Madison Beer Felt "Powerless" After Someone Leaked Her Snapchat Videos

CW: suicide mention

Over the past decade or so, people have been able to achieve fame and acclaim on the internet practically overnight. Whether you're the face of a new meme or become an internet sensation with your content, lightning can strike in miraculous fashion as the internet claims you as its latest and greatest star.

Of course, the age of the internet also means that even bad news and your private conversations can spread like wildfire before you even realize it. Madison Beer knows that better than most.

Madison Beer is a popular singer who first received attention in 2012 when one of her many song covers was shared by Justin Bieber. She would subsequently release her own debut single, "Melodies" in 2013 to kick off her own music career. She has since released several albums and appeared as part of the virtual League of Legends band K/DA while also appearing on shows like RuPaul's Secret Celebrity Drag Race.

Recently, however, she opened up about her harrowing experience with her Snapchat videos.

In the April 19, 2023 episode of Call Her Daddy, Madison Beer spoke with podcast host Alex Cooper about a traumatizing moment in her teen years when explicit videos that she had sent to someone were leaked online. According to Madison, she had been messaging a boy she liked from her hometown as her music career began to take off. The two of them had been using Snapchat at the time and Madison sent her former crush videos of herself thinking that they would be deleted shortly after being sent.

Much to her horror, she would later discover that he had been using an app called Snapsave, which saves any Snapchat content to your camera roll as soon as you open it.

"I just didn't think that the person I was sending this stuff to would remotely ever think to do something like that because this is someone I've known my whole life," Madison admitted. "I was wrong, obviously."

She later found out that her videos had been leaked from another person who informed her that her footage was online.

The videos eventually made their way to Twitter, Vine, and several other sources, sending Madison into "crisis mode". Madison had tried to reach out to the person she had sent videos to, but they quickly blocked her.

"I just [felt] powerless in the moment," she continued. "I'm just sitting and typing my name in quotation marks on Twitter to see everything that people are saying about me."

The ensuing trauma had driven her to attempt suicide twice. While she is now grateful that the attempts were unsuccessful, she now takes situations like this very seriously.

"My life was almost over," she told Call Her Daddy. "I almost died. I was almost dead because of all of this and it's a lot to comprehend."

She reportedly still remains traumatized by the incident and has since worked to manage her mental health. She reveals plenty more in her new memoir, The Half of It, due out on April 25.

If you or someone you know are experiencing suicidal thoughts, call, text, or message the 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline. Dial or text 988, call 1-800-273-8255, or chat via their website.