Ayres had made a name for herself on YouTube and Instagram by extolling the virtues of a raw and vegan lifestyle, now often referred to as "plant-based." Her YouTube channels — she has about 2 million subscribers on her Spanish language channel and another 500,000 in English — are filled with videos of her sharing vegan recipes and skin care routines. On her personal website, she sells meal plans, including a 21-day "Raw Vegan Detox & Yoga Challenge," to help people lose weight for $49.
But a couple of weeks after she landed in Bali, she appeared in another YouTube star's video at a restaurant. The camera found her seated in front of a salad. Her arms dropping to cover the plate did not stop commenters from identifying a distinctly not plant-based item on her plate: fish.
The story of the vegan social media star who was not really a vegan has now traveled across the globe and back. It has been covered by news outlets around the world: from England, to Mexico to Poland and Mexico — the punchline of a joke to some, and to others, yet another example about the way in which the vast and largely unregulated world of social media presents such a ripe environment for scams.
In an emotional apology Ayres released on YouTube last week, she explained why she misled her fans. She changed her diet after years of significant health problems that culminated with doctors urging her to eat more food, including protein and eggs, she said.
The lifestyle of fitness, weight loss and wellness she had sold to her followers had apparently been making her ill.
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