Influencer Sues To Keep 3-Year-Old Son's Death Details Private After TikTok 'Frenzy'
Popular lifestyle influencer Emilie Kiser is suing multiple public offices in Arizona in order to keep details about her 3-year-old son's death private after his accidental drowning became the center of an online 'frenzy.'
'Emilie is trying her best to be there for her surviving son,' who is 2 months old, Kiser's attorneys wrote in a lawsuit filed Tuesday and published by the Arizona Republic. 'But every day is a battle.'
Kiser amassed more than 4 million followers on TikTok and 150,000 subscribers on YouTube by regularly showcasing her family's life and her experience of motherhood. Her vlogs, which recently gave a glimpse into her postpartum life, were heartwarming and light, but fans noticed she had stopped posting on May 12.
The lawsuit says that her 3-year-old son, Trigg, died on May 18 'following a heartbreaking accidental drowning.' On May 12, he had been pulled unconscious from a pool at the family's home in Chandler, Arizona.
Despite Kiser and her family 'desperately' wanting to grieve in private, Trigg's death sparked a 'media frenzy,' according to the lawsuit.
In one case, a TikTok user shared a screenshot from the Maricopa County Medical Examiner's website to immediately confirm the 3-year-old's death to his more than 1 million followers.
While Kiser received support from her fans, she also received blame from people who obsessively looked through her old videos and promoted an unsubstantiated theory that the influencer had refused to have a pool fence installed.
More than 100 public record requests have been filed with both the city of Chandler and the Maricopa County Medical Examiner following Trigg's death, according to the lawsuit, which says Kiser has not reviewed the information contained in these records, but assumes they reveal 'graphic, distressing, and intimate details of Trigg's death.'
Her legal team also believes that 'many' people requesting records are doing so for 'commercial purposes.'
'To allow disclosure in these circumstances would be to turn Arizona's Public Records Law into a weapon of emotional harm, rather than a tool of government transparency,' the lawsuit argues.
The situation has sparked discussion online, with some commenters pointing to the obsession over Trigg's death as an example of parasocial behavior, a one-sided psychological attachment toward a celebrity or influencer.
Wait, What The Heck Is A 'Parasocial Relationship'?
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