[pop music]
PIPER ROCKELLE: I have it down to,
like-- it-- like, it only takes me 30 minutes top,
hair and makeup.
I felt like when I first dropped my OnlyFans,
I was thinking a little bit too much like, oh my god,
I need to have this kind of photo and this kind of photo.
But I came to the realization that I've never really explored
just being completely natural and just being, like, you
know, this is me, chilling.
[laughs] You want me to be honest?
Probably just like a foot pic.
Like, it'll be, like, $3K just to see a foot.
KELLEY CARTER: Piper Rockelle, for months, literally counted
down to her OnlyFans debut.
January 1, the life is going to change just a tad bit.
I'm going to get a little bit of--
January 1, Piper is going to be the same human, just
with extra link in her bio.
KAT TENBARGE: Piper doing her own countdown clock
is rewriting the narrative.
She's the one counting down to her own coming of age.
Hey, it is Piper Rockelle, and welcome to my vlog.
KELLEY CARTER: A lot of people knew her as a kid,
but now we're seeing her as an OnlyFans model
who is revealing a lot more.
FORTESA LATIFI: Piper Rockelle was the biggest
kid influencer of the 2010s.
WOMAN: She grew up as a child in this limelight,
and she didn't know how her fans were going to take it.
She didn't want them to think any less of her.
Your whole [bleep] hanging out.
I did not raise you to do this shit!
KELLEY CARTER: Her move from child
star to a sex symbol OnlyFans model was a shocking success.
FORTESA LATIFI: Piper claims that she made $2.9 million
in her first day.
That is an astronomical amount of money,
even within OnlyFans world.
A lot of OnlyFans creators refer
to themselves as sex workers.
I don't really-- if they want to call me that, they go ahead.
I don't-- I don't care.
I'm proud of what I'm doing right now, believe it or not.
JUJU CHANG: So why did Piper turn to OnlyFans?
It may have something to do with a massive scandal and lawsuit.
It involves her mother and allegations
of abuse and exploitation.
FORTESA LATIFI: Until the lawsuit came out,
Piper was really the golden girl of kid influencers.
And so for these claims to come out
against her mother and her mother's boyfriend really
changed everything.
When you say you lost everything, what did you lose?
I lost who I was.
I lost my whole entire business, my whole entire future.
If all of that hadn't happened,
do you think you would be doing OnlyFans?
Um.
[ding]
[upbeat music]
It's a little bit looser than I expected.
Oh, yeah.
Hi.
It's me, Piper.
I just want to say, thank you so much for all your love
and support.
And since you're spoiling me so much,
it's time for me to spoil you.
So I hope that you enjoy these photos for today.
Bye.
Are we good?
CREW: [muffled speech]
What made you think about going on OnlyFans?
Once I did turn 18, I was like, where
do I want my life to go?
What if I become an actor or a singer?
But then I kind of thought about it.
I was like, I don't think that that's for me.
I'm never going to have a good reputation.
I'm never going to have a clean slate.
I don't really want a clean slate.
You said that you thrive off the hate.
PIPER ROCKELLE: I do.
I wouldn't be here if I didn't get hated on for so long,
or if I wasn't--
I'm like this crazy, talked about child,
I wouldn't be here still.
JUJU CHANG: What was your first day's earnings?
PIPER ROCKELLE: I made a million in an hour, which was so crazy.
And then at the end of the night, it was almost, like, 3,
almost.
In one day?
It was crazy.
Obviously, there was a side of me that was like,
OK, this could happen, but I didn't
expect it to actually happen, and it was beyond crazy.
There are some people who think
you might be inspiring young people to do this kind of, I
don't know, adult content.
What do you say to that?
That, like, some people see you as a role model?
I mean, sure.
If you guys want to look up to me, you can.
But I'm very realistic with everybody,
and I let them know that you're not
going to make this much money, unfortunately,
unless you are willing to commit and actually
put your life at risk.
What do you mean putting your life at risk?
You're going to lose friends. You're going to lose people.
You might lose the people around you.
You might lose your family. You might lose a lot of things.
And it's not all glamorous and amazing.
[music playing]
And here's my messages where I can, like, chat with people.
So this is, like, for my VIP members.
Like, they get a lot of stuff.
I do, like, customs.
And then they get, like, VIP access
and just personalized video messages,
which are so much fun to do.
It's got pretty good likes, pretty good likes.
It does seem that a lot of the people who are consuming content
on OnlyFans, especially of really young girls like Piper,
who is only 18, are older men.
KAT TENBARGE: It's always just been
adult men who are sort of leering
after these barely legal women.
As a culture, we fetishize youth to such an extreme degree.
And what we're really fetishizing there is innocence.
Does it trouble you that a lot of your fans are older men?
I mean, it's not--
I don't really think about it that much.
I don't think about it like that.
Do you think of it as embarrassing yourself?
I don't think it's embarrassing myself, but it is--
like, when people ask me what I do, I don't say,
like, oh, I'm an OF model. You know what I mean?
I don't say that.
I just say, I'm an entertainer, you know what I mean?
[upbeat music]
(SINGING) It's really out of date
FORTESA LATIFI: Piper was born to her mother, Tiffany Smith,
in 2007 in Georgia.
And by the time she was three years old,
she was competing in pageants.
I remember just watching Toddlers & Tiaras on my TV
on my bed, and I was like, I want to do pageants.
My mom's like, OK, let's do it.
I am Piper's grandma.
She calls me Mimi, and I'm a very important person to her.
DESTINEE SMITH: So cute.
Look at this one here.
Look at that face.
It makes me want to cry.
Always just knowing how to pose.
Gorgeous.
DESTINEE SMITH: Tell me she wasn't born to be a star.
Look at her.
DONNA HEALY SMITH: Look at her.
It got to a point where she won so many
pageants that they wouldn't allow her
in the little local pageants.
Because when people would call up and say,
is Piper going to be in the pageant?
Because if she is, we're not doing it, because she would win
every one of them all the time.
I am DeeDee, and I'm Piper's aunt, number one aunt actually.
Her father was uninvolved.
He freaked out when he found out Tiffany was pregnant,
and, you know, he went off and did his own thing.
Tiffany was really just trying to make things work,
and it was pretty quickly that she saw that Piper
had some kind of star power.
There's something about her, and you
can't put your finger on it.
But people are drawn to her.
FORTESA LATIFI: Her mother started posting videos of her
on YouTube.
And by the time she was eight years old,
she was getting millions of views on YouTube videos.
Tiffany was the quintessential stage mom.
She's a momager.
KAT TENBARGE: But what Tiffany does
is actually take that stage parent role a step further.
Because she's not just on the sidelines,
she's also the one behind the camera
directly calling the shots.
FORTESA LATIFI: I think Piper and Tiffany were
really surfing that YouTube wave that was happening at the time.
People were starting to realize just how
much money was in social media.
There was-- was it a slime video, right?
Well, like my first ever video?
Your first, big, viral video. PIPER ROCKELLE: Yeah, yeah.
Hey, guys.
It's Piper Rockelle.
Today, we are going to be making fluffy slime.
KAT TENBARGE: Slime was, like, having a moment.
And so when Piper started making content like that,
she was able to suddenly start racking up views
and followers really quickly.
Tiffany has the creative mind, and Piper has the,
she just wants to do it.
Today we're going to be playing Hedbanz.
We are going to be filling this huge bathtub.
We're filling it with ramen noodles.
Hey, guys.
Welcome to my night routine.
Today is the 4th of July.
FORTESA LATIFI: Young kids these days aspire to be influencers.
And so Piper was this girl next door who had
achieved their wildest dreams.
Anywhere we went, people would approach her.
Can I take a picture with you?
Can I touch you?
We couldn't even go to Walmart without people recognizing her.
Thank you guys so much for watching.
Make sure you like, subscribe, turn on those notifications.
Los Angeles, I'm coming for you.
So around 2017, Piper began this band of other child
influencers to join her.
So it was called Piper Rockelle and The Squad,
or The Squad for short.
I'm not doing this alone.
I'm inviting my whole entire squad over today.
Come in, girls.
[cheering]
FORTESA LATIFI: In one of my interviews with her,
she told me that that pressure was kind of intense.
She really was like the sun of The Squad,
and everyone else just like, revolved around her.
A few years after The Squad was created,
the kids are getting a little older,
and you start seeing this proliferation of, like, crush
content where the kids are revealing who
they have a crush on, or they're even, like, kissing each other.
Piper's mom was the boss.
She was the boss of Piper.
And when it came to the Piper Squad,
she was also the boss and really, like, the caretaker
of all these other kids.
You're going to be getting kissed.
This has been going on for too long.
Who do you actually like?
Me or Lev?
Those crush videos, some people thought inappropriate.
Sure.
You know, people can think that for sure.
I was cool with everything.
I think that we just made a lot of amazing content,
and I would never change the way that I went about, like,
the whole YouTube thing.
Because I think it was just one of the greatest things
that ever happened to me.
KAT TENBARGE: Piper was kind of reaching like
a stratospheric level of fame.
There were reports that you were
earning somewhere in the $400,000
to $500,000 a month range.
You were paying for the mortgage.
You were paying for most of the household expenses.
How old were you when you realized you were
the breadwinner in the family?
I don't know.
I never really thought of it that way, kind of.
I just felt like it was a team effort.
I didn't just think that this was my thing,
and all this money is mine.
On its face, the idea sounds crazy.
Like, hey, I'm just going to drop you off
at some random woman's house.
You're going to make YouTube videos all day.
These parents and kids understood
how much potential there was in being in the Piper Squad.
What was your schooling like?
I was home schooled my whole entire life.
Everyone was kind of worried around me,
that I wasn't going to get the proper socialization,
not going to public school.
But I had lots of friends.
There are pretty carefully crafted child labor
laws that protect child actors.
They do have to have tutors.
They can't be overworked.
Legislators haven't been able to craft laws to protect
child content creators.
It's just not there yet.
It's there in about five states.
And even if you look at those laws, they don't go far enough.
Piper was homeschooled, and she says that she was protected.
Her money was protected.
And so she didn't endure some of the things
that I think people are fearful that-- that child stars endure.
When I think of the child actors of my youth,
I think of Hilary Duff.
But really, I think of Lizzie McGuire, right, the role
that she played.
Whereas when you think of Piper Rockelle or other child
influencers, you think of them.
And there's just no delineation between their actual lives
and their online lives.
Some of your critics say, well, you know,
Piper never got to be a kid, that your childhood was all work
or maybe even worse, a facade.
I had one of the best childhoods.
Like, I wouldn't change it.
I had to become the person that I am today.
I'm the luckiest person alive, honestly.
FORTESA LATIFI: In 2021, you saw The Squad really changing.
So lots of members were leaving, and there
was kind of this mystery around, like, why
would anyone leave The Squad?
KAT TENBARGE: You started to see things really crumble
on an interpersonal level between parents and kids
in The Squad and Tiffany, Piper, and Hunter.
And you saw this divide emerge where a lot of parents and kids
who had previously been a part of the Piper Squad
were like, hold on a second.
I'm now seeing how inappropriate and inequitable
some of this behavior was.
The world had seen The Squad on YouTube, online for years.
But little did anyone know that there was
much more beneath the surface.
FORTESA LATIFI: In 2022, 11 former members of the squad
filed a lawsuit, and they alleged
emotional, verbal, physical, and at times, sexual abuse.
They sought $22 million in damages.
And the claims in the lawsuit are incredibly harrowing.
When the lawsuit actually came out,
it absolutely made national headlines.
This young lady has amassed more than 10
million followers on YouTube, shooting
silly videos with her friends.
Now Lisa Guerrero reports some of those now former friends
and their parents are suing.
The Squad lawsuit was against Tiffany,
Piper Raquel Inc, which is Piper's
company, and then Hunter Hill.
All right, Pablo, we're looking for Picasso.
KAT TENBARGE: Hunter Hill, he comes into The Piper
squad as, like, a videographer.
And on camera, he is identified as Piper's brother.
Behind the scenes, he begins to be
in an actual romantic sexual relationship with Tiffany.
So that's really confusing on multiple fronts.
MAN: We do have some business that we have to do now,
and this is-- this is emotional, and this is obviously difficult.
When the lawsuit happened, we were very angry.
And I, you know, nervous breakdown.
We didn't know what was going to happen.
It was awful to watch what it was doing to Tiffany,
what it was doing to Piper.
When I was, like, 14 through 16, even 17, you know,
that whole entire span of my life was just complete--
like, the lowest, ever.
If I ever came face to face with any of them,
I would completely just fall apart, because you know,
they knew, like, the-- the--
the strain that they were probably putting on my life.
And most of them just gained, you know, from that.
I lost everything, so it's OK.
I'm just happy that they're all well, you know?
And I'm well too, so we're all good.
And I don't wish them any bad things.
[bubbling]
FORTESA LATIFI: In 2025, Netflix dropped this documentary
that was called Bad Influence.
It was number one on the Netflix charts
for what seemed like forever, and it was really
an inside look at this lawsuit and these allegations
against Tiffany Smith and the world of kid influencing.
Some of the allegations there were unlawful touching,
emotional abuse, sexual abuse.
It ran the gamut.
Some of the things that really stood out to me
were allegations that Tiffany had
been abusive to the children, specifically allegations
around sexual misconduct.
SUNNY HOSTIN: On page 14 of the complaint, it states, "Ms.
Smith also inappropriately touched plaintiff Clair E,
rubbing her exposed thighs, constantly spanking and/or
slapping her buttocks, sticking her finger/poking
her anus over her clothing."
We actually hear Claire describe on the Netflix docuseries
what she says she experienced.
She was on top of us on her hands and knees, like,
pinning us down, saying that she was a mountain goat, and then
she was like-- she would howl.
Did you watch the Netflix series?
- No. - No?
Mm-mm.
That's interesting, because there's-- you know, the lawsuit
had serious allegations in it.
Absolutely.
All of these allegations that were
lodged mostly against your mom, are you saying they're untrue?
No.
I'm never going to discredit anybody.
I'm just going to say, I have never witnessed anything,
and I have never went through that.
And I was always with my mom.
And I love my mom, and so I'm never going to speak for them.
And I wish that they could have been kind enough
to never speak for me.
Former Squad members in the documentary
said she's a victim of her mother,
and that they're there for her if she needs to get out.
She doesn't even realize it right now.
CLAIRE: I know. - She thinks that's normal.
So, like--
CLAIRE: And that's so sad.
Her mom is in her ear all the time.
And if she's watching this right now, hey, it's not normal.
They said they think that you're a victim,
and you don't realize it.
I'm glad that they think that.
I'm really glad.
I'm-- I'm just so happy they have freedom of speech.
But obviously, you don't see it that way?
Nope.
In the documentary, if they didn't use Piper's name,
if they just used Tiffany's name,
would anybody have tuned in to watch it?
KAT TENBARGE: People were now associating Piper herself
with all of these really heinous allegations against Tiffany,
and nobody wanted to watch Piper Rockelle content because they
now associated it with being a really
abusive and toxic environment.
They weren't suing you, though, obviously.
It was my company. It was me.
Who has $22 million in my family?
They're suing me.
They-- they wanted to take the Rockelles down.
Cool, understandable.
Totally cool.
And you did.
You did a good job.
So--
JUJU CHANG: And yet, there's no estrangement
between you and your mom.
You guys are living together. PIPER ROCKELLE: No.
I think-- you know, I think a lot of people
think that this whole entire thing would definitely bring us
farther apart, but this whole entire thing has
just made me closer to her, so.
JUJU CHANG: Their bond has been strong from the early days.
We've seen a lot of it captured on camera.
I wanted to show you this clip on my phone.
You did Dance Twins.
TIFFANY SMITH: How are you feeling?
Good. How are you feeling?
You got cat hair all over you.
Well, we got 16 cats, so.
15.
Yeah.
Hi.
I'm Tiffany, and this is my beautiful daughter, Piper.
She's the fun mom.
Like, every kid wants to hang out with her.
Pow, wow.
[laughs]
She's my best friend.
She refers to you as her best friend.
Yeah.
You were, like, a child.
Yeah.
I didn't grow up with a dad or anything, so.
I'm sorry.
Are you OK?
[slow music]
It just, like-- it sucks that I have to sit here and, like,
talk about this.
Like, it's just, like-- it's really agitating.
Because, like, I just think about my life,
like, such a good thing.
And, like, my-- It's just always,
like-- it's sad to think about when you're first starting,
and you don't know how your life's going to play out.
And, like, you know, it just would have been-- if I could
have told her, like, how the world would think of her now
and, like, how they would think of her family, it would just--
but it would make her sad.
And I feel like it's my fault a lot, because--
Why is it your fault?
Well, because if I never got into, like,
the entertainment space, I think that, you know,
my mother and my family would have a lot more respect.
But because I wanted to do this, you know,
it dragged everyone down with me.
And it just-- it-- it just--
I don't know.
I think I just had to get that out.
I'm sorry.
So the lawsuit was settled in 2024.
It was settled for $1.85 million,
which is a far cry from the $22 million in damages sought.
Tiffany Smith, Hunter Hill, and Piper Rockelle Inc
never admitted to any wrongdoing.
When that was happening, it was my lowest
of my whole everything.
I didn't think that I was going to make it to 18 years old,
because I thought that I was going to, like--
Oh, honey.
Yeah.
So when people do talk about it, it's, like, so not fun at all.
They gained from that.
I lost.
And I have to get reminded about it a lot.
But I just wish they would have maybe thought about how
it could have affected me.
After the lawsuit was filed, YouTube
demonetized Piper's channel.
At the time, Piper and Tiffany, they're making about
$300,000 to $400,000 a month.
So that is a significant loss.
So all of a sudden, her main source of income was gone.
And not only that, but her other sources
of income, like brand deals or sponsorships, those vanished.
And Piper actually told me that at one point,
her mom told her, just go out in public
and say that you're against me.
It doesn't have to be true.
But just, like, go save your career.
And Piper refused to do that.
So what does Piper do?
She pivots, and she leaves that young girl behind.
FORTESA LATIFI: Around when she was 16, 17, Piper's content
changed.
She was posting these photos that
were-- that were very suggestive, and also
with captions that were kind of, like, teasing the idea that she
might join OnlyFans, or she would do content
with famous OnlyFans creators.
She says she doesn't want to blame her joining OnlyFans
on her YouTube being demonetized,
but I think it's difficult to look back at her life
and not see that as a huge turning point.
I think she had a very limited set of choices,
and OnlyFans seemed like the most lucrative and most obvious
decision.
I'm doing my first ever collab on OnlyFans,
which I'm super excited about with Sophie
Rayne and Aishah Sofey.
They're, like, the two hottest little girls ever, women.
I love them so much.
We just went on a little trip together,
and we took some photos, and it was so much fun.
Like, so, so, so much fun.
So I had the best time ever.
JUJU CHANG: How would you say the OnlyFans
feed is different than what's out there socially?
PIPER ROCKELLE: All I got to say is that you could
go see, you know what I mean?
Your OnlyFans has no nudity?
I mean, no, not yet at least.
I'm not shutting that door because I'm
very comfortable with who I am, but nothing yet.
I just started.
It's literally only been a month.
I love to show my body, and I show my body on Instagram.
If show that much on Instagram, I'm obviously
doing more on OnlyFans.
But you do do personalized services,
like chatting with people and--
Of course.
[slow music]
It's successful people.
It's lonely people.
I don't care who they are, but I care for them as an individual.
And I just-- I want to make them more happy.
If that's what they want.
If they want me to be mean to them, sure.
I don't care.
Like--
Part of the business model with OnlyFans
is that these models are able to message their subscribers
directly, and that is really a big part
of where the money comes from.
So the messaging that she sends to her subscribers is racy.
They're very sexual.
They're very teasing in nature.
JUJU CHANG: So you're single now?
Oh, yeah, I'm single now.
I want to stay single for as long as I'm doing,
you know, OnlyFans and stuff like that.
I just don't think that it's fair to people.
We've talked about all that you've lost.
If all of that hadn't happened, do you think
you would be doing OnlyFans?
Um, I really don't know.
I mean, truthfully, there's a lot of times where
in that whole midst of things, where I wanted to give up.
So, it wasn't like, oh, I got to make money or nothing.
I'm totally cool with also having nothing and no one.
I don't think that I'll continue to be doing YouTube.
Even if I had my YouTube right now,
I think that I probably would have--
I would have grown out of it.
[pop music]
KELLEY CARTER: There's a lot of speculation
out there about whose decision it was ultimately
for Piper to join OnlyFans.
Was it solely her decision or was it her mother who
has been her longtime manager?
Is it your mom deciding, or are you deciding?
It's never been my mom deciding.
How many times can I let you guys know, like, I'm OK?
That I've never been abused.
I've never been forced to do anything.
KAT TENBARGE: It is a big question
how much influence Tiffany still has in Piper's life.
DESTINEE SMITH: And Piper definitely still
comes to her mom for advice, but Tiffany never tells Piper what
she should or should not do.
Piper has her own mind.
She makes her own decisions.
What did your grandma say when you told
her you're going on OnlyFans?
In honor of me just dropping my link,
I'm going to show my grandma the first set I posted.
I'm scared.
[mutters] Your whole [bleep] hanging out.
I did not raise you to do this shit.
My family's the most supportive thing ever.
I do make her a character where she, like, wants my money,
but like, I'm literally making her, like,
a money hungry grandma for my-- like, for the entertainment.
It's the funniest thing ever.
JUJU CHANG: I heard you bought your grandma a car too.
PIPER ROCKELLE: Yes. I did.
Who do I have at the end of the day, you know what I mean?
It's just myself and my family.
So as long as I can provide, I'm really good.
Mimi, what are we doing today?
Going to get a car with my granddaughter's butt money.
PIPER ROCKELLE: Spending this amount of money does hurt me,
but I'll just make it back in an hour.
DONNA HEALY SMITH: She paid my house off, number one.
And this was before she started OF.
She bought me a Bronco, and she said that she doesn't
want me working anymore.
I'm not going to fight with her.
I just think, like, it's like the next thing.
I mean, you can't be 18 and, like, doing pranks on people
and dancing on TikTok forever.
I am very proud of the decision she made.
It is a lot of money, and I'm happy for her.
She deserves it.
And she's not doing anything terribly wrong.
Do you ever feel like the lines
get blurred between your real life and your social media life?
No, I'm a pretty--
I know who I am, and I know who I am on the internet.
I just want to let people know, like, maybe
I'm a bad influence on the internet.
But in real life, I'm a really good soul.
I think I'm a good influence in real life.
[upbeat music]
JUJU CHANG: In real life, Piper loves cats.
Always has.
She even has a cat rescue in her home.
FORTESA LATIFI: Piper often does giveaways
where she gives fans things that are even as big as cars.
And so I think she's trying to show people, like,
look, I'm doing good, even if you don't agree
with my personal decisions.
All right.
So now the plan is to drive there with you guys
and surprise her.
Her name is Veronica.
She is one of the sweetest people I know.
She literally helps cats every single day.
She has not had a car for a few months now.
She's been getting rides from people,
and she's had to walk places to feed cats and stuff.
So this is just going to help her so much more.
And keep her safer too.
She's a lady.
Oh, the food's out here.
Food.
Can you help me?
Of course.
You know what, you can just keep it in there.
Why?
It's your car.
I got you the car.
You're lying.
I swear.
No, seriously.
What?
I can't.
Oh.
It's OK.
[laughs] You're so cute.
[sobbing] Are you serious?
Yes, I'm serious.
MAN: Get in it.
Go start it.
It's yours.
No. It's OK.
Don't cry.
Seriously, you're going to make me cry.
I've cried too many times today.
It's on right now.
Yeah.
[indistinct speech]
JUJU CHANG: Have you ever thought of what your life
would look like offline?
Like, if you just put your phone in a box and walked away?
I mean, that's my plan eventually in life,
is to put my phone away and just go somewhere.
I don't think of myself as this person
that people are going to care about that much when I leave.
But if I let myself get forgotten about, I will be gone.
But I just don't want to allow that yet.
[upbeat music]
FORTESA LATIFI: I do think she thinks that she
means it when she says that, but I
can't imagine Piper not online.
Influencers who get offline, they
really struggle without that mirror held up to them.
JUJU CHANG: Do you ever think that you might
look back on this with regret?
I will look back on my years going through my whole,
you know, learning who I am, depression, all of that,
and be like, I wish that I could have known that everything
was going to be OK.
I don't-- I'm never going to regret
this decision that I made.
[music playing]
[theme music]
[audio logo]