Mother accused of telling her young child to send knickers to old men
She has denied all the allegations.
‘My daughter came home and asked me why old men liked to smell underwear. I was like, “Where did you get this?”
For Corinne, this was just another disturbing day in her former life as a child influencer in 17-year-old LA-based social media star Piper Rockelle’s infamous squad.
Engineered in 2018 by Rockelle’s mum, Tiffany Smith, 44, the squad was a rotating cast of Rockelle’s friends and aspiring child stars who racked up billions of views and millions of dollars by posting videos of their antics, from elaborate pranks to navigating crushes, online.
But there was a harrowing dark side to their seemingly innocent internet fame that resulted in 11 former members suing Smith for alleged abuse, including harassment and molestation. They later settled out of court for $1,850,000 (£1.45m), but Smith continues to deny the accounts of the former squad members and their parents.
Before exiting the squad, Corinne recalls visiting the post office with Smith to drop off packages. As you would expect, the trip was unremarkable. That was until Smith allegedly pulled out a bag of what looked like Rockelle’s underwear.
Get personalised updates on all things NetflixWake up to find news on your TV shows in your inbox every morning with Metro’s TV Newsletter.
Sign up to our newsletter and then select your show in the link we’ll send you so we can get TV news tailored to you.
‘I asked her, “Why are you shipping those out? And she told me that old men like to smell them. I was confused,’ she claims in Netflix documentary Bad Influence: The Dark Side of Kidfluencing, which details the distressing allegations made against Smith.
Later that day, still confused, Corinne sought answers from her horrified mother, Steevy Areeco.
Areeco claims she confronted Smith. ‘And she was like “Ugh, stop being so dramatic”,’ she says.
And she was not the only parent concerned with Smith’s alleged interactions.
In 2017, Heather, the mother of former squad member Sophie, recalled a social media post of Rockelle being surrounded by piles of gifts sent from a fan, known as Megan, for her 10th birthday.
Sophie had assumed Megan was a young female fan of Rockelle and the squad before learning that he was an ‘older male’ who posed online under a false identity.
Sophie, pictured with Rockelle, claims Smith made sexual advances (Picture: Netflix)Heather recalls Smith telling her about Megan, who sent Rockelle outlandish presents, including Gucci bags, computers, iPhones and cameras, describing him as Rockelle’s ‘stalker.’
‘[She told me] you can get stuff too if you send him stuff too if you send him pictures. It’s nothing bad. It’s just extra pictures from photo shoots,’ she claims.
Sophie claims that Smith made sexual advances on her and fellow former squad members, Claire and Reese, ‘a lot.’
One evening, she alleges that she woke up in bed and found Smith on top of her ‘rubbing her hand all over my body.’
In tears, she continues in the Netflix documentary: ‘I remember being so scared, and so I started locking my door.
The squad was a rotating cast of Rockelle’s friends and aspiring child stars (Picture: Netflix)‘It still affects me to this day. I don’t know if I should say this, but I sleep with a knife next to my bed because I’m so scared of somebody breaking in or coming in my room from that.’
Reese also remembers an alleged similar disturbing experience. She claims that Smith once told her: ‘I have my pants down, do you want to come and look?’
She refused, and put her hand over her eyes to prevent herself from being ‘traumatised’ if Smith was naked from the waist down while she attempted to find her way out of the room.
When Reese found the door and opened her eyes, she claims Smith ‘grabbed’ her and pulled her onto a bed, where she proceeded to move her hand across her ‘face, chest and everywhere’ before breaking free and ‘running out of there.’
In footage included in the Netflix documentary, Smith was also captured on camera kissing then 17-year-old former squad member Raegan Beast during a livestream.
Raegan recalls: ‘She forced herself on me. I was shocked.’
Rockelle is still an influencer and has millions of followers across her platforms (Picture: Netflix)Smith had previously made Raegan feel uncomfortable when she allegedly told him that he was ‘going to be so sexy when you’re a little bit older.’
On social media, Smith encouraged members of the squad to engage in ‘Crush’ content, which is when two young people document their relationship, real or manufactured, for their audiences.
It plays into the popular online trend of ‘shipping’, a name given to the desires of fans for two or more social media stars or celebrities to start a romance.
Smith would hold auditions for the squad’s prospective ‘crushes’.
Sophie recalls her ‘ship’ with Jentzen and allegedly being instructed to pose and hug in sexually suggestive ways for social media videos.
She claims: ‘Off camera, it was even more sexual. [Smith] was asking us when we were doing more than kissing, and that really threw Jentzen and me off because I was 12 and Jentzen was 13 or 14.
Rockelle’s mum Smith was sued by former squad members, and it was settled out of court (Picture: Wil R/Star Max/GC Images)‘We don’t want to be doing these things that you’re telling us to do, and it was weird.’
Smith and Rockelle, via their lawyer, declined to be interviewed or provide a comment when approached by Netflix. Metro has also approached Rockelle for comment.
Smith has publicly denied the accounts of the former squad members and their parents.
The former squad members and their parents said they launched the lawsuit to prevent other children from working with Smith.
They are also concerned for Rockelle’s welfare.
Rockelle is still influencing and has over 6M followers on Instagram and over 12M on YouTube.
‘I genuinely hope Piper realises what she’s in and gets out,’ Sophie says.
Bad Influence: The Dark Side of Kidfluencing is available to stream on Netflix tomorrow.
Got a story?
If you’ve got a celebrity story, video or pictures get in touch with the Metro.co.uk entertainment team by emailing us [email protected], calling 020 3615 2145 or by visiting our Submit Stuff page – we’d love to hear from you.
