“You meet someone and think, ‘They look crazy’?” It’s 4:30 p.m. and Bhad Bhabie, aka Danielle Bregoli, is sitting cross-legged on a giant gray velvet couch in her brand new Los Angeles home , surrounded by a three-foot plush Pikachu and plush flower pillows.
“Have you ever wondered, why does this person look crazy?” she said. “It’s called ‘Sonder.’” If you walk down the street and pass people, you can imagine their lives. You think, ‘What does this person want? What trauma has this person been through? Has this person been married? Has this person had children? When I learned the word, I thought, ‘Oh shit, that makes sense. .’”
Bregoli spoke about what she and her mother, Dr. Bregoli, have learned since. In a 2016 segment by Phil, titled “I want to ditch my car – steal it, wield a knife, twerk – trying to frame my criminal 13-year-old daughter!” Giggling at her transgressive teenage boast, she gets defensive, yelling, “Catch me outside, how?” — only to come out, “Take me outside, how?”
The moment went viral and led to her briefly becoming one of the internet’s most hated people. Since then, she has reluctantly accepted her status as a meme, and how could she not? It launched her rap career, garnered millions of followers on Instagram, and would fuel interest in her new music — if she ever finds time to release it. It also launched a much-hyped account on subscription-based platform OnlyFans, which she started six days after her 18th birthday, a move she said gave her back control of her image. (It doesn’t hurt that she made at least $70 million doing so, according to her former manager.)
But most of all, Bregoli said, she’s grateful she went to the doctor. Phil left because it gave her a special gift.
“[It taught me] not to judge people,” she said. “Because I get critical and judgmental and all these shitty things. I don’t look at people and say, ‘They look crazy.’ ’ I looked at them and was like, ‘I wonder why they look crazy.’”