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Indian Express
7 hours ago
- Entertainment
- Indian Express
Why I feel cheated by the girlhood I subscribed to
I grew up with Piper Rockelle. Not in the literal sense, of course, but through a screen that felt intimate enough to blur the difference. When I was 10, I would wait for her YouTube uploads with the same anticipation other children might reserve for birthdays. She was confident, endlessly energetic, and always surrounded by friends. Her world shimmered with the kind of manufactured perfection that made girlhood look like a dream you could subscribe to. I didn't see production schedules or brand strategy. I saw a girl who had figured out how to be loved at scale. Back then, it didn't occur to me that this was work. Or that the authenticity I admired was being carefully curated by adults who understood its market value. I didn't wonder what it meant to live under the constant gaze of a camera. Now, it feels different. I have found myself returning, reluctantly, to the content I once consumed without hesitation. Some of it I outgrew naturally. Some of it I have been forced to confront. Case in point, the Netflix documentary Bad Influence: The Dark Side of Kidfluencing. The series follows Piper's rise as a child influencer and the subsequent legal battle that unfolded after former collaborators accused her 'momager', Tiffany Smith, of emotional manipulation, unsafe environments, and — most disturbingly — sexual misconduct. The allegations emerged in 2022, igniting a lengthy legal battle that culminated in a $1.85 million settlement in 2024. However, the docuseries, which was released earlier this year, reignited the conversation, raising questions that had remained unanswered in court. Piper and her mom do not feature in the documentary, but have denied the allegations. In a Rolling Stones interview, Piper, now 17, details how YouTube demonetised her account and brand deals dried out after the lawsuit. She has chosen to move on, continuing to post on social media, including TikTok, Instagram and BrandArmy, a subscription-based platform that works similarly to OnlyFans. Though BrandArmy does not allow nudity and requires parents to manage minors' accounts, the platform has come under scrutiny for being unsafe for children. It's disquieting, at the very least, to see your childhood icons recontextualised as case studies. Piper's story, as outlined in the film, is no longer about a precocious girl who found early success. It is an embodiment of a system that flattens children into commodities. The energy that once appeared spontaneous was revealed to be orchestrated, and the affection among friends rehearsed. What was once comforting now leaves a peculiar aftertaste, like something organic that's been overprocessed beyond recognition. Piper wasn't the only one. I also spent much of my early years consuming the content of SevenSuperGirls, a YouTube channel that assigned a different girl to post content each day of the week. The channel was part of a larger tween brand, Seven Awesome Kids. At its peak, the group attracted millions of subscribers, most of them children like me, across its seven channels. The premise was simple, and the tone always cheerful—bedroom vlogs, school routines, comedy skits. However, the picture off-camera turned out to be painfully different. In 2018, one of the franchise owners, Ian Rylett, was arrested and later convicted for coercing one of the girls into undressing on camera. Former member Kaelyn Wilkins has since described a culture of control and silence, where young girls were obligated to follow invasive rules under the threat of being cut off from the platform that had become their lives. It's difficult to describe how it feels to look back on these videos now. I remember them vividly, yet I find myself almost unable to watch them anymore. It's sickening to know that what once made me feel connected and seen was built on unsafe and unfair conditions. This realisation hasn't made me cynical. It has made me more cautious, more aware of what is left out of frame. Child influencers are often praised for their confidence, their maturity, and their ability to command audiences. But what they rarely receive is protection. Their work takes place in bedrooms and kitchens, on couches and car rides. Their lives are their content, and their families, oftentimes, are their managers. There are few legal protections in place, and fewer still that account for the emotional toll. For a long time, I thought visibility meant success. But growing up has taught me something else: there is strength in privacy. There is value in being allowed to exist offscreen. And perhaps the greatest tragedy of all is that so many children who grew up online were never given that choice. The writer is a student in Mumbai.
The Irish Sun
a day ago
- Entertainment
- The Irish Sun
Inside star-studded life of King of Slane Castle, how Rolling Stones gig was ‘game-changer' & why no one called him Lord
SLANE Castle legend Lord Henry Mount Charles has been remembered as the man who put Ireland on the music map. The 8th Marquess Conyngham 6 Slane Castle owner Lord Henry has passed away aged 74 Credit: Slane Castle/PA Wire 6 He's been remembered as the man who put Ireland on the music map Credit: Independent News6 The move to host the Rolling Stones at Slane was described as a 'game changer' Credit: Chris Doyle/News Group Newspapers Ltd And Peter Aiken — who staged some of the biggest shows at the iconic The famed music promoter told The Irish Sun: 'No one called him Lord, he was just Henry. 'We met him when he was still a young man and through the years Henry was such a hugely positive thing for music in Ireland. 'What helped was Henry's huge interest in music. He understood it and he was a great frontman for the Slane concerts. Read more in Showbiz 'He enjoyed the fame and the media loved him. When he stood up at the front gates of Slane, all the punters going in all knew him.' The Belfast man and his late father Jim put on Slane gigs including the And Peter said his dad's decision to team up with Henry to host the Rolling Stones at Slane in front of 70,000 fans in 1982 was a 'game changer'. Peter told us: 'Back then, no one had done gigs of this scale in Ireland. People like Henry and my father had to make it up as they went along. Most read in Celebrity 'The Rolling Stones doing Slane was a game changer — they were coming off a huge tour and the place went crazy. That turned Slane Castle into an iconic venue very quickly.' He also recalled how Henry's warm personality and charm helped to get big acts over to play in Ireland as the Hundreds queue outside Slane Castle hours ahead of Harry Style's sold-out concert Peter said: 'They were tricky times when you think about the Hyde Park bombs, which happened before the Stones played. 'But we got the big acts over and Henry was positive and charming. He always got on and liked musicians.' Lord Henry previously recalled the time Stones frontman The Castle owner remembered: 'I got a call from my father, who was still in residence, saying, 'I've got some chap coming to dinner. A Mick Jigger? I think he might be a musician.' I was like, 'Do you mean THE Mick Jagger?' It turned out it was. 'I TOOK HIM FOR A FEW JARS' 'I took him for a few jars in the nightclub we used to have at Slane and one of the locals, spotting him in his white suit, went up and said to Mick, 'Has anyone told you you're the spit of that Rolling Stones fella!'' Henry's ancestral home has played host to everyone from Helena Christensen to Johnny Depp. And those who made it over saw some bizarre sights — including the Rolling Stones playing table tennis, or David Bowie typing on an old fashioned typewriter before his concert in 1987 on his Glass Spider tour. While massive names like Bruce Springsteen headlined his huge stage, other rock royalty would jet in to sneak a peek at their music rivals, sometimes to the shock of locals. DRIVE WITH PETE Henry recalled: 'When Bruce Springsteen played in 1985, Pete Townsend from The Who arrived over to stay with me. 'The day after the concert we went out for a drive in my car. 'I can remember the two of us picking up a hitchhiker. The poor guy was still a little worse for wear and thought he was dreaming when he got into the car and found I was driving and Pete was in the back seat. All he could say was, 'Jaysus'. 'And he still looked a bit shook when we left him up the road in the village of Slane.' SPRINGSTEEN NERVOUS Henry recalled Springsteen was so nervous performing his show for the crowd in 1985, he insisted on everyone coming in to watch rehearsals. He said: 'Bruce had played to big crowds before, but none as massive as the 80,000 attending Slane — and he was nervous. 'To alleviate those nerves, he rehearsed his entire set — it must have been heading towards 30 songs — in the dining-room to a small gang of us, which was every bit as extraordinary as it sounds. 'Rather touchingly, he came back a few years ago with his family to revisit what turned out to be the scene of his triumph. After Slane, it just got bigger and bigger for him.' GALLAGHER CONVENTION Oasis turned out to have local roots when the Gallagher brothers showed up to support REM in 1995. Henry said: 'Everyone knows about their connection to Mayo, but the Gallaghers' roots are actually from up the road in Duleek. 'A few days before Oasis came back and headlined Slane in 2009, we had an event in the castle nightclub, and every Gallagher in Ireland must have been there. 'I had to go out and when I returned there was a plastic bag hanging off the door, and inside it a bottle of whiskey and a note from one of the family saying, 'Thank you!' TOUGH TIMES TOO 'They were crawling out of the woodwork that night.' There were tough times for Henry through the years as well. The dad of three told The Irish Sun last December how U2 star Adam Clayton helped him overcome his fight with alcohol addiction. The concert boss told us how he had stayed sober for the past decade after a long battle with booze, which he admits was triggered by the brutal death suffered by Tim Kidman, a gamekeeper at Slane Castle in September 1989, which was followed by watching his home go up in smoke in 1991. BOOZE BATTLE Henry told us: 'The thing about alcohol is that it can be used to numb pain and I was in a lot of pain back then. 'There is a history of drinking in my family. I was a binge drinker more than anything. 'There is nothing wrong with admitting you had some good times but I knew I was damaging myself and it had to stop.' The landowner recalled how he had 'hit rock bottom' drinking alone in London and sought the help of one time fellow hellraiser Adam Clayton who he became friends with when U2 recorded their Unforgettable Fire album at Slane Castle in 1984. 'SOMETHING HAD TO BE DONE' Henry said: 'There is nothing in admitting you had some good times (drinking), that was one of the things that Adam and I used to discuss. 'But we both knew something had to be done and Adam, having been through this himself, put me in touch with a good friend who is in AA. 'I'd been through rehab before and it hadn't worked, but I was so determined that when I attended an AA meeting Adam's friend later told me that 'I got it', (both in acknowledging I was an alcoholic and I had to stop). Henry revealed he hadn't had a drink for a decade or more, adding: 'Adam says the fact that I could set up a whiskey company in my home, was proof of how well I had done (recovering from alcoholism).' THE MAN WHO SAVED SLANE CASTLE Henry will be remembered as the man who saved Slane Castle after the devastating fire at his home in 1991. During the blaze, he attempted to save priceless family heirlooms as his home burned, and staff later feared Henry might abandon the ruined castle and sell up. However, the feisty owner said: 'I was determined, come hell or high water, I was going to have to find a way to rebuild Slane.' 6 Queen were among the huge acts to play Slane down the years Credit: Independent News6 Henry's ancestral home has played host to everyone - including Axl Rose Credit: News Group Newspapers Ltd 6 Henry will be remembered as the man who saved Slane Castle Credit: Chris Doyle/News Group Newspapers Ltd
Irish Independent
a day ago
- Entertainment
- Irish Independent
Obituary: Lord Henry Mount Charles, aristocrat and businessman who turned Slane Castle into a music mecca
Over the decades the picturesque venue has hosted concerts by U2, the Rolling Stones, Bob Dylan, Bruce Springsteen, David Bowie, Madonna and many others, earning him the added title of 'the rock and roll peer'. Mount Charles took over the Co Meath castle from his father, Frederick – the 7th Marquess of Conyngham – in the summer of 1976, after he was given a stark choice: assume control of the 'family firm' or the estate would be sold. This ultimatum came after Frederick decided to domicile himself in the Isle of Man because of the imposition of a wealth tax by the Fine Gael finance minister, Richie Ryan. 'It was a move I made reluctantly, for in the depths of my heart I knew it was the end of my freedom to plough my own furrow, and that I was casting myself in a stereotyped role, from which I was going to have great difficulty escaping,' Henry wrote in his autobiography. 'From being my own master where I could escape from the feeling of being, at times, a stranger in my own country, I was thrown back, aged twenty-five, as Lord Mount Charles, owner of the castle. I was an Anglo-Irish anachronism tolerated in a modern Ireland...I was returning to an Ireland I loved, but still a country bedevilled by division and much hypocrisy.' In the years that followed, Mount Charles – or Mr Conyngham, as former taoiseach Charlie Haughey insisted on calling him – harboured political ambitions but failed to be elected for Fine Gael to the Dáil for the Louth constituency in 1992 or the Senate in 1997. He also flirted with the idea of joining Dessie O'Malley's Progressive Democrats, but that too came to nothing. Instead, Lord Henry (he officially he became the 8th Marquess of Conyngham on the death of his father in 2009) was best known for his rock and roll lifestyle, wearing odd socks and a seemingly laid-back approach to life which included writing blogs and a column for the Irish Mirror. His autobiography was titled Public Space – Private Life: A Decade at Slane Castle, indicating that while he maintained a public persona to publicise the castle and its various business activities, he also tried to live another life as a blue-blooded aristocrat with close connections to the titled families of Ireland and Britain. Henry Vivien Pierpont Conyngham was born on May 25, 1951. Although he grew up in Slane and always considered himself Irish, he was educated at Harrow, the upper-class English public school, and later Harvard in the United States, before spending a year working in an Anglican mission in South Africa. ADVERTISEMENT In September 1971, barely 21 years of age, he married Juliet Kitson, and was living in a London basement with her and their first child when through her mother, Penelope, he got to know the American tycoon, J Paul Getty. Then considered the richest man in the world, Getty liked 'to be surrounded by a court of shallow women who flattered him', according to Mount Charles. Through this social circle at the Getty mansion in Surrey, Mount Charles got his first real job with the publishing house, Faber. He had barely settled into the role when he got the call from his father to return to Slane. Henry insisted that if he was to come back to Ireland, he would only accept total control. Once back home, Mount Charles became the representative of auction house Sotheby's, searching out treasures for the international auction market. He also took in wealthy paying guests, opened a restaurant in the grounds and held lavish shooting parties during the 'season'. Slane was also touted as a film location and among the stars entertained in the castle were the actress Lesley-Anne Down during the filming of The First Great Train Robbery, and Lee Marvin when he came to film The Big Red One. Slane also featured in an episode of the RTÉ soap opera The Riordans, and Mount Charles played a stiff-upper-lip British officer in an episode of Remington Steele, starring Pierce Brosnan, a 'commoner' from nearby Navan. In 1981 Mount Charles teamed up with concert promoters Eamonn McCann and Denis Desmond for an outdoor concert at Slane Castle featuring Thin Lizzy, with U2 as supporting act. Although it initially divided the village, the concert drew a crowd of 18,000 and was a huge success. It marked the beginning of annual concerts that brought the biggest rock and roll acts in the world to perform with the River Boyne as a backdrop. Around the same time his marriage was in turmoil and in March, 1983, his wife Juliet and their three children moved out, going to live in the Isle of Man. After the success of the first concert, Mount Charles then went after the biggest rock band in the world, The Rolling Stones. Mick Jagger had dined in Slane Castle during the 1970s when his friend Desmond Guinness of Leixlip Castle brought him and his wife Bianca for dinner with Mount Charles' father, 'who was astonished that he seemed so civilised'. Jagger and company opted to play Slane Castle, on Saturday July 24, 1982. 'A tidal wave hit that castle' Mount Charles recalled, and it included a long 'session' drinking Guinness with Jagger and his new girlfriend Jerry Hall. The Bob Dylan concert in the summer of 1984 led to a crisis that almost closed the castle as a concert venue. Fuelled by drink and drugs, an element of the attendance smashed up the village. It wasn't until late on the night of the concert that gardaí were able to regain control. It was the recording of an album, rather than a concert, that would get Slane Castle back on track Mount Charles later called them 'gurriers, bastards, drunken louts'. He was consoled by Bono and Senator Michael D Higgins, but the following morning's Sunday papers ran with headlines such as 'Savagery at Slane', and many local people held him personally responsible for the carnage. It was the recording of an album, rather than a concert, that would get Slane Castle back on track. After discussions with manager Paul McGuinness, U2 recorded their album The Unforgettable Fire, at the castle in 1984. 'U2 had helped inaugurate Slane as a venue, and they were sympathetic to the pull and the atmosphere and the great antiquity that pervaded the Boyne Valley,' Mount Charles said. On a champagne-tasting trip in France, Mount Charles met Iona Grimston, who was doing some work for Moet at the time. Their relationship blossomed and they married in 1985. They have one daughter, Tamara. Although mainly associated with Slane Castle, Henry Mount Charles lived most of the latter part of his life at nearby Beau Parc, a smaller stately home that was left to him by a bachelor relative, Sir Oliver Lampart, in 1986. After restoring the house, he and his wife moved in, finding it 'more intimate and more private' and a respite from the frenetic activity of Slane Castle. The castle caught fire in 1992. It suffered considerable damage, with many family artefacts and paintings lost in the blaze and the building itself was left a blackened shell. Despite the enormity of the task, Mount Charles oversaw its restoration in the years that followed. In more recent years, Mount Charles handed over control of many of the business activities at the castle to his son, Alex Conyngham. But he remained active despite a long-running battle against cancer that was first diagnosed in 2014 and returned in 2016. Mount Charles greatly added to 'the gaiety of the nation' over the last 40 years. He was a committed and passionate, if sometimes sceptical, Irishman. He also managed to demystify the wealthy Anglo-Irish Protestant ascendency and, as such, lessened some of the latent resentment against his class that marked them out as unwanted symbols of British rule. Lord Henry Mount Charles, the 8th Marquess of Conyngham, died on Wednesday, June 18, at the age of 74. He is survived by his wife, Iona, and his four children.
Irish Times
a day ago
- Entertainment
- Irish Times
Lord Henry Mount Charles of Slane Castle dies aged 74, family announces
Lord Henry Mount Charles , owner of Slane Castle in Co Meath, has died at the age of 74, his family has announced. In a statement, the family said he died on Wednesday night. He had been suffering from cancer. " A beloved husband, father, grandfather, and custodian of Slane Castle, Lord Henry's courage, and unwavering spirit inspired all who knew him," the statement said. 'Lord Henry (74) leaves behind an extraordinary legacy as a passionate steward of Ireland's heritage, dedicating his life to preserving Slane Castle and transforming it into a beacon of culture, music, and community. His visionary leadership and generosity touched countless lives, while his warmth, humour, and resilience endeared him to friends, colleagues, and admirers across generations.' READ MORE [ Lord Henry Mountcharles praises 'one of the best Slanes ever' Opens in new window ] He was best known for introducing a series of rock concerts to Slane Castle. Bands who played there include U2, the Rolling Stones, Queen, Bob Dylan, David Bowie, Guns 'N Roses, REM and Bruce Springsteen. The family said they 'wish to express their heartfelt gratitude to the exceptional staff at St James's Hospital, as well as the many caregivers who supported Lord Henry with compassion over the last decade. 'They are also deeply moved by the outpouring of public kindness and solidarity during this difficult journey.' [ Henry Mount Charles: A Lord in Slane – The strange blend of fact and fiction around one of the last Anglo-Irish eccentrics Opens in new window ] More to follow.
Irish Examiner
a day ago
- Entertainment
- Irish Examiner
Lord Henry Mount Charles, the custodian of Slane Castle, dies aged 74
Lord Henry Mount Charles, the custodian of Slane Castle who turned it into one of Ireland's most iconic gig venues, has died at the age of 74. The driving force behind turning the Meath estate into the location that has played host to acts such as U2, Bruce Springsteen, David Bowie and the Rolling Stones died on Wednesday following a long battle with cancer. The first Slane festival took place in 1981, featuring a young U2 and headlined by Thin Lizzy. '[He] leaves behind an extraordinary legacy as a passionate steward of Ireland's heritage, dedicating his life to preserving Slane Castle and transforming it into a beacon of culture, music, and community,' his family said. 'His visionary leadership and generosity touched countless lives, while his warmth, humour, and resilience endeared him to friends, colleagues, and admirers across generations. 'The family wish to express their heartfelt gratitude to the exceptional staff at St. James's Hospital, as well as the many caregivers who supported Lord Henry with compassion over the last decade. They are also deeply moved by the outpouring of public kindness and solidarity during this difficult journey. 'Lord Henry's light will continue to shine through the lives he enriched and the enduring contributions he made to Ireland's cultural landscape. He will be profoundly missed, but never forgotten.' More to follow...
