Hi all I don't normally post on here, but I thought I'd give my perspective as a rather younger viewer of Melanie's. As a previous supporter I also feel like that atrocious Dublin Live article was the last straw. This will also be unnecessarily long so sorry about that, no need to read it all, but I could write an essay on this if I so wished
I'm 20 now but I started watching Melanie in my teens - and recently I genuinely feel heartbroken from the way she's acting. That might sound dramatic to some people, but as a teen I literally idolised her - I found her vids on being bi and sex so relatable (I'm also from Ireland and sex is stupidly taboo here, love conservatism
) and as someone with mental illness myself I found her journey as someone with mental illness and eating disorders so inspiring. I binge read her books and allowed myself to be heavily influenced by her in terms of idiology and general world views. Now, seeing this absolute bollox about anti lockdown/masks, constant whinging and faux Dr narrative, terrible financial decisions and save aviation hashtag boils my blood. I know she struggles badly with her mental health, and EVERYONE is struggling with this situation, but they're also worsening their own situation by making appalling financial decisions and posting about them??? Encouraging spending a ridic amount on groceries, wedding, hair transplant and electric car when they're in debt and can't even afford rent is so dangerous to her younger audience because they'll think that that's okay. Not to mention they had a kid and are planning ANOTHER despite being apparently broke and hard done by yada yada?? I'm more than a DECADE younger than her and I can budget better, I work fulltime to pay my rent around my degree and stay financially independent. I'm not saying there's anything wrong with living with your parents, but it's the lack of self awareness and acting hard done by when they're not for me. They whine about not being able to afford a house, but maybe if they budgeted better on groceries, didn't buy like 50 takeaways a week and spend money like its going out of fashion they wouldn't be in this situation - but no, they can't even admit that, they just blame the pandemic and government for their own poor decisions etc. They also completely out themselves and make it obvious they whine about not having money, but in their vlogs all they eat is expensive branded food and takeaways. Once again, nothing wrong with that, but if they needed to save money on food they could go to fucking aldi like the rest of us?!?! Not really sure why I'm writing this, I rarely even use these threads like tattle, but maybe it's interesting for some people to see the perspective of someone a generation younger than her - take what you will from it. I feel bad for fellow viewers who supported her during a crucial developmental time and will grow up influenced by her too lol