Latest news with #Storytimewith
New York Post
23-04-2025
- Entertainment
- New York Post
Mom fires back at critics after revealing she's a sex worker
When you're a woman, your choices are never just your own. Especially when motherhood enters the chat. Advertisement Last week, Aussie sex worker Kayla Jade made headlines for confirming a long-held secret: she's a mom of two. But speaking exclusively to Kidspot, she now says that wasn't the real story. 6 Sex worker Kayla Jade has confirmed that she is a mom of two. INSTARimages 'I live in a constant state of anxiety from it' The influencer says the truth behind the headline involved receiving intense backlash, judgment, online gossip, and even doxing from other women. All of which forced her hand to 'confess' she's a mom. Advertisement The 30-year-old Queenslander, a social media star with more than two million followers on TikTok, has now opened up about what it's really like to parent under a microscope. 'As sex workers, we don't talk about our private lives to our clients or to anyone for that matter, because it risks people invading your privacy,' she told Kidspot. 6 'As sex workers, we don't talk about our private lives to our clients,' Jade said about protecting her children. INSTARimages 'Sex workers get stalkers. They get people showing up to their house all the time. I've always just been very protective of my children. Advertisement 'I live in a constant state of anxiety from it.' The mom added, 'I'm not gonna share details of my children. That's just something that's really important to me.' 6 Jade says she is constantly worried about stalkers. INSTARimages 'I teach my kids love' When it comes to how her children see her? She's already laid the foundation for that conversation. Advertisement 'I teach them to not be judgmental. I teach them love. I teach them kindness, empathy. They are the kindest kids I've ever met,' she revealed. Kayla Jade also shared her plan to deal with potential playground bullies; she's flipping the script. 'For those who care so much about whether my kid will be bullied for [my work], how about other parents teach their kids to not be so judgmental. It's not my kids who are the problem.' Storytime with Kayla Jade In a new podcast series, Storytime with Kayla Jade, she explains why she chose to take back the narrative after online speculation began to spiral. 6 'For those who care so much about whether my kid will be bullied for [my work], how about other parents teach their kids to not be so judgmental,' Jade said. INSTARimages She says that people weren't just 'gossiping'. They were actively trying to source photos of her children, digging into their appearances, asking for their ages. And most disturbing of all? Much of the behavior came from other women. Other mothers. Advertisement 'I'm all about women supporting women and to see that women were putting their f***ing tea in front of children's safety. That just broke my heart,' she told her listeners. 'My children's lives aren't your tea.' 6 Jade addresses the backlash she has received about her profession on her new podcast, Storytime with Kayla Jade. INSTARimages She draws a firm line between two very different lives: the public-facing world of her sex work, and the deeply private, sacred space of motherhood. Advertisement In one world, she shares unfiltered stories about wild clients and her cashed up earnings. In the other, she's packing school lunches, folding laundry, and squeezing in every extracurricular she can. Kayla Jade also explains on her pod that she's living that relatable mom life just like the rest of us. Her job doesn't make her any less of a parent. In fact, it's given her something most working moms can only dream of: time. 6 Jade discusses topics such as wild clients and packing school lunches on the podcast. INSTARimages Advertisement She co-parents with her children's father, someone she credits as a key support. While the flexibility of her work means she is able to be present for the day-to-day family moments that matter. Being a mom is her true calling. 'I just always felt such a connection as a mother,' she says. 'I think when my kids look back on their life, they're not going to look back thinking mom was a sex worker. They're going to look back and think of all the wonderful memories that we've had together.'
CBC
21-02-2025
- CBC
Court awards $380K to pride organization, drag queens in northwestern Ontario defamation suit
A blogger in Thunder Bay, Ont., has been ordered by Ontario's Superior Court of Justice to pay $380,000 in damages, after making Facebook posts in 2022 accusing drag performers of grooming children. The judgment was made on two separate, related libel cases, and was issued Thursday by Justice Helen M. Pierce after being heard in the northwestern Ontario city on Jan. 31 via ZOOM. The cases relate to Facebook posts made in September 2022 and December 2022 by blogger Brian Webster on a page called "Real Thunder Bay Courthouse – Inside Edition." The page is no longer active. The first post references CBC News coverage of an upcoming drag event in Dryden, which was then cancelled following an unfounded prank call. Sharing screenshots of the news story, Webster called the drag queens involved in the event "groomers." In the December 2022 post, Webster referenced an upcoming drag storytime event in Thunder Bay and referred to "local drag queens who have been criminally charged with child pornography." No such charges were laid. In her decision, Pierce describes Webster's behaviour as that of a "common bully." "There is a pattern of homophobic/transphobic conduct by the defendant's publication, both before and after the offending posts," Pierce said in court documents obtained by CBC News. The plaintiffs include the organization Rainbow Alliance Dryden and drag performers Caitlin Hartlen, Felicia Crichton and John-Marcel Forget. They were represented by Douglas Judson and Peter Howie of Judson Howie LLP in Fort Frances. "My first reaction was tears. I just cried a whole bunch," said Forget, who has been performing drag for more than 20 years as Lady Fantasia LaPremiere, of the court's decision. "Just knowing that we were doing something that could potentially make it easier for other people to stand up for themselves and to maybe make it so that people would think twice before posting untruths about people that they don't like — especially people that they don't even know." Fighting against rhetoric, discrimination The Facebook posts were not the only attacks on drag storytime events in the region; two separate bomb threats were made against the Thunder Bay Public Library last year ahead of Storytime with Thunder Bay Drag Queens. "I just always thought 'if you don't like storytime with drag queens, don't come to storytime with drag queens,'" Forget said. "I'm not a huge fan of sports and hockey, but you don't see me bashing people who are interested in that; I just don't go to hockey games." Judson, who is one of the directors of Borderland Pride, called the court's judgment a "landmark decision." "I think it's coming at a really important time for the 2SLGBTQAA+ community, which is very much under political assault from the right, right now in Canada and in the United States," Judson said. "I think that it's a good reminder that we have legal tools, especially here in Canada, to protect vulnerable minorities." While "groomer rhetoric" has a long history as a slur targeting 2SLGBTQAA+ people, Judson said, "the false allegation that people are engaging in sexual impropriety or are pedophiles, it is patently defamatory." His hope is that the judgment sends a message to people in northwestern Ontario that they can be held accountable for their actions on social media, even if they post anonymously. WATCH | Lady Fantasia looks back on 20 year-dragiversary Lady Fantasia looks back on 20 year-dragiversary 11 months ago Duration 7:49 Forget has been the target of bullying for much of his life, and said going through the court process triggered a lot of heavy emotions. "Just constantly having to defend my existence, it kind of started to wear on my mental health a little bit," he said. "Standing up for yourself is never really easy, but it's always worth it." He said he wants others in the 2SLGBTQAA+ community to know they're not alone. "There are people out there who are fighting for your right to just live the way you want to live and love the way you want to love."
