Long time follower, first time comment... like others, I was duped into believing Al was a first time father. Then one day, there was a picture of his two children, with a tag of something like “finally together!” Or “I’m allowed to do the school pick up for the first time, ever!” There had never been a mention of him being a father already. So comments were asking who Isla was and he was just casually responding with “my daughter”. As if she’s that dress we all have and respond with: “what, this old thing?! I’ve had it ages”, after a compliment.
Hasn’t he also got a teddy/daddy bear tattoo? Not one of Isla? If he has, then he may have kept that private.
He’s claiming people are obsessed. No. They’re invested in him and his family, as per the whole “influencer” nonsense. He’s shared *every* little ounce of his family’s life and journey. Including those heartbreaking (genuinely) miscarriages. Not to mention his first claim to fame of sharing the photo of Teddy shitting on him during that photo shoot. He’d have received a fair ££ out of commission for sending that out. He’s worked hard on his PR and received a lot of coverage, particular in his early days. I thought the “dads don’t babysit” and the like were excellent messages. But while they’re showing how shit it is for families with disabled children to go to the parks, they’re not exactly doing their own thing like they used to. Even last Christmas their followers bought the gifts for the old folks’ Christmas party. It’s lost the USP of a support network, which many used. Which is a shame.
However, he could have been transparent from the beginning. “Oh hey, I have a daughter from a previous marriage. Things are tough right now so I can’t say a lot, but hopefully you can meet her soon.” Instead, there’s nothing, then there’s something, then they’re frightened for their safety, then he shares photos of Isla outside shops and street names where you can if so inclined to, FIND OUT WHERE THEY LIVE!!, go back to sharing everything about bleaching shopping, to then setting the account to private and deleting photos, then going public again (yep, because that’s the only way you get freebies) claiming the so called trolls didn’t bother stopping the nastiness, to finally, going abroad all of a sudden. No transparency. No honesty (saying: I made a mistake ten years ago isn’t being honest and is insulting to Isla) and no ownership of potentially fooling people in the early days.
They really don’t like people disagreeing with them. If people genuinely have been sending horrible messages to Louis, then that’s completely out of order. He’s a child. That said, I personally believe he shouldn’t have a public profile that they keep linking him to. But that’s a debate for another day.
Thanks for listening to my TED talk!