This is a story that makes me feel really sad.
I don't know what is going on this person's mind, but she's still a person.
It seems, to me, like she's going through some kind of nervous breakdown melt-down.
She told a number of things about herself, her life, her work, and other people, and framed it as fake, that social media is fake, and that she was surrounded by wealth, she was some kind of star, and that people were miserable.
But, as it started to continue on, and she said she was doing something new or different with her life... it still seemed shady, and things started to come out that either she made it up, or in her mind somehow she re-imagined herself and her life, and her experiences to be NOT anything like what happened in reality....
So, let's begin here:
This happened:
Then, she changed her Instagram photos with new captions, or alegedly deleted some.
She also claimed she was quitting social media, by starting a new social media website.
There's a total disconnect there... just sayin'...
She also published this with a number of allegations about those whom created it with her:
Following this, people seemed to think that what she was doing was respectable, brave, inspiring, and completely ate it all up as tho' it were totally true, as tho' it were a total expose'.
Meanwhile, there was also a major backlash once she started to gain attention and a lot of praises for doing what she seemed to be doing. That, she was doing something positive, meaningful, and truth-telling...
Several folks speculated or commented on the story:
The story its self seemed to be a little wonky... because she was still doing social media, and flat out said she was manipulating, deceiving, and lying to people.... and accused nameless people of this even worse than herself, and even mentioned a relationship with someone, and that she had been to L.A.
However, it turns out she was not actually exposing truth, but making stuff up...
So, this happened:
Here's another one:
After watching this video, these 2 girls divulged that they were friends with her, and that she never came to L.A. to work, nor on a job, and she had no work visa. She came to L.A. on a vacation, and stayed with THEM for free, that they picked her up, and they it was lots of fun.
They claimed that she met someone whom she dated for a while while there, and then it ended, and after that relationship ended she completely changed and started dissing everyone. They claimed that when she was first there, she was so happy, and "on a high" like she was incredibly joyful.
Well, if there was ONLY this video to go on, you could still say it was their word against her's. And, that would've totally fine.
However...... Essena apparently couldn't keep track of her own lies....
The photo she alleged was hours worth of shooting, and effortless, and edited actually turned out to be a bogus story....
And this is what happened:
The actual photographers of that photo was one of the 2 girls whom were her friends and their brother, at least according to them on their part they believed her to be their friend.
The father of these young people even showed the metadata of actual photographs and the entire photo set.
One thing I often hear about Millennials, and even Americans, is that they are fake, pretentious, immature, cruel, and buffoons. However, these young people, on their own, actually appear to be conducting themselves quite maturely. They seemed to genuinely care about Essena, and even seem to be as gentle about the matter as they can, which makes it seem as tho' inside their hearts they still viewed her as a friend, and even tried to give her the benefit of the doubt because she had a bad breakup. They demonstrated empathy, sympathy, but still firmly and maturely stated their objections.
The father also demonstrated this same kind of kindness, and mature, and showed the proof in a matter of fact way, while still being gentle and kind about it, which makes me also seem to think he also sympathizes with her apparent mental melt down.
I said this story makes me feel very sad, because it really is a sad story.
I've also been to L.A. myself and I can tell you that many people are incredibly kind, and offer to share their couch or sofa, or bed, and often do kind hearted deeds without ever asking for something in return. I've met many kind people in Hollywood, on Labrea, in Century City, Melrose, and Beverly hills, including policemen. Altho' I did have some bad experiences also, on a daily basis it's generally a place where everyone has it very hard, and they all have this shared experience, and many creative people help each other, because it' so expensive, and so difficult to get ahead anywhere there.
It does seem as tho' Essena had a number of things which occurred, like culture shock, being outside of her comfort zone, having to depend on the kindness of others, contemplating whom she really was, and has a traumatic experience since relationship break-ups are very intense.
Perhaps (speculating), she really did have some kind of nervous breakdown, and her psyche/ego reinvented the entire experience and memories into something else that made it easier for her psyche/ego to deal with, so she felt vulnerable, and felt she wanted to lash out and attack.
Perhaps, she realized that she was being ingenuine, and fake, and felt guilty, which she even admitted, but somehow in her mind, in order to cope with it she blamed and projected all of these things she was guilty of onto her friends.
I realize that many people feel angry, upset, and want to shame her. And, in a way she does deserve it... however, I think you need to keep a number of factors in mind, because she is VERY YOUNG, and clearly not as mature as her friends, and she's just had a very traumatic experience. So, it's not quite as black & white as she's some kind of evil being.... she screwed up. She screwed up big time.
In my country we call this "burning your bridges".
You really DON'T want to do that unless there's an absolute reason to do so.... but, here it appears that she's burning the bride while she's STILL ON THE BRIDGE.
I think there is so much to learn from this. Clearly just being a vegan didn't make her a great person, because she is still stuck in the quicksand of her own making, and it's not good. But, as it seems from the perspectives so far that the other persons were far more genuine, and good or kind hearted.
Many persons don't know how to deal with someone whom is truly kind, nice, and genuine, and I myself have also been attacked by persons I went above & beyond, and far out of my way to help because I cared. Somehow, this seems to make their psyche/ego feel threatened, even tho' their was no reason to be, because they felt guilty or inadequate and tried to measure up somehow, which is the major pitfall of meritocracy. Always feeling u need to measure up to something.
Altho' in my heart I do feel sorry for these persons, and take pity on them, I don't want to say this in a dismissive way as to put them down.
Sometimes we as human beings have "a human failing" or a flaw.
It doesn't mean we can't overcome, correct, or learn from them...
I would however, hate to see this person, Essena hurt herself over this terrible mistake.
I do hope she walks the path of a more genuine life, but not one started based on premises of lies and deceit. And, again, I truly don't want to pick on her.
Sometimes people catch a cold, and they get sick, and they need to get well... maybe it's just like that. She needs to heal, and get well....
But, I don't think berating her is the right thing to do.
All of these persons whom came out about it actually still seem to be a friend in their hearts to this girl, and somehow I'd like to believe that they'd actually forgive her, because they seemed to want to talk it out with her. That's VERY mature, and responsible, and the civil thing to do. I just can't see those persons as hateful or even resentful at all, and Essena clearly hurt them. I they did say she should apologize to them, and they were in the right.
Essena, maybe you should talk it out with your friends whom really seem to have cared about you.
Maybe what you really need is some very good medical help and therapy to get through all of this.
Maybe it really doesn't need to be this bad.
Maybe the world really isn't that bad.
Maybe you could fix it if you tried.
I think, deep down inside, you'd probably feel happier if you did try to make amends for this mistake.
I hope you can truly work this out, because everything is swirling down a drain right now....
Won't you try to heal it?
I don't know what is going on this person's mind, but she's still a person.
It seems, to me, like she's going through some kind of nervous breakdown melt-down.
She told a number of things about herself, her life, her work, and other people, and framed it as fake, that social media is fake, and that she was surrounded by wealth, she was some kind of star, and that people were miserable.
But, as it started to continue on, and she said she was doing something new or different with her life... it still seemed shady, and things started to come out that either she made it up, or in her mind somehow she re-imagined herself and her life, and her experiences to be NOT anything like what happened in reality....
So, let's begin here:
This happened:
This young model put out a video which seems very genuine, emotional, and seemingly heart-felt, and even cries.
She alleges so many things.
Then, she changed her Instagram photos with new captions, or alegedly deleted some.
She also claimed she was quitting social media, by starting a new social media website.
There's a total disconnect there... just sayin'...
She also published this with a number of allegations about those whom created it with her:
Following this, people seemed to think that what she was doing was respectable, brave, inspiring, and completely ate it all up as tho' it were totally true, as tho' it were a total expose'.
Meanwhile, there was also a major backlash once she started to gain attention and a lot of praises for doing what she seemed to be doing. That, she was doing something positive, meaningful, and truth-telling...
Several folks speculated or commented on the story:
The story its self seemed to be a little wonky... because she was still doing social media, and flat out said she was manipulating, deceiving, and lying to people.... and accused nameless people of this even worse than herself, and even mentioned a relationship with someone, and that she had been to L.A.
However, it turns out she was not actually exposing truth, but making stuff up...
So, this happened:
Here's another one:
After watching this video, these 2 girls divulged that they were friends with her, and that she never came to L.A. to work, nor on a job, and she had no work visa. She came to L.A. on a vacation, and stayed with THEM for free, that they picked her up, and they it was lots of fun.
They claimed that she met someone whom she dated for a while while there, and then it ended, and after that relationship ended she completely changed and started dissing everyone. They claimed that when she was first there, she was so happy, and "on a high" like she was incredibly joyful.
Well, if there was ONLY this video to go on, you could still say it was their word against her's. And, that would've totally fine.
However...... Essena apparently couldn't keep track of her own lies....
The photo she alleged was hours worth of shooting, and effortless, and edited actually turned out to be a bogus story....
And this is what happened:
The actual photographers of that photo was one of the 2 girls whom were her friends and their brother, at least according to them on their part they believed her to be their friend.
The father of these young people even showed the metadata of actual photographs and the entire photo set.
One thing I often hear about Millennials, and even Americans, is that they are fake, pretentious, immature, cruel, and buffoons. However, these young people, on their own, actually appear to be conducting themselves quite maturely. They seemed to genuinely care about Essena, and even seem to be as gentle about the matter as they can, which makes it seem as tho' inside their hearts they still viewed her as a friend, and even tried to give her the benefit of the doubt because she had a bad breakup. They demonstrated empathy, sympathy, but still firmly and maturely stated their objections.
The father also demonstrated this same kind of kindness, and mature, and showed the proof in a matter of fact way, while still being gentle and kind about it, which makes me also seem to think he also sympathizes with her apparent mental melt down.
I said this story makes me feel very sad, because it really is a sad story.
I've also been to L.A. myself and I can tell you that many people are incredibly kind, and offer to share their couch or sofa, or bed, and often do kind hearted deeds without ever asking for something in return. I've met many kind people in Hollywood, on Labrea, in Century City, Melrose, and Beverly hills, including policemen. Altho' I did have some bad experiences also, on a daily basis it's generally a place where everyone has it very hard, and they all have this shared experience, and many creative people help each other, because it' so expensive, and so difficult to get ahead anywhere there.
It does seem as tho' Essena had a number of things which occurred, like culture shock, being outside of her comfort zone, having to depend on the kindness of others, contemplating whom she really was, and has a traumatic experience since relationship break-ups are very intense.
Perhaps (speculating), she really did have some kind of nervous breakdown, and her psyche/ego reinvented the entire experience and memories into something else that made it easier for her psyche/ego to deal with, so she felt vulnerable, and felt she wanted to lash out and attack.
Perhaps, she realized that she was being ingenuine, and fake, and felt guilty, which she even admitted, but somehow in her mind, in order to cope with it she blamed and projected all of these things she was guilty of onto her friends.
I realize that many people feel angry, upset, and want to shame her. And, in a way she does deserve it... however, I think you need to keep a number of factors in mind, because she is VERY YOUNG, and clearly not as mature as her friends, and she's just had a very traumatic experience. So, it's not quite as black & white as she's some kind of evil being.... she screwed up. She screwed up big time.
In my country we call this "burning your bridges".
You really DON'T want to do that unless there's an absolute reason to do so.... but, here it appears that she's burning the bride while she's STILL ON THE BRIDGE.
I think there is so much to learn from this. Clearly just being a vegan didn't make her a great person, because she is still stuck in the quicksand of her own making, and it's not good. But, as it seems from the perspectives so far that the other persons were far more genuine, and good or kind hearted.
Many persons don't know how to deal with someone whom is truly kind, nice, and genuine, and I myself have also been attacked by persons I went above & beyond, and far out of my way to help because I cared. Somehow, this seems to make their psyche/ego feel threatened, even tho' their was no reason to be, because they felt guilty or inadequate and tried to measure up somehow, which is the major pitfall of meritocracy. Always feeling u need to measure up to something.
Altho' in my heart I do feel sorry for these persons, and take pity on them, I don't want to say this in a dismissive way as to put them down.
Sometimes we as human beings have "a human failing" or a flaw.
It doesn't mean we can't overcome, correct, or learn from them...
I would however, hate to see this person, Essena hurt herself over this terrible mistake.
I do hope she walks the path of a more genuine life, but not one started based on premises of lies and deceit. And, again, I truly don't want to pick on her.
Sometimes people catch a cold, and they get sick, and they need to get well... maybe it's just like that. She needs to heal, and get well....
But, I don't think berating her is the right thing to do.
All of these persons whom came out about it actually still seem to be a friend in their hearts to this girl, and somehow I'd like to believe that they'd actually forgive her, because they seemed to want to talk it out with her. That's VERY mature, and responsible, and the civil thing to do. I just can't see those persons as hateful or even resentful at all, and Essena clearly hurt them. I they did say she should apologize to them, and they were in the right.
Essena, maybe you should talk it out with your friends whom really seem to have cared about you.
Maybe what you really need is some very good medical help and therapy to get through all of this.
Maybe it really doesn't need to be this bad.
Maybe the world really isn't that bad.
Maybe you could fix it if you tried.
I think, deep down inside, you'd probably feel happier if you did try to make amends for this mistake.
I hope you can truly work this out, because everything is swirling down a drain right now....
Won't you try to heal it?
[EDIT 01/28/2016] UPDATE: