TikTok star Charli D’Amelio has defended her sister, Dixie, following accusations that the 19-year-old “faked seizures” in high school to get out of class.
“It’s definitely something that should not be talked about on the internet because that’s her personal, medical record and no one else has any place to say anything. So, I feel like that’s not something that people need to talk about because it was definitely something that was hard for her to actually deal with and the fact that people were saying she was faking was not OK,” the 16-year-old told the paparazzi in a recent video that hit the web.
She continued, “It’s just not something that should ever be talked about because that’s not cool.”
For those who missed it, allegations about Dixie’s seizures first hit the web after Twitter account Def Noodles published screenshots of a DM conversation with someone who claimed they went to Dixie’s school. The messages alleged that the internet star would “randomly fake a seizure in the middle of class” and one of the teachers told the students that it was “annoying.”
Dixie D’Amelio allegedly faked seizures to get out of her High School classes, according to someone who went to Dixie’s school. Behavior allegedly happened so often, Dixie’s teacher and classmates noticed she was allegedly faking. What are your thoughts? pic.twitter.com/7K8urIA2I3
— Def Noodles (@defnoodles) August 17, 2020
Then, during an Instagram Live, Dixie denied the allegations and explained that during her sophomore year of high school, she suffered from severe anxiety, which led to Psychogenic Nonepileptic Seizures (PNES) — “attacks that may look like epileptic seizures but are not epileptic and instead are cause by psychological factors.”
She called entire situation something “very, very personal” that she “would never want on the internet.”
“It’s just so dumb the things people say so they can take other people down,” the influencer said, according to a screenrecording posted on the TikTok Room Instagram account.
Another clip from her livestream was posted to YouTube, which showed Dixie explaining her “very bad anxiety” during her sophomore year of high school. She recounted the first time she had a seizure, which occurred after she felt “shaky and gross” all day. After a friend walked her to her mom’s car, Dixie remembered falling to the ground. She also explained that following a trip to the hospital, she was on bed rest from April until September of that year and then switched schools.
“I wanted to address this right away, because that’s something I don’t like talking about at all but I’m not going to let anyone think of me any other way,” Dixie said. “I was a person when I was at my old school who I did not like. I was not myself, because I had so much anxiety and everything going through my brain at the time where I couldn’t even have a proper conversation with anyone. I’m so thankful for who I am now and what I am and all that.”
Following the Instagram Live, she also took to Twitter and said that in the future, she wants to use her platform to open up about mental health.
okay im fine now, but imma use this opportunity to help spread awareness about some of the things ive been through because even though i dont do it offten i think it’s important to talk about mental health… so ya coming soon 🙂
— dixie (@dixiedamelio) August 17, 2020
If you or someone you know needs help, please call the National Youth Crisis Hotline at 1-800-448-4663.
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