Brittany Miller seemed to have it all – a successful social media platform, two beautiful children and a doting partner.
Little did her TikTok followers know there was a skeleton in the closet. One that in recent months has threatened to bring down her TikTok career.
For, as fans have recently been discussing on social media, back in 2017 – before she launched her career on the app – Brittany had lied about having stage 3 gastric cancer. Three years later, she was convicted of fraud by false representation and given a conditional discharge for 12 months.
She was also forced to pay compensation and costs to the Crown Prosecution Service after it was also revealed she had set up a JustGiving page, which had attracted donations.
After the ugly episode, Oxfordshire-born Brittany, 29, moved on, forging a career on social media by posting videos of herself dishing up huge meals for her boyfriend. She quickly racked up an extraordinary 3.5 million followers on the app, while steadfastly refusing to speak about her past. But it has always has been a shadow over her online presence, with many begging her to address the speculation.
So, when last week Brittany finally issued a tearful apology for what she now claims was a ‘mistake’, four million people tuned in, eager to watch how she’d explain her actions.
But what those viewers might not have known was that, by watching the six-minute video of Brittany grovelling, they were helping her pockets grow even bigger.
Brittany Miller was convicted of fraud by false representation in 2017 for claiming to have stage 3 cancer
Four million people watched Brittany’s tearful apology for what she now claims was a ‘mistake’
For I can reveal that Brittany – who shares one-year-old identical twins, Elijah and Emiliano, with her influencer partner Ashley Kooner – would have pocketed thousands of pounds for the video, which now has over 12 million views.
Influencers using the social media platform make cash through the TikTok Creator Fund, which pays them based on the performance of their videos. It calculates earnings depending on ‘qualified views’ of their content – one that is at least five seconds long.
To be eligible for payment, a creator must also have at least ten thousand followers, be over 18, and the video must be in line with TikTok’s Community Guidelines.
All of which means Brittany is thought to have earned between £5,000 to £15,000 for her ‘apology’ video – in which she claims she ‘didn’t take a penny’ from the JustGiving page.
‘I did it to keep the people in my life close to me,’ said Brittany in her video, claiming she was suffering from mental health problems at the time. ‘I don’t condone it, I understand why I did it, and I’ve learned from my mistakes… This was not a long-running scam.’
Though she might not have taken money from that fundraiser, she’s certainly profiting from her lies now.
A source told me: ‘For these influencers, it seems that the more scandals they have, the more money they get. It seems Brittany’s lies have profited her more than she could have imagined.’
Insiders tell me that, for months, Brittany has been carefully deleting any comments making reference to the cancer scandal – and blocking users who have called her out for her lies. They suggest this was a bid for Brittany to control the narrative and profit off the apology video she was inevitably going to have to film.
And it appears her efforts have been partly successful.
The Daily Mail can reveal that while Brittany has been dropped by her agency Viral People and her family have distanced themselves from her – the scandal has barely affected her fan base.
On Instagram, it’s understood that in the last week Brittany has lost only 1,000 of her 540,000 followers.
Before that, despite the ongoing rumours about her past, brands such as Uber, clothing site Boohoo and Chinese retailers Shein and Temu have worked with her on lucrative Instagram advertisement deals.
The influencer seems to have lost only 1,000 of her 540,000 followers on Instagram in the past week, despite revealing that she had faked her cancer
On her social media, Brittany shows off her at five-star resorts in Turkey and trips to Greece with her influencer partner, Ashley Kooner
She has also continued posting videos on her YouTube channel. In her most recent one, posted four months ago, she showed off a new £4,000 Saint Laurent beach bag.
And in October she documented her family’s move into a big new home. ‘It’s massive,’ she told her followers about the property, which came with a large kitchen island, utility room, sprawling garden, games room, children’s playroom and four bedrooms. ‘This is my dream house.’
In other posts she is pictured at five-star resorts in Turkey, showing off her £7,000 Chanel bags, and holidaying in Greece.
In recent days, shocked social media users have been calling for Brittany to be de-platformed, despite her apology.
However, insiders close to TikTok tell me Brittany technically hasn’t broken any of their guidelines – so no action can be taken.
Others have called for Brittany to donate the money she has earned from her apology video to Cancer Research.
‘If the apology is genuine, the correct thing is to put that money back into charity,’ one commented. ‘She doesn’t deserve any of that money herself.’
Meanwhile, another influencer, Max Balegde, 26, spoke about Brittany on a podcast.
He said: ‘What is cancelling nowadays? People always use the term “you got cancelled” – but if she still has an audience of people who are going to support her, she can never be cancelled.
‘You have to question the morals of people who are still supporting someone like that.’
It certainly seems there are plenty of Brittany’s followers who are not bothered by her lies. Since she posted her apology, Brittany has uploaded three new TikTok videos, which collectively have over 10 million views.
So it seems that, in the case of Brittany at least, scandal really does pay.
The Daily Mail has contacted both Brittany and her former agency, but has yet to receive a response.
