A woman who has more than three million followers on TikTok has revealed how she faked having cancer.
British influencer Brittany Miller, 29, of East Sussex, took to her social media page on Monday to share a groveling apology after her crime was exposed online.
The content creator, who shares one-year-old identical twins, Elijah and Emiliano, with her partner Ash Griffiths, lied about having the illness in 2017.
Three years later, in the July, she was convicted of fraud by false representation and given a conditional discharge for 12 months, reported The Sun. She was forced to pay compensation and costs to the Crown Prosecution Service.
A former friend anonymously claimed to the publication that Brittany set up a JustGiving page after saying she had stage three gastric cancer and urged her pals to share the fundraiser online.
‘Now people are following her and they have no idea what she is really like. Yes it happened years ago but lying about cancer is really wrong,’ said the ex friend.
‘Lots of her followers will have family members living with cancer but little do they know that every time they watch one of her videos, they are giving money to a fraud.’
However, Brittany – known for her comfort food content, including her love of jacket and roast potatoes – insisted in her apology video that a friend set up the fundraising page and she ‘didn’t take a penny from it’.
British influencer Brittany Miller (pictured), 29, of East Sussex, took to her social media page on Monday to share a groveling apology after her crime was exposed online
‘As soon as I saw there were donations – there were two donations – I immediately had the page shut down,’ claimed the influencer, whose partner and children regularly feature in her content.
The mother-of-two said she ‘deeply regretted’ telling one friend ‘in confidence’ that she ‘had an illness’ and insisted that she didn’t make up the lie for ‘malicious intent or to scam people’.
‘I did it to keep the people in my life close to me,’ claimed Brittany in the clip. ‘I don’t condone it, I understand why I did it, and I’ve learned from my mistakes… This was not a long running scam.’
The tearful influencer said she had been suffering from ‘extremely bad mental health’ and was ‘depressed and suicidal, and confused’ at the time, having lost both her partner and her job.
‘There was lots of things in that year that led me to be mentally ill,’ said Brittany, who claimed she was speaking her ‘truth’ to ‘put a stop to the people who are twisting and exaggerating what actually happened’.
Former friends have reportedly accused the influencer of deleting comments about her lie on her posts, but she said she ‘owed it’ to her followers to now be open about ‘a very difficult time’ that she ‘never wanted to talk about’.
‘Back in 2017 I had really bad mental health and I didn’t realise how bad but it was bad,’ she claimed.
During this time, she told a friend ‘in confidence’ that she ‘had an illness’, saying: ‘One stupid sentence that I deeply regret.’
The content creator (pictured in her apology video), who shares one-year-old identical twins, Elijah and Emiliano, with her partner Ash Griffiths, lied about having the illness in 2017
Brittany (pictured with her famliy) – known for her comfort food content, including her love of jacket and roast potatoes – insisted in her apology video that a friend set up the fundraising page and she ‘didn’t take a penny from it’
‘I said I had an illness, which was cancer. I didn’t do this for malicious intent or to scam people. I did this out of desperation and to keep the people in my life close to me.’
After explaining how one friend told another, which resulted in the fundraising page, she added: ‘I’ve grown from this.
‘I am working on being the best version of myself. It took me a long time to understand why I did it, and I forgive myself, because I was mentally ill.’
She continued: ‘And I am so deeply sorry to anyone who I have triggered, for saying what I said. This was years before I was on social media, I didn’t do this for likes or followers.
‘I know how horrible this disease is… I am so so sorry. I admitted what I did and I said sorry to the people that I hurt.’
Brittany – whose lie was brought to light by former friends – said she moved away from her hometown a year later, when she met her partner after getting a job with a fundraising company.
She said she is now ‘mentally well again’ and ‘so proud’ of where she is now compared to that ‘dark place’.
In recent months, Brittany’s parenting has also been questioned; she revealed how an anonymous troll had accused her of child abuse.
The mother-of-two (pictured) said she ‘deeply regretted’ telling one friend ‘in confidence’ that she ‘had an illness’ and insisted that she didn’t make up the lie for ‘malicious intent or to scam people’
In a video on her TikTok, she claimed someone had reported her to social services, and she then ‘got questioned about everything’.
‘The phone call was ended with no further action, obviously, they straightaway shut it all down,’ she said.
The influencer added: ‘People are so desperate for my downfall and bringing me down, but bringing my children into it is ludicrous – why would you want to do that to them, innocent babies?
‘Do what you want to me, whatever, but to them, innocent children who are clearly very happy and healthy babies, that’s crazy, you’re an actual weirdo, you’re an actual loser.’
She continued: ‘Never in a million years did I think I’d have to go through something like this.
‘Obviously, I’m in the spotlight, I get millions of views every video, I get it, there’s nasty people out there, I understand that… I just think, how cruel can you actually be? So, so cruel.’
For confidential support call the Samaritans on 116123 or visit a local Samaritans branch, or click here for details
