WELCOME TO THE SCROLL by Brett Cooper 

Welcome to your weekly round-up of everything I’m loving on my feeds and beyond! These are the stories that have kept me inspired, made me laugh, and more. Hopefully it gives you some insight into the ways my algorithm - and brain - seem to work.

So without further ado, let’s dive in.

STORIES FROM X

Trad Wife EXPOSED?

Ok, obviously, the story that had me LOCKED in on X this week was the story of Patriarchy Hannah - a well known “trad wife” account - getting exposed for being a total fraud.

And not just that she didn’t ACTUALLY frolic in milkmaid dresses or make sourdough, but it was all a lie. “Hannah” never existed. The 14 kids she claimed that she and her husband Tony had adopted and were homeschooling were NOT real. TONY the husband wasn’t real.

The reality is that she is a woman in her thirties named Jennifer who lives at home with her parents and made everything up - even going so far as to make an account for “Tony” that she also ran, using photos of other people’s homes from Zillow, and pulling photos from other women’s Facebook pages to use as her own.

And the KICKER is that back in 2011, this JENNIFER was arrested for identity theft.

And this is the twitter thread that exposed everything:

So you might be thinking, ok Brett who cares? It’s a fake anon account, there are lots of those. But this account was particularly well known and had weasled her way into the hearts and minds of the “trad” community on X - and yes, there is a trad wife X community, ha.

Wives and mothers had opened up to this woman, shared intimate details about their lives, sent pictures of their kids, and even talked on the phone, and they felt completely betrayed and violated. 

Plus, this has opened up a whole can of worms about the legitimacy and genuine nature of the online creators who push this very strict idea of a “trad life.” The people who - like Patriarchy Hannah - angrily shame women for not being as pure and trad as them, who set nearly impossible standards for women to follow, and now everyone is shaken up and they’re doing a hard look at these creators and re-evaluating who they idolize and trust.

Which seems like a MUCH healthier alternative.

I think the lesson is to be obviously careful of those you follow and trust online, especially anon accounts. You don’t know these people - even if you think you do - and so it’s always smart to have an air of caution of who you let dictate your life or your perception of your life.

A woman not homeschooling her kids is NOT a failure. A woman not baking sourdough is not a failure. A woman having a job - especially in this economy - is not a failure, and it’s wrong for these accounts, who have NO GROUND TO STAND ON (LOL) to make you feel that way.

End rant.

Anyway, I highly encourage you to search “Patriarchy Hannah” on X if you want to follow the crazy turn of events.

And, Evie Magazine even did a full breakdown of it:

TIKTOK BOOKMARKS

Mommy Influencer CANCELLED?

So while the Patriarchy Hannah drama was happening on X, the Avery Woods drama was going down on TikTok, and boy, it’s a doozy.

Avery Woods is a well known TikToker and podcaster who just signed a deal for her show Cheers! with Alex Cooper’s Unwell Network, and people LOVE her. To me, she’s always seemed a bit gaudy, if that’s the right word. She’s a mom, a former nurse, and married to a former cop. She blew up on TikTok and became rich and it’s flaunted regularly in a way that rubs me as crass. 

And so it didn’t REALLY surprise me when last week she released an episode on her podcast that now has her running for the hills. She was interviewing a well known male reality star and there were three moments that gave people major pause. 

These moments have now been cut out of the episode, but of course they’re on TikTok.

1) She criticized Christians and told them she hopes Jesus bends them over and does something… incredibly graphic and sexual to them:

@haleygray67

The end of @Avery Woods and @cheerswithavery for me! #jesus #averywoods #cheerswithaverywoods #harryjowsey #averywoodsharryjowsey #unwell ... See more

2) She said that because she had C sections, she is still “pristine down there” 

@conspiracynene

I’m just speechless #averywoods #averywoodspodcast #fyp #trending

3) She took the last question as an opportunity to ask this man if he would sleep with her - even though she’s married.

@haleygray67

Replying to @user6324859215025 didn’t even make it this far listening but had to know what the question was… WHAT?! Why would a married wo... See more

Crass, grotesque, inappropriate, and it rubbed people the wrong way, OBVIOUSLY.

Christians were understandably very offended and concerned because it’s one thing to call out hypocrisy in religion, I think all of us see that daily, and another to wish THAT on people who believe something you don’t. And people from all religions and creeds were QUICK to call her out on that.

People also pointed to the other comments she made as being just as distasteful and disrespectful. She basically shamed women who have given birth vaginally in order to make herself feel better in front of a guy she obviously finds attractive, which is a major problem because she is MARRIED! With two young kids and two STEP KIDS! Who will one day see this!

And she is BLABBERING ONLINE about her downstairs and propositioning other men to sleep with her.

Imagine her kids hearing that one day. Imagine her teen step daughters - who are being raised Christian by their mom by the way - going online and seeing that right now.

And obviously, everyone has a right to say what they want, Alex Cooper and the Unwell Network do not have a reputation for being clean necessarily, but your audience also has a right to push back and walk away when they think you’ve taken it too far.

Being funny and edgy is one thing, but this was something else.

And now of course, after millions of views and comments and videos, Avery decided to “take a step back” and go offline for awhile, but she finally resurfaced with an apology video that only made things worse.

She took no accountability and chose to blame everyone but herself. Blamed her producers and said the show is scripted (what? A whole interview is scripted?) and blamed the audience for being offended:

@averyywoods

I’m so sorry - I’m learning and will do better.

Meanwhile, on Instagram, she’s posting stories victimizing herself while wearing an “empathy” sweatshirt, LOL.

And considering that this is how she’s handling it (not taking accountability), why even make the apology? If that is really who you are, then lean in. Let your audience know who you really are. People will move on from you, and maybe you’ll find your own corner of the internet that will appreciate your crass behavior. 

Again, you’re signed with the Unwell Network, home of the Gluck Gluck 9000 or whatever it’s called, home of podcasts where people regularly say worse things than this, I’m sure there’s a crowd for you.

But I think a bulk of your audience who followed you on this journey of a fun, normal nurse turned “wholesome” mom turned businesswoman, are done.

INSTAGRAM

Cookies on Cookies

I need to work on capturing better content for this part of the newsletter because to be honest, the only things I save on Instagram these days are cute pictures of St Bernards and recipes.

For example, these Cornbread Cookies that I think my southern bred, cookie loving heart needs ASAP:

kennascooks

View more on Instagram

And these gooey Chocolate Chip Walnut Cookies that are perfectly portion controlled for two:

wellmadebykiley

View more on Instagram

If anyone decides to make these, please tag me so we can all applaud you.

BOOK OF THE WEEK

MOVIE OF THE WEEK

And finally, I wanted to let you know that I released my first “Dear Brett” over at Cooper Confidential. It was so much fun to answer a bunch of the questions and of course I talked way too much, but you know that’s me. If you end up joining, just know how much I appreciate your support.