A TikTok influencer has been forced to apologise, after admitting that she had previously lied about being diagnosed with cancer.
Brittany Miller, who is originally from Oxfordshire, is known for posting food and lifestyle content to her three-and-a-half-million followers on the platform.
But the 29-year-old recently came under fire on the app, after material seeming to show a fundraising page claiming she had been diagnosed with gastric cancer went viral.
In a video posted on social media on Monday, Ms Miller admitted to lying about the diagnosis and said it came from “one stupid sentence that I deeply regret”.
“I said something to someone within my immediate circle in confidence. I said I had an illness, which was cancer,” she said in the emotional post.
“I didn’t do this with malicious intent or to scam people, I did this out of desperation, I did it to keep the people in my life close to me.”
The mother-of-two said the incident had taken place in 2017, when she had “extremely bad mental health”.
“At the time I didn’t realise how bad, but it was bad,” she said.
“I was depressed, I was suicidal, I was lost, I was confused – I lost my partner, I lost my job and there were lots of things in that year that led me to be mentally ill.”
Ms Miller stressed the fabrication had not been a “long running scam or a manipulative story like it’s been made out to be”.
She said the fundraising page in question had been set up in her name by a friend.
“As soon as I saw there was donations, I had the page immediately shut down and I didn’t take a penny from it,” she explained.
“I’ve grown from this; I am working on being the best version of myself.
“I know how horrible this disease is, and I know how much it affects people so for that I am so, so sorry.”
Since the incident in 2017, Ms Miller’s online content of parenting, home cooking and online shopping hauls has generated a large social media following.
Thames Valley Police said it could not confirm widespread reports Ms Miller had been convicted of fraud by false representation in July 2020, but the force did add that an investigation into the incident had ended.
The BBC has contacted Ms Miller, which she has yet to respond to.
