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A TikTok influencer has issued an apology after admitting to falsely claiming she had been diagnosed with cancer.
Brittany Miller, originally from Oxfordshire and known for her food and lifestyle content, boasts a following of three and a half million users on the platform.
The 29-year-old recently faced scrutiny online after a fundraising page purportedly claiming her diagnosis of gastric cancer circulated widely.
In a video posted to social media on Monday, Ms. Miller confessed to fabricating the diagnosis, attributing it to “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 stated 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 indicated the incident occurred in 2017, a period when she experienced “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 emphasized the falsehood was not a “long running scam or a manipulative story like it’s been made out to be.”
She explained that the fundraising page in question had been initiated by a friend on her behalf.
“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 clarified.
“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 2017, Ms. Miller has amassed a significant social media following through content focused on parenting, home cooking, and online shopping hauls.
Thames Valley Police stated that while they could not confirm widespread reports of Ms. Miller’s conviction for fraud by false representation in July 2020, they affirmed that an investigation into the matter had concluded.
The BBC has reached out to Ms. Miller for comment, but has yet to receive a response.
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