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Putting yourself out there as an online influencer is risky business. YouTuber Myka Stauffer has come under fire this week for “rehoming” her adopted son Huxley, who is autistic. “I wouldn’t trade him for anything!” the Ohio-based social-media star once gushed in a cuddly 2018 Instagram post, which doubled as a paid ad for Dreft …
Putting yourself out there as an online influencer is risky business.
YouTuber Myka Stauffer has come under fire this week for “rehoming” her adopted son Huxley, who is autistic. “I wouldn’t trade him for anything!” the Ohio-based social-media star once gushed in a cuddly 2018 Instagram post, which doubled as a paid ad for Dreft laundry detergent for newborns.
Fast-forward to Wednesday: Stauffer, 32, and her husband James, 34, said they had given up 4-year-old Huxley in a tearful video uploaded to her YouTube channel. One follower was quick to clap back at the apparent hypocrisy in her 2018 Insta ad, commenting “This post didn’t age well.”
After increasing backlash, the couple released a statement through their lawyers which reads in part, “Over time, the team of medical professionals advised our clients it might be best for Huxley to be placed with another family.”
The statement from Thomas Taneff Co., LPA lawyers, a Columbus firm, continued: “To be clear this did NOT include any considerations for placement in the foster system, but rather to hand-select a family who is equipped to handle Huxley’s needs.”
Since posting the update, Stauffer has hemorrhaged 6,000 of her over 700,000 YouTube followers, according to the social media tracker Social Blade, a favorite analytics platform for influencers. The analytics watchdog also predicts Stauffer will lose about 73,052 weekly views on her channel. Still, that doesn’t tell the whole story. She has 195,000 followers on Instagram as of Friday afternoon — an increase of 3,000 followers since this morning.
But who is this disgraced online personality? According to her own YouTube bio, she’s a “Mommy of 4 from Ohio and Married to my best friend.” Her biological children are Kova, 8, Jake, 6, Radley, 4, and Onyx, 11 months.
Here’s what else we know about Stauffer:
She was grounded for a year at 16 for losing her virginity.
Stauffer was raised by a single mom until she was 2.
“I went to go look at my birth pictures and there were only pictures of my mom and my grandma holding me,” Stauffer says in one YouTube confessional with more than 732,000 views. She also reveals that her mother had her when she was 16. “I got to go to some really cool parties [and] I got to go to a bunch of concerts, which is a perk of having younger parents.”
She calls her childhood “basic, regular, and I loved everything about it,” but says she found out a shocking secret at 16.
“My mom told me my dad was not my biological father. I had no clue. It was like the biggest bomb had been dropped on me.” According to Stauffer, her biological father had committed suicide the year prior to her finding out about him. “I just remember crying my eyes out,” she says. The teen decided to lash out.
“The next day I lost my virginity. I had planned to save myself for marriage. It wasn’t even a question in my mind,” says Stauffer. “When my identity was flipped upside down, everything went out the window.”
She calls it “one of my biggest regrets,” adding that she was grounded for an entire year as punishment. She calls the 12 months of lockdown, “a pivotal moment — with a lot of opportunity for self-growth.”
In that time, Stauffer found religion — “I started getting really close to the Lord”— and says she was baptized as a Catholic that year. “I was an ornery, stubborn teenager, hooking up with the most popular senior at school, but I had this opportunity to transform my situation.”
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A post shared by Myka Stauffer (@mykastauffer) on
She was a single mom before she was a ‘Mommy’ of five — then four
About eight years ago, Stauffer left her then-fiancé, with her daughter Kova in tow. “Something happened in regards to infidelity, and I left,” hints Stauffer in a video from 2016.
She says she met Kova’s dad, a doctor, in college and says she got pregnant about four months into their relationship. She miscarried, and the doc proposed while on a horse and buggy ride through Chicago while on a trip to lift their spirits. They decided to try again a few months later. “On Thanksgiving, we conceived Kova. [On] Christmas day I took a pregnancy test and was pregnant,” says Stauffer in the clip.
“It was the hardest year ever,” the blonde blogger says of the time after walking out on her husband-to-be. “I broke up with her dad one day before we were supposed to go on a very nice vacation and one week before we were supposed to move into this beautiful dream house,” she says. “I walked away from everything because it wasn’t a future I was comfortable with.”
Eventually, she would meet her now-husband James, a car detailer, who proposed in Times Square eight months after they met.
View this post on InstagramThese last 7 years together have thrown us so many curve balls, and unexpected turns, and I’m so glad your by my side! 💕🤍✨ Not everyday is perfect, but no one is more perfect for me than you! ⭐️
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Before becoming a stay-at-home mom, she was a nurse
After she moved to “a tiny apartment,” Stauffer claims she had to pick up three nursing jobs to make ends meet.
“I had one full-time nursing job and 2 PRN, which means I’d pick up nursing shifts when they needed me,” says Stauffer. “I picked up as many as I could to afford being a single mom.” She claims to have worked in nursing homes in Ohio and an oncology unit in Indianapolis, where she was living with James.
She idolizes Bethenny Frankel
“If you know me, you know I’m a Bethenny Frankel girl,” says the Ohio mom in another video with more than 320,000 views. “When she broke up with her husband, it made her feel more real that my biggest role model went through the same thing as me at the exact same time,” adds Stauffer, who says she read Frankel’s books and “was inspired.”
She raves of the Skinny Girl entrepreneur and former “RHONY” star: “She is one of the most powerful women that I know. She has the guts and kudos.”
View this post on InstagramThis adoption hasn’t been the easiest ride. We have had so many bumps along the way! But it’s by far one of my favorite journeys I have ever embarked on! I love everything about this little boy and I wouldn’t trade him for anything! #TheSmellofBabyhood @Dreft #ad
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Stauffer is a sometimes-vegan
Stauffer has a ton of videos including pregnancy updates, KonMari closet cleanouts and DIY Christmas gift ideas. She also has vlogs detailing her diet, which seems to be mostly plant-based.
“I have been Raw Vegan for quite some time and prefer it as my diet since I always have the most energy and feel amazing when I following [sic] it very strictly,” reads one video bio, though her Instagram stories feature eggs and salmon. Superfood smoothies with maca powder, a vegan alfredo zucchini noodles dish and detox salads feature on her social feeds as well.
She says she practices intuitive eating, the so-called “anti-diet” where you eat only when hungry, and claims “I stop eating at 6 o’clock every single night so I can have a longer duration of fast to help my digestive tract.”
