Fans of Netflix's trending docuseries, Bad Influence, which takes a look at the Squad—a team of influencers curated by Piper Rockelle's mother, Tiffany Smith and her boyfriend, Hunter Hill—could have had a very different viewing experience.
One key member of the Squad, who joined others to speak out about alleged incidents of abuse at the hands of Tiffany and to a lesser extent Hunter (both of whom deny any wrongdoing), almost didn't sign on to the project according to the film's co-directors, Jenna Kosher and Kief Davidson.
The abuse accusations range from unlawful work conditions to alleged incident of sexual abuse at the hands of Tiffany; said allegations were also part of a 2022 lawsuit filed by 11 former Squad members and which was ultimately settled for $1.8 million without admission of guilt and strongly denied by both Hunter and Tiffany, who countersued.
During an interview with Cosmopolitan UK, the pair shared that Piper's former childhood best friend, Sophie Fergi, who even lived with her and Tiffany at one point (along with her mother, Heather), was the last to sign on to the project.
“There were a number of families [who'd previously worked with Tiffany and who were named on the lawsuit filed against her in 2022, which was settled without fault] that did not want to participate because their kids weren't ready to talk,” Davidson explains. “But there were a number of kids in the lawsuit that really wanted to get their story out.”
He adds that it took around “eight months [and] many, many phone calls with the families to really explain what we wanted to do, to hear what they were looking to accomplish with this [which] was to prevent other families from going through what they've gone through.”
As for who signed on to the project in the final hour, Kosher said it was Sophie and Heather who were initially most afraid to speak out against Piper's mother, largely out of concern for Piper.
“Sophie and her mom, Heather, were incredibly embedded with Tiffany and Piper in the sense that they lived with them," says Kosher. “Heather [said] Tiffany was like her best friend and Sophie was Piper's best friend. So, they needed time. They needed time to really think about it.”
The Bad Influence director adds that what stood out for Sophie was “not just coming to terms with ‘this happened to me’, but this really strong sense of ‘I don't want this to happen to anybody else, and the only way I can be an advocate, not just for myself, but for other people, is to get my story out there—as painful as it might be.’”
Kosher also detailed the process of working with Sophie and Heather couldn't be rushed. “It did take quite some time. It was a lot of listening and a lot of allowing them to guide the ship on this one, to feel powerful, and empowered by how they wanted to tell their story and in whatever way they wanted to share it,” she notes. “We went in with a lot of sensitivity and care to create a space where they feel like they could really, truly share what happened.”
As for how they hope the docuseries is being received by Piper, Kosher says everyone involved feels Piper is the ‘ultimate victim’ of her mother.
“We have tremendous compassion for Piper, and it's communicated through the interviews,” the director said. “Through these kids who were very close to her at one time and still have much love for her and concern over her.”
In turn, Piper has posted a series of cryptic TikToks and Instagram posts about how “rumors hurt” and how she hasn't had any true friends for years.
It's also reported that on 9 April, after Bad Influence hit Netflix, Piper told USA Today that she rejects the accusations leveled at her mother.
“Honestly, I just want to move on from all of this because it’s really painful to deal with every day,” the outlet says she said in an email statement. “And not surprisingly, my mental health has suffered more than anyone knows. [The rumors are] mean, untrue, and honestly all about money. My mom did not do any of those things that they said. And I’ll stand by my mom to the end.”
