What’s the Snark on Lee From America?

21:51Like, it's just so toxic.

21:53Christy Noel:It is. And I think there's something to be said about influencers that tell, like, I am this. It's like, you don't need to keep telling me. Just by your actions, I can probably infer that you are this. Like, you don't need to keep pushing your thing on me. That must be, like, one of the more exhausting parts about being an influencer is that you have to have, like, a brand. Instead of just, like, being you, you have to, like, what is your niche? What is your brand? Like, oh my God, I just like want to be myself. Like I just want to be me, you know? Right, right. No, exactly. And I think that's why her wellness group or error became so toxic because not only was she married to this identity, but she was married to an identity that was very much intertwined with her eating disorder.

22:35Christy Noel:And so if we go into like more of her content growth and her kind of coming up even more, as her followers started to increase, obviously so did her content. She started posting more about wellness trends. It wasn't just about like smoothies and matchas. She was full on like groupified. and she was diagnosed with PCOS in 2016, as I mentioned up top. And she was saying, you know, I don't want to use hormonal birth control to alleviate my symptoms or help with my PCOS. So she became this like really loud voice online for managing PCOS through diet, fitness, through quote unquote, like holistic natural remedies.

23:05Christy Noel:And I remember when I was following her, she would always talk about seed cycling. And I was like, what does that even mean? And she was promoting seed cycling, meaning she would eat specific seeds during certain points in her menstrual cycle to like help with like her PCOS, which again, there's like no medical like information to back up this claim, but she's posting this to her 300 plus thousand followers. I see like I, as someone who does not have PCOS, I know that it is such a struggle and you're probably constantly searching for answers, but like the junk science of it all, come on. Right.

23:42Christy Noel:And it's scary too, because there are some people like, I'm not saying you can't take multiple opinions or you shouldn't see a holistic doctor. That's not what I'm saying. But I'm saying like it's really important to prioritize various opinions and it certainly should not be the top of your list to get to prioritize an influencer. But a lot of people were doing that and that's where it becomes really, really harmful. But despite all this rhetoric that she was touting online, she was still really successful and she was collaborating with huge brands like Adidas, Nordstrom, multiple airline companies.

24:12Christy Noel:But behind the scenes, she admits later on, she was struggling immensely. And she said that I was struggling highly with anxiety. My relationship with food got more severe, but being sick was good business. So in late 2018, this is when it really started to crumble for her. And I distinctly remember this. And she announced that she was having a matcha morning wellness workshop and she was charging up to, and this is in 2018, by the way, even in 2025, it's almost a decade later, which is crazy to even think about$500 in 2018 would probably be close to like a thousand dollars. I would say in like 2025.

24:43Christy Noel:That's insane. Insane. I actually read this thing. That's a Beyonce concert ticket. That's like, oh my God. 100%. I was actually reading this article that the price of a car in 2020 has like increased by 25%. So if we were to even say like$500 times one. You guys, Christy, if you're watching on YouTube, you can see that Christy literally has a gigantic calculator that she whipped out. Oh my God. That was the funniest thing you've ever done. I love the calculator, man. It's like, it's okay. Miss Texas Instruments. you guys that was so funny she's such an accountant oh my god that's so fucking funny miss texas instruments remember the ti like 84 yeah it's chris was like that was my favorite i think discontinued it though i mean because i feel like most people like use their like phone calculators no no she is keeping the she is keeping the physical calculator industry in business.

25:40Big calculator.

25:42Christy Noel:Oh my God. No. And I love it because it has big buttons. People need to bring back a calculator on your desk. Like I use it all the fucking time to be very clear. It's the best. Oh my God. Oh my God. You're so funny. They used to make the TI-84 but I discontinued it. Yeah. You know, she's still pissed you guys. You're so funny. But in today's world, it's at least like$625. That's so fucking expensive. You're right. That's Taylor Swift. That's Beyonce. say. Yeah, that's the Aero's tour. Like that's crazy, crazy. And even more that was I think, just general admission. If you wanted to have a VIP meal with leave from America, it was even more expensive.

26:20That's nuts.

26:21Christy Noel:People were obviously super upset. I remember the matcha workshop was supposed to be take place in San Francisco, which I was living in at the time. And I remember just being like floored like holy shit. People were pissed. They were accusing her of profitizing profit over their community. They felt like this workshop was very much out of touch, very money driven they said that she was also kind of like touting white privilege and cultural appropriation because if you're not aware moshas comes from like japanese culture it's very much a part of the culture and they're saying that she's commodifying like wellness practices and she's profiting off of ideas stolen from non-western cultures it's kind of giving caroline calloway workshops which caroline calloway has too much i'm a historian on her but there's almost too much lore for to do a deep dive on her.

27:06Like it would take us 75 years. Um, also I just started liking matcha literally this past weekend. I just got one today. Really? What like changed for you? I always thought it tasted like grass. It's the fact that this place called, um, Olenstein, it's a coffee shop near me. They started doing a strawberry fields matcha love.

27:28Christy Noel:Wait, do they have Olenstein like nationwide? No, no, no. But like there's a, do you know, Boba guys, they have a strawberry matcha. That's like one of their signature drinks. And I love the strawberry. So it's like the really, really, really sugary strawberry syrup in there makes the grass taste better. No, I love that. I remember when Sophie was coming to visit me, I was like, Oh, you know, like, what kind of coffee do you like? I want to make sure I have like the right milk. She goes, anything with heavy cream, the sweeter, the better. Oh, yeah. I love like a sweet. It's funny. Like Henry will like surprise me.

27:58He'll be like, oh this is like a he'll go to Wawa like in Philly and Jersey people know and they have like the machines he goes I made you like a cinnamon toast crunch marshmallow sugar cane latte he like did all the syrups it sounds so good yeah you're like the more sugar the better

28:15Christy Noel:exactly I like everything in any case Lee's image was heavily tarnished because the community started to distrust her they're like this is not what we want and her cancellation really started caused her to unravel. And she said later on, she's like, I experienced a spike in OCD symptoms. I had paranoia. I was scared to leave the house. And she was like, this was the moment I realized I can't do this anymore. Like I, to feel like this is like my brand is my identity. Leave from America. I can't separate myself from the business. Like the business is me. And the business was touting$500 workshops.

28:50Christy Noel:And people are saying that this is commodifying like white privilege or whatever. She's like, I can't do this anymore. I'd rather wait tables. So she kind of got like mini canceled. Yes, exactly. And she was kind of at this point, she would go dark, she would do digital detoxes. But these digital detoxes wouldn't last more than like 10 days. It's very much like Selena Gomez when Selena Gomez says she's taking a break and she's on like 24 hours later. Like that was Lee from America. But things changed severely in February 2019. So a couple months after matcha gate her apartment in koreatown in los angeles flooded i totally remember this and she had to move and her routine was obviously very much disrupted and if you're in an eating disorder and your routine is disrupted all hell will break loose like you cannot function as an adult and just knowing her and how regimented she was i remember she would say i'll wake up i'll do my meditation for 30 minutes i'll make myself a matcha i'll walk to yoga if she can't do these things her brain becomes it will spiral it'll become erratic and that's what she was experience.

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34:05Christy Noel:And so she was experiencing a lack of structure. And she said at this point, her eating disorder was getting even worse. Reasonably so. Yeah. And her therapist was urging her please seek treatment like this is not healthy and so lee did she voluntarily checked herself into into a treatment center and her ig went dark and i remember everyone was so curious like what's going on because she didn't admit to her followers at this point where she was going she just she was acting erratically on social she was talking about her apartment flooding and then she just went dark and it went dark for five months and five you know five months goes by fans were wondering what happened to her and like if you remember go me blog like go me blog was blowing the fuck up.

34:43Christy Noel:People were very concerned for her well being. And their thought maybe it's a stunt because she couldn't handle the criticism from the matcha workshops. But people are very like they just didn't know. So she finally resurfaces five months later in July 2019, looking like a whole new person. She had that bowl cut. And she said, Listen, I'm gonna use my platform in a different way moving forward. And she started to post very differently from her like green yoga, loving hugging trees self. She was posting things like pastries and carb rich foods. She was posting pics of her dog, Samson, unfiltered selfies, much shorter captions, and her content almost felt performative in its nonchalance.

35:21Christy Noel:Like people were saying she was almost like cosplaying as an average person. She was no longer trying to be this aspirational wellness girly. She was just wanting to be her, which I mean, good for her, I guess that's the name of what would get her like, I don't know, less away from her eating disorder. But she said on her blog a couple months after she resurfaced on Instagram in October of 2019. She's like, many people engage in wellness practices while maintaining good mental health and not getting obsessive. For me, I could not. I missed that boat. A diet for me will 1000 % end with an eating disorder and a preoccupation with food.

35:54Christy Noel:Good for her for recognizing that. Totally. I mean, to walk away from hundreds of thousands of followers that follow you for a certain thing and you say, this certain thing is my eating disorder. I am walking away. I comment her. Yeah, it takes a lot of courage and strength. So some followers left like really supportive comments about her openness with her eating disorder and her struggle with anorexia. And some people were obviously very snarky and more skeptical. They're saying is this average girl persona that you're cosplaying as just another way for you to make money off of us. And people were pointing out, you know, Lee tends to work in extremes, she has to be very perfect, controlled or the exact opposite.

36:30Christy Noel:So she's very perfect and controlled in the way that she practices yoga, the way that she gets up early in the morning and now she's just like an average girlie who can now eat pastries. A person on Reddit said, her name is Jim Nopetus. She said, this is just one more way to sell an all out inaccessible way of being happy to followers. You don't have to have a perfect body or perfect diet and you also don't have to pretend that other people shouldn't notice your looks or that you don't care about feeling attractive. I predict that Lee's new approach to social media will work because it's still the same old shtick of making followers feel inadequate for not being as involved as her.

36:59Christy Noel:As long as the content feels aspirational, they'll keep buying whatever she pedals. Wow. That's really interesting. And that also is proposing the theory that she got that bull cut because she's like, I don't give a fuck about being conventionally attractive. And you guys will never be as quote unquote evolved as I am. You could only try to be. Yes. And at first when I read this comment, I was like, damn, that's kind of harsh. But I think I kind of understand what you're saying. That does make sense. It's like you guys could go to treatment and come out and, you know, you could be peddling between like normal versus, you know, not normal, but like, I'm actually completely 180.

37:35Christy Noel:You could never do the ball cut like I could. Like, it's such an extreme way of living and physically looking that it's like, you're right. I couldn't relate to that. But I think that speaks to like a whole other mental, like, her brain works very interestingly. I'll say that. And I'm not trying to be shady when I say that. It's just like, it's so extreme. It's just not relatable to me. Yeah. So in November 2019, she posts a video apologizing for all the ways that she was promoting diet culture and medically dubious health advice in the past. And she said she was regretful that she was encouraging restrictive habits to her followers under the guise of quote unquote wellness.

38:10Christy Noel:And she started to delete older posts that were potentially triggering or harmful to those struggling with eating. As her online identity did like a 180, her once devoted followers were starting to peace out. They were, she lost around 40 to 50 ,000 followers at the end of 2019, which was the year that she went dark and then came back. and she basically phased out all of her sponsorship deals by 2020. She also simultaneously dropped her management team and most of her savings, which again, we always talk about this, but people that are able to take such extreme strides to leaving content, they have to have some kind of backup, right?

38:47So basically she dipped into her savings because she wasn't taking brand deals anymore.

38:52Christy Noel:Right. Yeah. And she's admitted that she was making close to$300 ,000 at the peak of her influencing career through brand deals like with Adidas and like these airline companies, like I said. And she said that like, they didn't want to work with me anymore because not only was I quote unquote canceled, but the followers also were no longer interested in my average influencer type era. They were just disinterested and it wasn't bringing in the same amount of conversions as it once was. So they dropped me. Yeah. If she's quitting influencing and not going to like a different job, like a regular desk job, and she's just quitting influencing and she's just like, well, I'm just not going to, do anything now.

39:27I'm going to post on Instagram. I'm not going to do brand deals. I'm just going to do nothing. Yeah. She comes from generational wealth.

39:33Christy Noel:100%. Interestingly enough, Connecticut, right. Interestingly enough, she does end up going to a desk job, which we will get into. But at this point, like she was just like completely doing nothing. And just like posting on Instagram still just not taking brand deals. Right. Right. In 2020 to 2021, her brand started to become like just totally like it was all over the place. She was doing dance videos. She was talking about how she was always interested in interior design, random musings. And she said that like, you know, I realized that what I'm doing now on the internet is not going to be sustainable.

40:05Christy Noel:I cannot make$300 ,000 like I once did two years ago. And she said, I still had a couple of partnerships here and there, but I'm not earning nearly as what I used to make. And so she started to enroll in classes at UCLA and she got an internship with an interior design firm and she was only making 18 bucks an hour. But she said, listen, this was the first time that she had asked herself, like, do I, can I afford to quit? Like she couldn't because like the money was not coming in on Instagram like it used to. And in 2020 - Okay, so maybe not then. Yeah. Maybe there wasn't family wealth there. Yeah, exactly.

40:35Christy Noel:It's very confusing because some people say that she does come from a lot of money, but she was trying to make ends meet at one point. So maybe she always had a backup, but she realized she needed to hustle a little bit more. So she was just picking up whatever she could. And in late 2020, she moved back to New York City after being in LA forever. She took on a nine to five as a social media manager for a tech company. And she was explaining, she's like, you know what? Like people often look at content creators like they have the most independence and freedom. And she says that like she was telling people in nine to five, she's like, you think you're a slave, but you're not.

41:07Christy Noel:When you're an influencer, you have chains on. And I can understand what she's saying. What an insane quote. Which is insane. Like I understand what she's saying, but it's like a crazy, the way that she worded it was not great. Like we're actually going to do a hot takes on Patreon, but I do think influencing is a hard career. Oh yeah. Did you see, I wrote that. Yeah. I wrote that down. I was like, I low key think being an influencer is really hard and I could never do it. And I do think that what she is saying is correct. Is that you, I wouldn't say you're, you're really a slave with chains on when you're an influencer.

41:36Cause that's a fucking insane thing to say.

41:38Christy Noel:It's one of the most privileged jobs. It's one of the easier jobs. It comes with a lot of stuff, but you have to admit it. It's a lot easier. Yes. Yes. But I understand what she's implying is that she always felt like she was working for her followers and never really turning off. I imagine is what she was saying. Right. Which I think is it. I understand. I get that. It's fair. But it's the way that she it was, again, extreme. She always has to say things so extremely. It was like not hitting in the way that she thought. But by late 2021, she basically fully stepped back from influencer life. And but she was laid off from her tech job in October 2021.

42:13Christy Noel:And she was like, I was resisting the urge to post through it because I wanted to really fully like take a step back from influencing. I wanted to completely remove that part of my life. And I wanted to just be normal. So she goes back and forth. Like she'll go on like a digital detox. She won't post, but then she goes back on. So in 2022, she started back again on a sub stack, originally titled Pet Hair on Everything, later rebranded as Offline Time. And she was writing about internet culture and her experiences while applying to like editorial jobs, being in the job market for the first time.

42:43Christy Noel:And she was a self-described performed ex-wellness influencer. And she would analyze digital life trends and she would push for healthier relationships with social media. Interestingly enough, her Substack launched in 2023 and her newsletter had roughly 20 ,000 subscribers. And a paid tier cost$5 a month, which means she was pulling$100 ,000 a month. That's like gross. Were all of those 20 ,000 paid subscribers? I actually don't know. But if they were, then that's a lot. Either way, that's. Either way. Even if we say half of those subscribers were paid, that's still like$50 ,000 a month. Even if we say five.

43:23Calculator back. Even if we say a quarter. She's bringing the calculator back out, you guys.

43:28Christy Noel:Even if a quarter of those subscribers were paid, still 25K a month. Like she was bringing in bank regardless. Yeah. But she insists. She's like, this sub stack is a creative outlet. But for me, this isn't about engagement. But in practice, that's not really true. But she said that she could see herself going back into those obsessive behaviors. Unlike, you know, Substack is you kind of you post and people can comment. But she's like, I started to become obsessed with what people are saying about my post. Like, again, obsessing over engagement all over again. In March 2023, she started hosting this online workshop to help other content creators leave influencing.

44:02Christy Noel:And again, people were like kind of hating on that. albeit this was a lot less expensive than her matcha workshops. So she would host one-time Zoom seminars, 15 people max at$40 each. And she says it wasn't about de-influencing or bashing wellness. Rather, it was like a career coaching seminar where she could help people translate their influencer skills onto like real-life jobs in your resume building. And she says she was like monetizing on the lessons she was learning from leaving social media. But people, of course, were always saying, oh, she's always painting herself like as a victim. Like you're always a victim.

44:35Christy Noel:You know, this is always like the role that you want to take. But to me, I'm kind of like, I think she was just trying to make a buck and she was doing it in kind of a desperate way. Yeah. I mean, anyone who does a fucking workshop, I'm immediately side eyeing. Me too. What is it about that, Sophie? There's something about workshops that I'm just like, no. And they have to pay. You're charging a lot of money for these like workshops. It's like what again, what credentials do you have? and the fact that again she's like here's how to stop becoming a content creator as I continue to create content exactly it's so meta right and so people were saying like she's an influencer offering a workshop to teach people how to stop being influencers while being an influencer for not influencing like yeah it's just very confusing and it was around this time where the New York Times did a profile on her in 2023 and this is when like everyone kind of came out of the woodwork and we're continuing to bash her.

45:32Christy Noel:And so it basically was just a puff piece on Lee leaving, influencing, coming back. And now she's trying to like be a normal girly that just posts on the internet, just like anyone else. And people were not happy with this puff piece. Someone said on Reddit, but this is a deleted username. I am tired of Lee and having her connections use her face as a permanent victim of social media. She has been on the internet spilling her gut since college, maybe even high school. She has rich parents who support her financially. Does the article touch on that at all anywhere? other than saying it's not true, but not able to explain how she continues to support herself with spotty work history in Brooklyn.

46:05Christy Noel:And it goes on to say like she has a distinct pattern. It's always the same issues that bubble back up. One being that her identity is still very much tied to being an influencer, but she's still very blind to her own privilege. She inevitably gets called out over and over. It's always everyone else that's the problem. Now she's hosting paid workshops on de-influencing and relishing in this New York Times narrative that paints her as some sort of expert. Just funny because she's obviously still influencing in some ways and hasn't actually moved on. And it's exactly like you're saying, like you're doing the same thing, but it's just packaged differently almost.

46:36But again, it's like, she is the most enlightened, evolved person. She knows better. She knows best.

46:44Christy Noel:Of course, right. Because she's the one who's evolved past being married to social media and she can show you just how to do it too. Like she is the Buddha, the Buddhist of this whole movement. Literally, she acts like she is Gandhi. Yeah, yes, she does. And it's, again, it's actually, yeah, it is just packaged differently. But she's talking the same kind of thing. In 2024, she starts making even more appearances talking about like influencing slash de-influencing. She even spoke at South by Southwest on two panels called De-influencing, the future of the creator economy and unfiltered examining the influencer business interaction.

47:21I need to know what that that panel de-influencing the future of the creator economy was about what like the the creator economy doesn't exist without influencers like what do you mean de -

47:33Christy Noel:correct it's like you can't talk about money without talking about banks you can't talk about finance without talking about JP Morgan like are you dumb no it's stupid it's stupid That's so silly. Moving on to more workshops. In September of 2024, she hosted an offline time retreat at the Omega Institute in New York. Isn't that like a fancy institute? I don't – I'm not like caught up on all the institutes. Yes. But like I believe it. This is crazy though what she was charging. Who's paying for this? So she was charging$400 and you have to pay – that's just for like the retreat. But if you want to sleep there, you have to pay an additional$230 to$820 for a room.

48:19Christy Noel:$520 minimum if you want a room with AC. Oh, thank you, Jordan. That is like con artist behavior. It's literally giving Lames Middleton. And Jordan just posted to our chat. She said, the Omega Institute is guided by world-class teachers and nearly 50 years of expertise. Omega creates the perfect environment for you to discover clarity, connection, and purpose. Did you watch OC, Real Hospice of Orange County this week yet? I know you're still getting caught up. I haven't watched it, but I know you're telling me to watch it. Yeah. So it just kind of reminds me of the retreat that Shannon led the ladies to, to the Golden Door located in San Diego.

48:55Christy Noel:It's like one of those holistic, like really wealthy retreats. It's also crazy because it's like this retreat is focused on being offline or like trying to be online less, I guess. and by all accounts, like she is still extremely online. I mean, just as online as ever, I would say her life still, her life and career is still revolving around social media, whether it's Instagram or sub stack, whatever it is, it's you are online. Yeah. Like if you want to be offline, just be offline. I know plenty of plenty of people that, oh my God, my, my cousin bestie, Janie, she was like, Instagram is bad for my mental health.

49:37So she just like deleted her Instagram. Like she, her account still like is there. Like she can like redownload the app one day, but she was like, it's bad for my mental health. She literally does not go on Instagram ever. She hasn't for like at least a year.

49:48Christy Noel:Right. And there are so many people, not so many people. I don't want to undermine what she's doing. Cause it actually takes a lot of work to actually do that and stick with it. But it is possible. Like it is possible, but she's, it's hard, but it's possible a lot of people do it a lot of people do it and it's just ironic that she continues to tout this de-influencing thing while still very much being on tiktok in fact i was on her tiktok last night just as i was doing research for the episode and she had this like voiceover like audio but it was talking about how like frustrated she is that girls on tiktok like don't know who she is when she's the one that invented influencing it's like you're still doing it not only did you were you in part of like inventing it you were probably one of the first trailblazers or whatever but like you're still doing it so stop acting like you're not part of that community oh my god that's so crazy it's weird what a goofball she is i think that's a perfect adjective or noun to describe her goofball she is goofy she's eccentric she's a little weird i think she would admit it i think she would agree and just like so hypocritical right so in 2025 she obviously still writing and speaking about online culture but she posted a tiktok on her whole thing with the jerf matilda jerf cancellation and she was just saying like oh my god you guys like it's for someone who was canceled like we need to give her some grace she was kind of like i wouldn't say she was standing up for matilda but she was more saying like as an influencer it's like so hard to be canceled and like i don't know just like acting as if matilda jerf wasn't being a freaking menace i got so annoyed by people with those takes during the matilda jerf of it all because it's one thing if it's like, I don't know, a minor offense that people are blowing out of proportion.

51:28But Matilda Juraf literally was so abusive to her employees that they were contemplating unaliving themselves.

51:35Christy Noel:Correct. That is not defensible. Like, just stay out of it. Shut up. Period. And I think we talked about this on the Matilda Juraf episode when they had her ex-employees on camera. They were so scared. It was like a true crime documentary. They didn't even want their faces to be shown. Terrifying. They were terrified of her. Like this is not just a woman who just kind of cyber bullies like one person. Maybe had like a really bad like old tweet when they were 15. Right. Not that. Like this is present day like being a demon from hell. Correct. And she was like not saying her behavior was bad. So it's like clearly you're on the wrong side of history with that.

52:09Christy Noel:Not only was she on the wrong side of history with a Matilda Juraf cancellation, but when Katy Perry and Gayle King and Lauren Sanchez went up to space a couple months ago, she wrote this thing on her sub stack and she was basically saying oh come on are you saying if you you wouldn't go to space if you were invited as she like twirls her hair and on her sub stack it reads you know in quotes real astronauts and women in stem go to space all the time and never make it a big deal got it so women should do big things quietly and demurely and if they haven't suffered for it they don't deserve it it's not about feminism it's about money people are struggling and this is just another out of touch flex by the ultra wealthy shoved in our faces so if a woman is visibly wealthy and not doing it quietly or charitably she's wrong cool they acted like this was some huge accomplishment for humanity it wasn't it was frivolous dot dot and we're back to square one so she's like okay so basically yeah these are like the quotes are like the people that are criticizing them and then she has like her clap backs like yeah good one good one lee and it's like you're not doing what you think you're doing it's just yeah it's just not it that take Like, thanks for your two cents, Lee.

53:15Wow. Right. You're really contributing a lot to the conversation and to humanity. Exactly. This episode is brought to you by Facebook. So you were scrolling on Marketplace and there it was, the bike you'd been searching for. You sent a message and it turned out the seller was super chatty, kind of funny, and an avid cyclist. The next thing you know, you're in a cycling crew. Well, a community cycling group. the thing about Facebook you might find more than what you're looking for from a browse to a bike ride this summer find more on Facebook hey Chicago class it up with Crocs you know back to school is coming in fast so why wait to find your new fave footwear step into a local Crocs store and step into your new look try it style Make it yours because the right pair doesn't just show up.

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55:00I actually wouldn't. Wait, but I literally, I wouldn't. Would you?

55:05Christy Noel:I don't even like going on roller coasters. Do you think my ass would want to go to space? Absolutely the fuck not. Let us know in the Spotify comments or on Instagram at snarkbaitpod. Would you go to space if you were given the opportunity for free? That would happen to me. I would be the one who would burn up while reentering the atmosphere and land in the Atlantic Ocean. They have to recover my corpse. That would happen to me. No, and the thing is, you and I are so obsessive about weird things like this. And we cover all stories like this on our Patreon, patreon.com slash snarkbaitpod. but like we will be the type of case that we would then obsess over if it weren't us.

55:38Exactly. Exactly.

55:40Christy Noel:That will be a story where we would like burn land of the Atlantic ocean. And then our corpse lies like washes up on the shore of New Zealand or something. And then we would like do a deep dive on it for our Patreon. 100%. This is why Sophie and I can talk about these things. We would never participate in crazy recreational activities such as this. No. When we were talking about, we did a recent Patreon episode on someone who unfortunately passed away while spelunking in a cave, John Edward Jones. We were like, it's really horrible. Caving spelunking is optional. So is going to space. It's fully optional.

56:14Christy Noel:Correct. Correct. She just every time she does something where she thinks she's being clever and funny, it just never hits. And that's just a prime example of her take about Lauren Sanchez at Al going to space. There are some allegations about people's IRL experiences with her. And this user on Reddit, agitated bath 2650. I knew her through mutual friends pre-influencer days. She was quirky, friendly, and pretty fun to hang out with from what I remember. Her head exploded when she became Lee from America and she definitely ditched a lot of her old friends. Some other person named Simple Judgment 1710 said, I ran into Lee at a movie theater in Brooklyn and said hello and told her I was a huge fan and she was so beyond rude and standoffish towards me.

56:55Christy Noel:The whole experience was upsetting and I was shook. and I have it on very good authority from a very good friend of mine who's in the influencing space. She even sent me a picture of her and Lee together. She's a menace. Like she's not a nice girl. Wow. So I believe these allegations about Lee from America, she just doesn't seem very nice. And I never get that. Like if you were to come up to me and it's happened one time at my dermatologist that I always like to talk about, you will make my day if you came up to me. Like that would seriously be the coolest thing ever. I don't know how that would ever get old for influencers.

57:31I completely agree with that. I think that at the same time, I think for us, we're small time. So like it's it's like kind of it's exciting for us no matter what. I also understand that like for bigger influencers or celebrities where this happens a lot, it could get annoying. And it also like I would personally never get with it. But like I could see how, you know, someone might just like have a bad day, for instance, And they're just like, oh, this is the last thing I need. I'm in a rush. I don't have time. Right. So if I hear like a one-off story of someone being like mean, I don't really like take it that seriously.

58:07I take it seriously if it's like a repeated pattern, if multiple people say this about them.

58:12Christy Noel:Right. Yeah. That's a good like distinguishment. The fact that I just heard it from my friend who I trust, I'm like, okay, I believe it. She's not a nice, not a nice girl. But what's interesting is like over the last couple of months since she's like, since I've been refollowing her especially when doing research for the episode I can tell she's starting to revert back to her old form she's like we're filming her workout routines her supplement routine she's sharing recipes and most importantly I can tell she's body checking like she'll be doing dances in her phone and I can tell she's trying to check I don't know if you guys don't know what body checking is we've talked about it like people that take pictures of themselves to make sure that like what they see on the mirror is like also correct in the phone and it's like a way to just make sure that just to make sure that your body looks as you believe it should or doesn't.

58:56Christy Noel:It's just I could tell she's like veering back into older behaviors and people are saying like, is she going back to 2019 Lee? And they're saying that with her book impending, you know, what's that going to do for her image? Is it going to be a big blame fest where she throws all of her followers under the bus? Because none of her behaviors were actually truly problematic. And she even went so far as doing a TikTok video recently that really took the internet by storm because she received a DM from someone basically saying, you know, I really don't like you because you contributed heavily to my eating disorder when I was struggling.

59:28Christy Noel:And I think that's an insane thing to write in someone's DMs, like point blank. I don't think one person or event is the reason for you to develop some kind of behavior or have some sickness. I think it's like certainly a contributing factor. So I don't condone what this writer said to her and her DMs. At the same time, she basically did a TikTok where she said, I did not give you an eating disorder. I looked at your bio and actually I show that you do like exercise and I was actually contributing to you doing something good for your body and I helped you implement better habits and it just felt very mean spirited.

59:59Christy Noel:It was weird. The clap back again, her clap backs never really holding weight. Yeah. Also the fact that like so many of those behaviors, whether it's exercising or eating healthier or whatever it is, can be categorized as an eating disorder, orthorexia. And so it's like her saying, I didn't give you an eating disorder. I actually made your life better. Yeah. And that's literally what she said. Yeah. I looked in your bio and I saw that you're really into exercising. So I must have done something right for you if you're doing something good for your body. Oh my God, that's fucking nuts. She's insane.

1:00:33Christy Noel:Yeah, it came off really mean. And it's like, well, you, Lee, from suffering from orthorexia and clearly an exercise addiction at one point, Like just because someone has in their Instagram bio that they love working out doesn't mean that that can't also be disordered. And also you have to hold some empathy for people that are coming to you. Like you don't have to necessarily clap back and they shouldn't have really said that to begin with. But like also you have to acknowledge that, yeah, what you were touting on the internet for years, people were seeing as gospel. Right. Like it's not her responsibility to like if someone gets an eating disorder from an influencer, it's not entirely the influencer's fault.

1:01:10you have to be able to manage what triggers you. So it's like I, and there are so many different factors that go into having an eating disorder. So it's like, it's not, it's not entirely her fault, but then like, at least you can respond to this person with grace and kindness if they are opening up to you like that and being vulnerable, I guess.

1:01:27Christy Noel:Right. And it's like one thing to be annoyed that someone posted you or gave you that DM, but it's another thing to like clap back so publicly on a TikTok. Right, right. And be so, what's the word I'm looking for? Offensive. Like - Offensive. just very defensive being defensive but it's like just take a step back and relax yeah like you don't need to respond to it like immediately like it's just mean yeah and it's mean spirited it's mean yeah and I think that speaks to like what people have told me about her what's interesting is she we recently come to find out that she you know at the age of 35 she's met her person which is great um she got engaged literally I think yesterday or she announced it on Instagram So June, excuse me, July 14th or 13th or no, this morning I pop up in my phone.

1:02:14Christy Noel:She's engaged to this man that she said that meeting him at 35 was the best thing that ever happened to me. But we did some like math. Jordan, our producer, looked it up. She just turned 35, I think, in February. It's now July. If she said in her Instagram caption that she met this man at 35 and she's only been 35 for five months, this means that they met in the last five months and got engaged within five months. that's crazy quick that's quick I mean if you know you know I guess but yeah that's that's quick I okay I get really annoyed by people that are like you have to like know someone for x amount of time because everyone has their own timeline but there is some quote that I like I can't remember where I heard it some influencer that was like you need to know someone for every season of life, winter, spring, summer, fall, like just one season at least like so at least a year is what a lot of people say before you like fully commit to them.

1:03:11Because like, you know, you're still in your honeymoon stage at five months in. But like, I don't know. Again, everyone has their own timelines and sometimes, you know, successful 45 year marriages. They were engaged for like five minutes.

1:03:23Christy Noel:Right, right. I don't even want to seem like I'm coming off judgmental. It's just like it's objectively very quick. and I think knowing her history of just living so extremely it troubles me that she is entering into a relationship so quickly because of the way that she lives like it like doesn't surprise me too do you know what I mean like she bounces from black and white she needs to be like all out for this one thing with her yoga with her average influencer like way of life how is that any different from who she decides to spend the rest of her life with after meeting him five months prior like it kind of is aligned with the way that she lives her life yeah everything is like an extreme yes yes nothing in moderation nothing is just like chill with her right and it was interesting i came across this post that she wrote about how when she would date when she was in her eating disorder wellness phase she said that she always had to make sure that the guy that she was dating fit her brand and i remember distinctly in like 2017 she started dating this guy who lived in sweden like i have no no fucking idea how they met but they would always document their like global like visits to one another she would go to sweden he would come to the u.s but i guess that definitely fit her brand her dating this like swedish european waspy guy but it seems like this guy fits the bill he very much she said that she doesn't really date if it's outside her brand and i guess this guy is an average average dude who fits her average influencer era now who's to say but so he's like on brand for her because that's like important yeah wow very interesting.

1:04:52Christy Noel:But her post that she wrote a couple days ago in July 2025, it's like this long-winded four or five paragraph Instagram caption. And it's like, enough. Oh my God. She is so Caroline Calloway coded with like the paragraph captions. Thinking of you and our love makes me weep. And I have many times the first few times I try to hide it from you. That's just one nauseating sentence that I had to point out. But it's like, it's too much. Like you can write this elsewhere. Also, Well, like five months in, I feel like everyone kind of feels like that with a new relationship. You're like, wow, this is like the most powerful love I've ever experienced.

1:05:28Then like real life happens. Right. Oh my God. She's crazy. Would you ever date someone that was off brand that like wouldn't look good on your grid?

1:05:37Christy Noel:Oh my God. I don't even know what's on brand for me anymore to be very fucking clear. Like it's been so long. I'm like, who even is on brand? What is on brand for Christy. You know, like the soft launch thing where it's like the guy's hand or whatever, like you just do that forever because you're like, no, like I can't show his face. He's not, he's not on, he won't look good on the grid. I'm like secretly married this whole time, but just, I don't tell the viewers or the listeners. I have a joint partnership or whatever. I don't know. No, I just like don't even, who is even like on brand for me.

1:06:10Christy Noel:I have no idea. Oh my God. Oh, well that's leave from America guys. Wow. Journey. She, she just like, I'm like exhausted from this because her lifestyle is so exhausting. Like I'm exhausted. She's exhausting. How would you put her in like the category of like most problematic to like least problematic of who we've. I think there's obviously something deeply nefarious about the way that she was operating on the internet, giving health and wellness advice without having qualifications and actually struggling with an eating disorder herself. Right. I think that is genuinely dangerous. Do I think she's like the worst person on the planet?

1:06:51No, I actually do commend her for kind of like recognizing that her persona in the past was really unhealthy for her. and that she had to take a step back. Like that's awesome that she was able to do that. I think now like having that whole like, I'm going to show you how to be offline, but I'm still online, but I'll show you how to be offline. Like that's crazy. It's crazy.

1:07:16Christy Noel:It's, I don't get it. I just think for me, her whole vibe, I don't see, because she was so into the health and wellness thing. I don't see her followers, if they followed her for that reason, And if they were diehards, it's because of the health and wellness. So I just don't see her following, like migrating with her. Like she was just so attached to like this wellness guru that like, if you're following her, it's because you're also attached to that lifestyle. So I don't see her audience translating or moving with her. Like she has to basically find a brand new audience that identifies with her whole brand of like being online, but also not, which is like very niche.

1:07:51Christy Noel:It's very niche. It's almost like too niche. We joke about like our show being niche because it is, but like there's so many people, we're like a dirty secret. you know right it's like a dirty secret or like influencer love or hate is a dirty secret like being offline and also being online no one can identify with that because we're all online babe all of us like the fact that you like need people to follow you and be online but you're telling them to be offline that's not a good business model no it's like the spider-man I mean we're like all of them are pointing at each other and it's like what are you trying to do who is your audience I think she's still trying to figure it out um but if she if she's making in raking in as much money as I calculated earlier with even 5 ,000 subscribers at$5 a month.

1:08:33I mean, yeah, it sounds like, I mean, if Substack is her new platform and it doesn't matter how many followers she has, if it just matters how many subscribers she has. And if she keeps that up, then like, good for her. She's set.

1:08:43Christy Noel:She's set. Like she can do that for the rest of her life and be okay. Yeah. Well, that's all she wrote. Do we have anything else, Sophie, that we need to talk about? No, I don't think so. You did a great job walking us all through. Thank you so much. as our resident LFA historian. Yeah, guys. And if you want to hear more, we drop bonus episodes on the Patreon every Wednesday. Yesterday we covered, as Sophie mentioned earlier, the Nutty Putty Cave. No, that was last week. Sorry. You're right. Oh my God. No, you're right. Sorry. We're kind of backlogging a bit of this. We did. We, okay. So we're recording from the past.

1:09:19Yesterday, while you're listening, yesterday will be hot takes on our Patreon. Some of our most controversial hot takes.

1:09:26Christy Noel:I know. I'm really excited for that one. I mean, it'll be funny. It's funny. If you're hearing this, it's hilarious. But yeah, bonus content every Wednesday, patreon.com slash snarkbait pod. We haven't recorded it yet, but we just know it's going to be hilarious. Because we're hilarious. Yeah. And we record all of our like main episodes you guys are listening to at free on the Patreon as well. And you can find Sophie at Sophie underscore Ross. I'm Christy Noel underscore underscore at snarkbait pod on Instagram. Thank you, Jordan, our producer, Rachel, our social manager, and Olivia, our researcher.

1:09:56Christy Noel:and we will see you guys on next week's Dark Energy Tuesday or on Patreon. Yeah. And then we never plug our TikTok, but we're also on TikTok at SnarkerPod. We always forget about our TikTok. So follow us there too. And we have like the after dark TikToks that don't make it on the Instagram reel. Yes. On our TikTok. Yes, we do. So go follow us there. And then like, if you feel like it, leave us a five-star rating and review, pretty please. Oh yeah. And we're also on YouTube. Oh my God, I'm plugging everything. Oh yeah, we're on YouTube too. We're just, you know, you can find us everywhere. we're everything everywhere, what is everywhere all at once?

1:10:30Well, I need to learn how to be more offline from leave from America.

1:10:34Christy Noel:I'm going to sign up for her seminar after this. I know. Okay. Thanks guys. Talk to you next time. Talk to you later. Bye. Bye. Bye.

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