the video that in fact, after becoming a popular role on the Internet, her mother has been using various means to force herself to do things she does not want to do.
It's like she doesn't want to dress up as a doll, but her mother says that this will make her popular, or if she doesn't obey her mother's wishes, she will be sad and depressed, and kidnap herself with emotion.
(Video of Venus' statement)
Margaret would even make various forms of enrichment in her own name, and would pretend to post various dynamics herself, including various unpleasant events between the early days and other enthusiasts.
(Margaret paid for her daughter)
The two have their own opinions, and it is difficult to distinguish between true and false, but it is certain that the lives of Venus and Margaret have changed drastically after a series of events.
Margaret, who lost her daughter, began running her own doll character on a video platform. She sometimes dressed herself as a doll in the clothes her daughter had left behind. It will also teach netizens how to make up into dolls and so on.
It's just that most of the messages in these videos are scolding Margaret. Because even in 2021, the impact of this incident has not subsided.
Venus, on the other hand, was unable to live a peaceful life after leaving his mother. In 2018, she went to South Korea for stomach incision surgery against Okada because she felt that her weight of 108 pounds was very fat. The process was so thrilling that Venus almost couldn't even hold on to the operating table.
Soon after the operation, she developed sequelae, including the inability to eat and drink, and even vomiting, and eventually lost her weight to 38 kilograms, requiring urgent repair surgery.
Afterwards, she realized that her decision had been wrong, but it was too late, and Okada and her marriage came to an end in 2019.
(Venus after surgery)
In June 2020, she opened a fan-only channel, which is where fans pay a certain fee every month to obtain exclusive photo or video content, and some of the content that appears in it has already broken the image of Venus's once simple and cute girl.
Although she still retains the habit of updating videos on video platforms, it has more or less foreshadowed her to start taking another diametrically opposed route.
(One of the photos from the pay-per-view channel)
Many fans still hope that Venus is the innocent little girl she was, and they think that Venus can go on a normal life without his mother.
(Recent photos of Venus)
As everyone knows, when venus first debuted, it had already been criticized by all walks of life, and the childhood that should have been beautiful was spent under the crazy control of her mother, doing things she didn't like. After he was able to become independent, he was denigrated and attacked by his mother.
Her person on the Internet is a real doll, and in real life, she is also a doll manipulated by her mother, which may have long been doomed to her life, accompanied by the word "tragedy"