Odell’s "Gwyneth [Paltrow]: The Biography" of a Rebellious and Sexual Student

Per The Hollywood Reporter piece “Gwyneth Paltrow Burns Before Reading” (November 5, 2025), Amy Odell’s Gwyneth: The Biography “[...] debuted at No. 5 on The New York Times best-seller list [...]”. Odell’s well-read biography naturally covers Gwyneth’s career; however, for our purposes, we focused on Gwyneth’s teen years, which was done to compare Gwyneth’s teen adventures to those of celebrities like Paris Hilton.

Odell wrote that as part of her “extensively researched, [and] thoroughly reported biography”, she “interviewed more than 220 people” from Paltrow’s childhood. For example, Rober Nugent Jr. shared with Odell that he and Gwyneth dated during several summers while they participated as child actors in The Williamtown Theater Festival in the Berkshires of Massachusetts. Nugent related that he and Gwyneth shared a mutual attraction that began when he was “nine, ten years old”, which is intriguing since Nugent was “roughly three years older” than Gwyneth. Nugent shared,

“As young kids, if you call it dating, we dated. So she must’ve been attracted to me and obviously vice versa, even though I was only nine, ten years old,” Nugent said.

Odell wrote that the young couple’s "blissful summers” were mostly spent: “[...] wandering the festival grounds and exploring the woods.” One summer when Nugent was 10 or 11, and Gwyneth was 7 or 8, Gwyneth proposed. Gwyneth even procured a ring and a witness for the ceremony. Odell wrote:

“One summer day when she was around ten or eleven, Gwyneth turned to Nugent and said, “Will you marry me?” She made them fake rings and, with Jake as a witness, they held a ceremony.

However, the young marriage ended in August of that summer before Gwyneth returned to Manhattan.

After Gwyneth turned 11, she matriculated at The Spence School, a tony all-girls prep school on the Upper East Side, where she sneaked out of school, in her “hiked up” uniform skirt, to smoke cigarettes and meet up with boys at the Stoop. (The Stoop was attached to the home of The Preppy Killer.) Gwyneth shared that after she enrolled at Spence, she was “immediately drawn” to smoking. Consequently, she smoked a pack a day throughout middle school and high school.

Nancy Jo Sales related in her New York magazine profile “A Star Is Bred - Gwyneth Paltrow” (July 1996), that by the 9th grade, Gwyneth had blossomed into a “state of stunningness” and that to show off her “coltish legs” Gwyneth took to “hemming her school uniform well above her knees”. A former Spence schoolmate of Gwyneth shared with Sales that, although they all wore their uniform skirts short, Gwyneth, “[...] wore her skirt a little too short.” In addition to smoking and meeting boys at the Stoop, Sales wrote that Gwyneth showed off her coltish legs on Madison Avenue: “[...] where she would escape to smoke cigarettes and flirt with passersby.”

Odell related that while in the 10th grade at Spence, Gwyneth entered her “rebellious phase”. Consequently, she would sneak out of her 5th bedroom to go to bars with “the Posse” (i.e., four other on-the-run Spence schoolgirls). Sometimes Gwyneth would leave a note on her pillow: “I snuck out. I’m at Dorrian’s. You can punish me in the morning.” (Dorrian’s is where The Preppy Killer met his victim, 18-year-old Jennifer Levin.)

Sales related another version of the note that Gwyneth left on her pillow: “Dear Mom and Dad, I didn’t run away. I haven’t been kidnapped. I’m out at the clubs. You can punish me in the morning.”

Not only did 15-year-old Gwyneth frequent bars and clubs, Gwyneth would also attend parties in hotel rooms, or she would host a party in her town house while her parents were away.

In addition to entering her rebellious phase, Odell wrote that during the 10th grade, Gwyneth “began discovering her sexuality” as well. Consequently, after approximately 26-year-old Sheryl Berkoff, a make-up artist and then-girlfriend of Keanu Reeves, gave 15-year-old Gwyneth a “blowjob lesson” behind a movie trailer while smoking cigarettes on the set of Gwyneth’s mother’s film.

Of the blowjob lesson, Gwyneth later shared on the “Gwyneth Paltrow: Dangerous and Scintillating” episode of the Literally! With Rob Lowe podcast (07/23/2020), “I’m sure that I implemented it the first chance I got.” Furthermore, Gwyneth revealed during the podcast that 23-year-old Keanu Reeves was her celebrity crush and that it was “so cool” that, although Gwyneth was a 15-year-old “high school kid”, Sheryl treated her like a sexual young woman; thus, Sheryl made Gwyneth feel “so free”. Gwyneth said,

"I met Sheryl when I was 15 or 16. She was doing my mom's makeup on this TV movie [...] and I was, like, immediately obsessed with her. First of all, she was dating Keanu Reeves, who was my celebrity crush. And she was so cool. And she knew that I was sneaking cigarettes, and she would come smoke with me behind the trailer, and she taught me how to give a blow job, and you know, all the classic Sheryl stuff [...] And I was a high school kid [...] It was less about remembering the technique — although I'm sure that I implemented it the first chance I got. It was so cool to have someone treat me like an adult and see me as, like, a young woman and someone who is sexual. She just made me feel so free."

Rhetorical question: Did Gwyneth ask Sheryl to teach her how to give a blow job, or was the lesson unsolicited? If Keanu Reeves had given Gwyneth the “blowjob lesson”, would Vanity Fair, People, and Newsweek write about the lesson so lovingly?

Gwyneth Paltrow | Hook (1991)

Not only was Gwyneth sexual, but she also possessed a “bawdy sensibility” as well. For example, during the 10th grade, Gwyneth drew an erect penis on a cubicle in Spence’s library. After Gwyneth was confronted by the librarian, Gwyneth replied, “Come on, where’s your sense of humor?” Odell wrote that: “Gwyneth became annoyed when she had to clean it up.”

Reportedly, during her teen years, “Gwyneth dated a lot [...] and talked openly about sex.” Unsurprisingly, Gwyneth dated an older guy as well. For example, Odell wrote that 15-year-old Gwyneth “dated her cousin’s college friend”.

Odell wrote that Gwyneth was described as a “tall, beautiful, thin girl - [with] a lot of arms and legs”, a “pretty blond nepo-baby”, and “ever the extrovert”. Sales related that Gwyneth was “six feet tall with blonde hair down to her waist” and that Gwyneth’s dates included “other people’s boyfriends”. Odell and Sales wrote that Gwyneth confessed, “I kissed somebody’s boyfriend when I was 15.”

Odell wrote that, inexplicably, Gwyneth’s father gifted her “a pair of lace underwear” and that after Gwyneth made reservations at Elio’s, an Italian restaurant on the Upper East Side, patrons assumed that Gwyneth and her father were dating. Odell wrote that Gwyneth’s father said, “The women were staring daggers at me at the tables, and the guys were going, ‘Way to go.’”

Interestingly, for her senior project, Gwyneth recorded a song with Donald Fagen, the lead singer of the band Steely Dan. Arguably, Steely Dan’s most popular song is "Hey Nineteen", which is about a man who rejects the sexual advances of a teen groupie.

Per Odell, at the end of the 1990 season of The Williamtown Theater Festival, 17-year-old Gwyneth attended “an end-of-season party at a bar” with Christine Lemme and Christine’s summer fling, who was in his twenties, but that didn’t stop Gwyneth from groping him (i.e., SA). Subsequently, Christine’s fling informed Christine, “Gwyneth just felt me up!”

As part of a multi-million dollar marketing campaign, in January of 1991, the fashion brand Esprit sent out postcards to young customers with the question: “If you could change the world, what would you do?” Odell related that: “Gwyneth was on the audition circuit, and she was one of the pretty people whose photo ended up on the casting board [...]”

And what was 18-year-old Gwyneth’s reply to Esprit’s question about how she would change the world? Gwyneth replied: “i would distribute condoms in every high school in america.” Odell wrote:

The text ran alongside a black-and-white image of Gwyneth in her own jeans, white T-shirt, and cardigan. She looks musingly off to the side, her hair cascading undone over her shoulders

Over twenty years later, Esprit, ignoring the fact that Gwyneth's initial response was a consequence of her sexual nature, repurposed her response in a 2019 HIV and AIDS prevention campaign.

Gwyneth Paltrow | Flesh and Bone (1993)

And due to a “ease about her” and the fact that she was “Hollywood royalty”, Gwyneth was cast as Ginnie in Flesh and Bone (1993). Per Odell, Risa Bramom Garcia, the casting director, opined that Gwyneth possessed, “[...] a combination of earthiness and depth and intelligence, which was really rare for an actor and especially a nineteen-year-old.” However, the role required nudity, which wasn’t a problem for 19-year-old Gwyneth. Per Odell, Gwyneth didn’t “flinch” when she was informed about the nude scene, because Gwyneth said that she: “[...] would do what[ever] was necessary to play the role effectively.” Odell wrote that Gwyneth’s nude scene was cut from the film, but that isn’t true. Consequently, Gwyneth’s topless scene has been posted on a variety of porn websites that are dedicated to celebrity nudes.

It turns out that Gwyneth's teen years were, unsurprisingly, very similar to Paris Hilton’s. For example, Paris shared in Paris: The Memoir that in the sixth grade at The Buckley School, a prestigious private school in Los Angeles, the tenth-grade boys invited her to sneak off campus. “Sure!” Consequently, like Gwyneth, Paris rolled up her prep schoolgirl skirt “and styled it short.” Reminiscing on the day, she wrote, “I just liked the attention.” And it was at The Buckley School where, during a sixth grade game of Spin the Bottle, Paris had first kiss. (In addition to wearing her sixth grade prep school skirt short, by 8th grade, 14-year-old Paris “found ways to shorten” her Catholic schoolgirl plaid skirt as well.)

Per Paris, since she was “frequently grounded”, she began sneaking out of the house in the 8th grade. Paris would climb out of her bedroom window, “slid down the drainpipe”, and she “maneuvered down to the ground”. Paris was determined “to wear makeup, go on real dates, or hang”. After Paris turned 15, she moved to Manhattan with her parents and siblings into a 2,500 square-foot condo in the Waldorf, but that didn't stop Paris from sneaking out.

Paris’ source for nightlife entertainment was Time Out New York, which she used for: “[...] scoping out the best parties and music and DJs”. Paris would sleep “most of the day” and “[a]fter everyone went to bed” she “headed out”. Paris would “dance and go wild until the morning”, then she “slipped past the doorman”, “took a shower, and fell into bed as everyone else got up to get ready for school.” Sometimes Paris: “[...] crashed at a friend’s house, slept all day, and went back out the next night.” Lastly, Paris shared that after she turned 16, with the help of the Wonderbra, she became a woman. Paris wrote:

“I looked in the mirror, and there was a woman looking back at me. It was helpful that Wonderbra was having a moment.”

Lastly, Odell wrote that Gwyneth and Mr. James Dawson, Gwyneth’s 9th-grade biology teacher, had “a unique connection”; however, it’s unclear if Gwyneth and Mr. Dawson had a student-teacher affair like Paris had with Mr. Abercrombie, whom she described as “handsome” with “tousled hair” and “penetrating eyes”. Their affair was their secret. A secret Paris wrote that was a “[...] secret like candy under my pillow.”

THE CUT and WALL STREET JOURNAL: How Young Is Too Young for a Crop Top?

Whitney Friedlander shared in The Cut piece “The Dread of Your Kid Asking to Wear a Crop Top” (N.D. 2025) that her 5-year-old daughter is “obsessed with crop tops”! Consequently, Friedlander is “queasy”, because, in her opinion, crop tops represent vulnerability. Friedlander:

For the past six months, ever since she saw a friend wear one at school, my daughter has been obsessed with crop tops. She’s 5.

The whole idea of my young daughter wearing a midriff-baring tee makes me queasy. It’s not the shirt itself but what it represents. ​​I cannot explain to her why simply wearing some trendy item of clothing makes her vulnerable in ways I never want her to understand 

Friedlander reiterated that her daughter desires to wear crop tops only because her daughter’s friends wear crop tops.  Friedlander:

And the reason she wants them is simple and glaringly unoriginal: Her friends get to do it.

Friedlander asked Lyndon and Carla, her “daughter’s crop-top-wearing friends’ parents”, about their daughter’s crop top, but they claimed that they had no idea how their daughter got a crop top. Really? Friedlander:

I asked my daughter’s crop-top-wearing friends’ parents, Lyndon and Carla, if they recall the impetus for what was clearly a life-changing moment for at least one person. Nope. In fact, they don’t even know how she ended up wearing it [...]

[...] In any case, they said they’d never knowingly put their kids in a crop top and wouldn’t have bought one — not that they’re judging parents who do.

In addition, Friedlander wrote that her daughter became attracted to crop tops because crop tops are a part of the zeitgeist, which hit a “fever pitch” at day camp, where her daughter observed “real teenagers [in crop tops] out in the wild”. [GIF deli]

Even asking my daughter how she learned the term “crop top” came with a blank stare. They’re simply an ingrained part of her world [...] They also hit a fever pitch this summer when she went to a day camp held at the neighborhood high school and saw real teenagers out in the wild.

Casey Lewis, the After School Substacker, shared with Friedlander that, in addition to crop tops, tube tops, and spaghetti-strap tops worn with midriff baring super-low rise jeans are popular with teens. Friedlander:

Casey Lewis, who runs the popular After School Substack, has watched a lot of back-to-school hauls the past few months from middle-school- to college-aged kids, which is the sweet spot for my daughter’s adulation. Lewis says “it’s all about tube tops and girls are wearing these super-low jeans and they’re showing their bellies and spaghetti-strap tops.”

Friedlander wrote that another reason her daughter wants to wear crop tops is that wearing crop tops gives her 5-year-old daughter the confidence to “hang with the cool teenager who was the assistant in her ballet class.”

Even though my daughter doesn’t own a phone or have her own app log-ins for mine, the abundance of content on TikTok or Snapchat inevitably trickles down. Somehow she instinctively knows what kind of wardrobe choices will make her feel like she can hang with the cool teenager who was the assistant in her ballet class.

Friedlander related that at a sleepover, matching crop tops were distributed by a parent to schoolgirls, and that “a kid [was seen] wearing one that said “Little Devil.” Friedlander:

One of the Reddit posters I reached out to said her daughter was given one at a sleepover by a friend’s mom who’d bought all the kids matching tops.

In my defense, the crop tops don’t always make it easy for us to take their side. My friend Cybil [...] has no qualms with most crop tops but even admitted to giving the side-eye to a kid wearing one that said “Little Devil.”

Unlike Lyndon and Carla, Friedlander openly condones (pre) tween crop tops; however, Friedlander bought her daughter some camisoles to be worn under her crop tops, which will be promptly restyled by her daughter on the school bus and/or at sleepovers. Friedlander:

In either case, I bought my daughter some camisoles to wear under her shirts. Let’s see if she keeps them on at school.

[However] [s]he’s already figured out the time-honored tradition of restyling her outfit once she jumps on the school bus or goes to a friend’s house.

Dear Hannah Prep

Back in 2023, Rory Satran asked on The Wall Street Journal “How Young Is Too Young for a Crop Top?” (Oct. 27, 2023) Before attempting to answer the question, Satran wrote that Dear Hannah Prep, a Dallas-based boutique, stocks “[...] crop tops. Lots and lots of crop tops” for “mini Swifties and Alabama sorority girls-to-be”. Satran wrote:

For mini Swifties and Alabama sorority girls-to-be, the Dallas boutique Dear Hannah Prep [...] is chock-full of everything a tween girl might want to wear for home games, slumber parties, screenings of the “Barbie” movie, or a school dance. Arranged in rainbow-colored stacks are: [...] crop tops. Lots and lots of crop tops. 

In a very interesting paragraph, Satran related that for “many” tweens crop tops don’t represent vulnerability, because they’re cute, innocent, and are worn to express body positivity; however, “others” find them “inappropriate”; therefore, in a bit of vindictiveness, stores like Dear Hannah Prep stock lots of crop tops despite or due to their divisiveness. Satran:

For many tweens—and their parents—crop tops are a cute, innocent way to express their burgeoning interest in fashion, and their body positivity. For others, they are inappropriate. [...] Despite, or perhaps because of, their divisiveness, crop tops for tweens have become big business.

Satran shared that Dear Hannah Prep has over 300,000 followers on TikTok and that in “almost every video, the tweens are wearing crop tops, some showing more midriff than others.” #marketing

Satran wrote that tween crop tops are “omnipresent” and are sold in “almost any store that carries kidswear these days”. For example, “from Walmart to Saks Fifth Avenue”, Zara, Shein, and “from Fendi to Stella McCartney to Versace”. Satran:

Walk into almost any store that carries kidswear these days, from Walmart to Saks Fifth Avenue, and you’ll see at least one crop top. [...] Zara has made them a mainstay of its children’s collections. On Chinese fast-fashion site Shein there are over 1,000 tween-size crop top styles [..] high-end designers from Fendi to Stella McCartney to Versace offer crop tops for tweens.

Crop tops are so omnipresent, it can be hard to find a non-cropped top for tweens and teens these days.

Satran attributed the recent rise of tweens in crop tops and their demand for more and more crop tops to tweens emulating beloved pop stars like Olivia Rodrigo, Emma Chamberlain, and Taylor Swift. Satran:

While crop tops emerged for teens and women in the groovy 1970s [...] they’ve only trickled down to the tween market in a big way in the past few years. [...] Tween-beloved stars like Olivia Rodrigo and Emma Chamberlain appear to live in crop tops. Taylor Swift wore one to the Grammys this year. It is no wonder tweens want in. Stores are scrambling to keep up with the demand.

Kelly Dowdy, of the high-end kids’ boutique English Rabbit in Beverly Hills, shared with Satran that some of her high-end prep school-attending customers only purchase crop tops. Dowdy shared,

“We have [high-end] customers who won’t buy anything if it’s not a crop top. They wear [private school] uniforms at school, and when they’re not at school they’re in a crop top.” 

And Sylvana Ward Durrett, of the “chic” website Maisonette, shared with Satran that crop tops “do well” on Maisonette. So much so that searches for the controversial attire doubled in a year. 

Interestingly, one can correctly infer from Friedlander and Satran’s reporting that crop tops are de rigueur for teens. For example, I previously wrote about the Blumarine by Marc Jacobs collab, which featured best-selling signature pieces like ultra-mini skirts, baby tees, and cropped sweatshirts. [Emphasis added] Consequently, one can expect that crop tops will eventually become de rigueur for tweens too. 

Lastly, in terms of the question: How young is too young for a crop top? Durrett opined: “[...]  I would say it’s somewhere between seven and eight.”

 

Marc Jacobs' Ads: The Lolita Effect and Seductive Teen Models

About a month ago, I saw an advertisement on 40th and 8th in Manhattan for Marc Jacobs’ Daisy Wild perfume. Consequently, I recalled a short post that I wrote back in January of 2013 about Marc Jacobs' Oh Lola! perfume advertisement that featured 17-year-old Dakota Fanning holding a large phallic shaped bottle of Oh Lola! invitingly between her legs.

Jacobs related that he chose Fanning because he, " [...] knew she could be this contemporary Lolita - seductive yet sweet." Thus, we know from Jacobs himself that Fanning was chosen to seduce.

In addition, Jacobs agreed with professor and "man of letters" Robertson Davies' assessment of Lolita as: “[...] not [about] the corruption of an innocent child by a cunning adult, but [about] the exploitation of a weak adult by a corrupt child."

However, Mark Sweney posted on The Guardian “Marc Jacobs' Dakota Fanning ad banned for being 'sexually provocative'” (8 Nov 2011) Sweney wrote:

A provocative ad campaign for Marc Jacobs perfume featuring 17-year-old Dakota Fanning, the US actor who has starred in films including War of the Worlds and Charlotte's Web, has been banned [in the UK] following accusations that it sexualized children.

The magazine campaign [...] featured Fanning wearing a short skirt and holding a bottle of Marc Jacobs perfume in what the advertising regulator deemed a "sexually provocative" position between her legs.

And Sweney shared that the UK’s Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) received complaints that the advertisement was offensive and irresponsible, because it portrayed 17-year-old Fanning in a "sexualized manner" due to the "sexually provocative" way that the bottle of Oh Lola! “drew attention to her sexuality.” And, in the eyes of the ASA, Fanning “looked to be under the age of 16.” The ASA elaborated:

"We considered that the length of her dress, her leg and position of the perfume bottle drew attention to her sexuality." 

"Because of that, along with her appearance, we considered the ad could be seen to sexualise a child. We therefore concluded that the ad was irresponsible and was likely to cause serious offence."

15-year-old Ever Anderson for Daisy Wild | Marc Jacobs

Undeterred by the ASA, about a decade later, Jacobs had 15-year-old Ever Anderson pose with a large bottle of Daisy Wild in her lap, which “drew attention to her sexuality.” (Note: Anderson posted on her Instagram account that the photos were taken on October 22, 2022, in Atlanta, GA.)

And Anderson posed, one could say, comparatively innocently, with a number of other teen models; however, I would imagine that the ASA would have some issues with the video for Daisy Wild. In the video, the barely covered teen models stripped down to their white bras and panties, intimately touched while posing for the camera, and then skinny dipped into a Georgia lake. After frolicking in the lake, the scantily clad models attended a bonfire where they danced intimately. One model even danced at the bonfire in a sheer mini-skirt; thus, revealing her white panties. 

Prior to the release of Daisy Wild, Introducing Daisy Trio (2014), a film directed by Sofia Coppola, was posted on YouTube (Nov 25, 2014). In the film, once again, the teen models were skimpily clad in all white and, once again, the models frolicked intimately with implied sapphic diversions. 

In addition to perfumes, Jacobs has a fashion line. Brooke Frischer posted on Fashionista that "Heaven [by Marc Jacobs] and Bluemarine Made the High School Movie Wardrobe of Your Dreams a Reality" (JUL 7, 2023). Frischer wrote that Heaven by Marc Jacobs and Bluemarine are "beloved by Gen-Z" and that the campaign was shot "[...] by Petra Collins to boot.".

Per Frischer, Blumarine by Marc Jacobs features 11 of the brand's best-selling pieces, which boast the brand's "signature touches". The best-selling signature pieces consist of ultra-mini skirts (and they mean ultra), lacy pink camisoles, baby tees (and they mean baby), and cropped sweatshirts - among other revealing pieces. 

Frischer related that Collins photographed the, seemingly, teen models at "the same high school the photographer used for Olivia Rodrigo's "Good 4 U" music video". Why? It was done, strategically, to further: "[...] the appeal of the new collaboration for angsty teens and angsty-teens-at-heart everywhere." 

I would imagine that only an angsty teen would wear a pink lace baby graphic tee with an ultra-mini camo skirt to her high school English class, because I opine that Blumarine by Marc Jacobs is giving 1970s Times Square (teen) prostitutes.

Interestingly, of the graphic pieces, Frischer shared that Nicola Brognano, Blumarine's Creative Director, related: “Each piece of the capsule is a gem and truly reflects today's spirit, balancing ease and coolness in the most feminine and lighthearted way." Feminine? Yes. Lighthearted? No

And Ava Nirui, the creative director of Heaven by Marc Jacobs, said in a statement. "[...] I think this collection makes total sense for both of us."

David Hamilton's "Tendres cousines" (1980)

In the end, Marc Jacobs’ perfume campaigns raises some rhetorical questions: 

1. What does (near) teen nudity and sapphic diversions have to do with (selling) perfume? 
2. Were Jacobs and Coppola inspired by David Hamilton? 
3. And would the ASA approve of Blumarine by Marc Jacobs?

NEW YORK TIMES Exposé: Mothers Sell Teen Daughters' Sexualized Photos and Videos on Instagram!

Jennifer Valentino-DeVries and Michael H. Keller posted for the New York Times: 

“A Marketplace of Girl Influencers Managed by Moms and Stalked by Men: 

Seeking social media stardom [i.e., money] for their underage daughters, mothers post [risqué] images of them on Instagram. The accounts draw men sexually attracted to children, and they sometimes pay to see more [i.e., the mothers accept money to show more of their daughters].” (Feb. 22, 2024)

Per, Valentino-DeVries and Keller, Elissa began posting photos of her 11-year-old daughter on Instagram in 2020. Consequently, Elissa’s daughter has over 100,000 followers. Some of whom subscribe for $9.99 per month for exclusive content. Other nymphets obtain goods and money via Amazon and CashApp. While others earn: “[...] shopping sprees, gifts like iPhones and iPads, and cash.”

Elissa has been running her daughter’s Instagram account since 2020, when the girl was 11 and too young to have her own. Photos show a bright, bubbly girl modeling [...] She has more than 100,000 followers, some so enthusiastic about her posts that they pay $9.99 a month for more photos.

Some girls on Instagram use their social media clout to get little more than clothing discounts; others receive gifts from Amazon wish lists, or money through Cash App; and still others earn thousands of dollars a month by selling subscriptions with exclusive content.

In addition to photos, some parents sell “exclusive chat sessions” with their daughters. And they sell their daughter’s “worn leotards and cheer outfits”. Interestingly, Valentino-DeVries and Keller wrote that the buyers, some of whom spend thousands on nymphets, are “mostly unknown followers”. Does that mean that some of the buyers are friends of the family?

Some parents are the driving force behind the sale of photos, exclusive chat sessions and even the girls’ worn leotards and cheer outfits to mostly unknown followers. The most devoted customers spend thousands of dollars nurturing the underage relationships.

In addition to money from men, moms and daughters can earn more money and free products from brands. And more followers (i.e., men), can mean more money and free products. And via Instagram’s algorithm, more followers (i.e., men) can lead to even more followers (i.e., men). #feedbackloop

The large audiences boosted by men can benefit the families, The Times found. The bigger followings look impressive to brands and bolster chances of getting discounts, products and other financial incentives, and the accounts themselves are rewarded by Instagram’s algorithm with greater visibility on the platform, which in turn attracts more followers.

Should we be surprised that, per Valentino-DeVries and Keller, approximately 33% of preteen nymphets desire to be influencers, when the: “[...] creator economy surpasses $250 billion worldwide, according to Goldman Sachs, with U.S. brands spending more than $5 billion a year on influencers.” And: “Some of the child influencers earn six-figure incomes, according to interviews.”

Consequently, due to the large sums of money, some parents can’t stop exploiting their daughters on social media (e.g., “[...] girls in skimpy bikinis whose parents actively encourage male admirers and sell them special photo sets.”)

“I really don’t want my child exploited on the internet,” said Kaelyn, a mother in Melbourne, Australia [...]

“But she’s been doing this so long now,” she said. “Her numbers are so big. What do we do? Just stop it and walk away?”

Valentino-DeVries and Keller related that parents shared that: “[...] their children enjoyed being on social media or that it was important for a future career.” However, some nymphets, like 17-year-old Kaelyn, whose “childhood [was] spent sporting bikinis online for adult men”, may feel that the logical next step in their young careers is to make (teen) OnlyFans account like Sami Sheen - the daughter of Denise Richards and Charlie Sheen.

DragonWing | NYFW 2024

The moms, daughters and their men are not the only benefactors from this industry. Brands and accounts like LA Dance Designs, DragonWing*, and Original Hippie benefit financially from nubile nymphets as well. 

In the dance and gymnastics worlds, teens and preteens jockey to become brand ambassadors for products and apparel. They don bikinis in Instagram posts, walk runways in youth fashion shows and offer paid subscriptions to videos [...]

For many of them, child influencers have become “walking advertising,” supplanting traditional ad campaigns, said Kinsey Pastore, head of marketing for LA Dance Designs, a children’s dance wear company in South Florida.

How much can a nymphet (and her mother) make from a brand for a (suggestive) Instagram post? “The most successful girls can demand $3,000 from their sponsors for a single post on Instagram.”

And how much can a nymphet (and her mother) charge for an Instagram subscription that comes with: “[...] ask me anything” chat sessions and behind-the-scenes photos.”

 

In 2022, Instagram launched paid subscriptions, which allows followers to pay a monthly fee for exclusive content and access. The rules don’t allow subscriptions for anyone under 18, but the mom-run accounts sidestep that restriction. The Times found dozens that charged from 99 cents to $19.99. At the highest price, parents offered “ask me anything” chat sessions and behind-the-scenes photos.

Instagram’s $19.99 subscription fee is quarters compared to the $250 “Elite VIP” subscription fee some moms charge and the “$14,000 in subscription revenue” some teens earn on Brand Army’s “junior channel”.

“Message me anytime. You will have more opportunities for buying and receiving super exclusive content😘,” read a description for a $25 subscription to a [Brand Army] minor’s account. For $100 a month, subscribers can get “live interactive video chats,” unlimited direct messages and a mention on the girl’s Instagram story.

The Times subscribed to several accounts to glean what content is being offered and how much money is being made. On one account, 141 subscribers liked a photo only available to those who paid $100 monthly, indicating over $14,000 in subscription revenue.

And what are men getting for spending hundreds of dollars to subscribe to a 17-year-old’s Brand Army “junior channel”?

Some of the descriptions also highlight the revealing nature of photos. One account for a child around 14 years old encouraged new sign-ups at the end of last year by branding the days between Christmas and New Year’s as “Bikini Week.” An account for a 17-year-old girl advertised that she wasn’t wearing underwear in a workout photo set and, as a result, the images were “uh … a lot spicier than usual.”

Original Hippie

Interestingly, Valentino-DeVries and Keller wrote that a large number of accounts with over: “[...] 100,000 followers had a male audience of over 75 percent, and a few of them over 90 percent, the analysis showed.” Consequently, Dean Stockton, the owner of Original Hippie, stopped deleting the male followers of Original Hippie’s Instragam account as it became a sisyphean effort, but most importantly Stockton’s male followers are very important to Original Hippie’s positioning on Instagram.

Dean Stockton, who runs a small clothing company in Florida called Original Hippie, often features girls from the Instagram accounts, who earn a commission when customers use personalized discount codes. After initially deleting many male followers, he now sees them as a way to grow the account and give it a wider audience because the platform rewards large followings.

“The Bible says, ‘The wealth of the wicked is laid up for the righteous,’” he said. “So sometimes you got to use the things of this world to get you to where you need to be, as long as it’s not harming anybody.”

Grippingly, Valentino-DeVries and Keller used the word pedophiles nine (9) times in their piece; however, per the clinical definition of pedophilia as related in the documentary Are All Men Pedophiles? (2013), Valentino-DeVries and Keller, like most humans, used the word incorrectly:

As I related previously, there’s a difference between the general public term for pedophilia and the technical professional term of pedophilia. The public’s definition is associated with someone who is sexually attracted to girls under the age of 18; however, the clinical definition of pedophilia is:

1. A sexual preference for pre-pubertal or early pubertal children 

2. For six months or more the person has acted on those urges or suffers from distress as a result of having the urges

3. And the individual must be at least 16-years-old and at least five years older than the subject of desire

Thus, arguably, Valentino-DeVries and Keller should have used ephebophiles or hebephiles in reference to the men from whom moms and daughters willfully accepted Amazon wish list times, CashApp deposits, shopping sprees, iPhones and iPads.

Of course, the New York Times isn’t the first outlet to report on this phenomenon. For example, we related that Olivia Carville posted on BloombergBusinessweek “TikTok’s Problem Child Has 7 Million Followers and One Proud Mom: Young creators like Jenny Popach are posting suggestively sexual content, sometimes with parental approval, leaving moderators and executives unsure what to do.”

And, of course, even before the advent of social media, parents used their children to earn goods and money. For example, we related that Demi Moore shared in Inside Out, her memoir, that when she was 15, her alcoholic mother paraded her in bars. Consequently, unable to resist the allure of a nymphet, an approximately 48-year-old wealthy Greek man paid Demi's mother $500 for sex with the future actress. And I wrote about a New York Daily News story about a mother whom was arrested in 2014 for (allegedly) traveling from Florida to New York City to prostitute her 15-year-old daughter during Super Bowl XLVIII.

Lastly, Valentino-DeVries and Keller’s piece is about social media accounts run by moms for their daughters, but we previously wrote about salacious social media accounts run by daughters without their mother’s consent. For example, we shared that Alexandra S. Levine posted on Forbes "How TikTok Live Became ‘A Strip Club Filled With 15-Year-Olds’" (Apr 27, 2022) with the intro\kicker: "Livestreams on the social media app are a popular place for men to lurk and for young girls — enticed by money and gifts — to perform sexually suggestive acts.”