Happy Monday! 

Ever since her appearance on “Feeding Starving Celebrities,” I’ve been thinking a lot about Charli D’Amelio and this new age of young stardom. As digital media has matured as a vertical of entertainment, we have had more discussions about the impact of viral stardom on young people, drawing parallels between them and traditional child stars, many of whom are often trapped in the “toddler to trainwreck pipeline,” as Disney alum Alyson Stoner once put it. 

While much has been written about spending one’s childhood as an internet star — Fortesa Latifi wrote the book on it — I think it’s interesting to see a glimpse of what Charli endured since she was, for a long time, the biggest creator on TikTok. As she and her family navigate their current tension, which appears to be a textbook stage parents vs. child star dispute, I think it’s worth taking a look at the most recent update to the drama below.

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In the six years that TikTok has dominated internet culture, big influencers have had their families rise to fame alongside them. As is often the case with young stardom, the money, opportunities, and status can impact those familial relationships, especially when parents become managers or business partners. 

It’s no surprise that some of TikTok’s earliest stars have become estranged from their families since those glorious Hype House days. And the platform’s biggest star from that era, Charli D’Amelio, has recently gone viral for giving viewers a small glimpse at her current relationship to her parents. 

While on Quen Blackwell’s “Feeding Starving Celebrities” series, Charli alluded to her rumored feud with her parents, which was made public in May of this year after reports that her family had transferred millions of dollars out of her accounts. Quen had asked her how much money she made off of her collab merch with Dunkin. 

“Ain’t that the question?” Charli said, turning to the camera with a sarcastic smile before dropping into a frown. “Wouldn’t I like to know?”

Throughout the history of show business, there have been countless instances of parents taking their kids’ earnings and leaving them with little. So it’s no surprise that a dispute like this would arise in the TikTok generation, although we are now in a time when everyone can share their side in real time. 

Marc D’Amelio, family patriarch and CEO of D'Amelio Brands, has said that Charli is being “manipulated” and said the reports of financial disputes were “100% not true.” He also went on TikTok Live in May to give his perspective on the situation, saying that “going through this process was never about money.” 

“It was always just about having this crazy awesome experience with my family,” he continued.

But that experience was not always “crazy awesome” for Charli, who in the same “Feeding Starving Celebrities” episode shared the brutal criticism she received and unreasonable expectations she faced at the peak of her fame. She addressed her infamous vaping scandal, during which she received major backlash after a video of her vaping at 16 went viral. 

“It was really scary,” she admitted. “I thought my life was over. And you know how [viewers] were, a man could like backhand someone and everyone’s like, ‘Guys, he’s having a rough day.’ Me, I like stub my toe and they’re like, ‘Die, you witch!’”

If you weren’t there during this period of TikTok, it’s hard to conceptualize how much people were nitpicking Charli’s every move. But Marc’s words echo those of so many stage parents before him, many of whom insisted that the hard work and long hours their children endure in the entertainment industry are things they want. Only now, the parents can also become personalities themselves, forming platforms off the backs of their kids’ fame. 

I’d be curious to hear from the other young TikTok stars in Charli’s class who also brought their parents along for the ride. For her part, Charli’s sister Dixie D’Amelio has taken her parents’ side, so her experience may have been different. 

But I’d love to hear, say, Addison Rae’s account of her sudden fame and its impact on her family. Her parents grew their own followings at the height of her TikTok fame and her dad Monty Lopez tried to become a “dadager” and businessman off of her success. After some high profile breakup drama involving Monty and Addison’s mother Sheri, leading to Addison unfollowing and distancing herself from her parents, the family has apparently been estranged. Most recently, Monty received backlash for allegedly faking his own death, which Addison did not comment on.

Addison is a pop star now, so it’s unlikely we’ll get any stories about this any time soon. Still, she and Charli are two of the most prominent stars of the TikTok generation. In the years to come, I’m sure we’ll hear more about what it was like from its biggest influencers. We’ve seen similar retrospectives from OG YouTubers and Viners before. But even with these small peeks into what it was like behind the scenes, it’s clear that the machine of child stardom has simply reinvented itself. 

Every Monday letter gets a playlist. The trip hop revival is alive and well. Here’s some bangers, new and old.

In this week’s playlist:

Other things I want to share with you.