Brittany Jade Lied About Having a Deceased Child in a Deleted TikTok Video
Published Sept. 1 2022, 3:47 p.m. ET
With more than 2 million followers on TikTok and a couple hundred thousand on Instagram, Brittany Jade Szabo is a bona fide influencer. The social media star is well-known for using her platform to share her story of overcoming addiction as well as raising a family through it all.
However, the most recent reason why Brittany is making headlines has nothing to do with the positive aspects of her life. Instead, she recently posted (and deleted) a TikTok video that spurred quite a bit of controversy amongst fans. So, what did Brittany do on TikTok? Let's unpack all of the known details.
Brittany Jade and her husband Wyland lied on TikTok about having a deceased child — apparently to get a free Royal Caribbean cruise.
In a since-deleted video on her TikTok page that has been reposted by other accounts, Brittany and her husband, Wyland, staged a prank where they told their twin sons that they had a triplet who died.
The prank appeared to be done in an effort to win a free cruise. But as Insider notes, there's apparently a new trend on TikTok in which people record themselves pranking others with a fake story to see if they'll go along with it — which is likely what was happening in this video.
The video features Brittany, Wyland, and their twin boys, Levi and Cove, all together in a car. The parents can be seen telling their sons that they're trying to win a cruise trip. "So just go along with what we have to say, OK?" Brittany tells her twins.
Brittany then tells the camera: "We are entering to win your Royal Caribbean cruise for Levi and Cove’s birthday next month. And why we think we should be chosen to win is because they've been through a lot. ... When they were born, they had a triplet brother, who they lost."
Brittany tries not to laugh as Wyland adds: "They talk about him frequently but they never got to meet him, so this would just be an opportunity..."
"Yeah," Brittany adds, "they really miss their brother and it has caused them great emotional stress throughout their childhood grieving their triplet brother who they lost ... in the womb."
"Dad, we don't have a brother," one of the twins says.
"I know and that's the unfortunate part because we lost him so young," Wyland says, prompting Brittany to tell the camera: "They’re still in denial."
"What are you talking about? What are you talking about?" one of the boys interrupts.
"Your triplet," their mom says. "Lawrence," their dad adds.
Soon after, Brittany ends things by telling the camera, "In loving memory of Lawrence. Please, Royal Caribbean. Bless these boys on their birthday." Wyland concludes with: "We miss you, Lawrence."
The clapback was swift to Brittany's post, forcing her to apologize and make her accounts private.
The internet quickly went off on the influencer, slamming her for faking a tragedy and forcing her children to speak about it.
"Oooof this is bad. She joked about having a dead child?? Sometimes I’ve thought the criticism on her was a bit much but this just changed my mind," wrote a user on Redditor.
"Brittany Jade and her husband need to be dog walked," tweeted another person.
Due to the immense backlash from fans, Brittany opted to put both her Instagram and TikTok pages on private for the time being. She shared an apology post on TikTok where she said (per Your Tango), "We are extremely sorry to those who were hurt, triggered or offended by the context of that video." She also shared screenshots of personal apologies that she sent to individual users who were upset by her joking about a dead child.
She posted another apology video as well, which has been reposted by other accounts.
