>> turning motherhood into big bank trying to sell perfection. >> they're essentially running media empires. >> but reality isn't always so perfect. the dark side to those huge followings inside the mormon montauk community sex scandal. >> i don't know what it's called when you switch but don't fully switch and go all the way. >> and one of the influencers dragged into the controversy who denies any involvement breaking her silence. >> everything about it was overwhelming and i honestly did not think i would make it

through that. >> plus the little mermaid. the star of one of the summer's biggest movies. ♪ >> halle bailey already making a big splash as the modern princess finding her voice. >> you just get to see more into her mind and her brain and her heart. >> the racist backlash to her casting. >> i'm from the south so nothing kind of breaks my skin that way. >> and how she's making ariel her own. >> it meant everything when i was able to keep my locks with the image of ariel because that's the image of who i am. >> inspiring a new generation of fans who see themselves in her. >> you guys look amazing ♪ "nightline" will be right back. ♪ us. unlike some others, neuriva plus is a multitasker supporting 6 key indicators of brain health. to help keep me sharp. neuriva: think bigger.

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♪ ♪ >> thanks for joining us. it's a lucrative and sometimes controversial corner of the internet. mom influencing. and one of the most salacious recent headlines in the industry, the more monday montauk scandal in the latest episode of impact by "nightline" we speak with one mom caught in the controversy. here's abc's janai norman. ♪ ♪

>> i'm here. we are filming and i'm really excited to share with you guys what it's like to be a mom influencer. >> reporter: as you like, share and send the latest viral videos or meme with your friends, co-workers and family. >> do you think that this is a good mother's day gift? >> yeah. >> reporter: you might have come across miranda. >> get ready to use a full face of she glam products only. use mass scare a. >> sure. >> yeah, good job. >> reporter: she's known as a content creator, a tik toker, but her favorite title, mom. in a world where social media stars become household names, she's part of an online community that some people know as momfluencers, and her followers, one million, some are downright obsessed. >> there's definitely a stereo type when it comes to

momfluencer. i think it's a great way to be able to be at home with your kids while also bringing in income for your family. i really did find some purpose aside from motherhood in it. >> reporter: but there's also a dark side to all of this. miranda unknowingly got pulled into one of the biggest scandals. >> everything about it was overwhelming and i honestly did not think i would make it through that. >> reporter: there's a controversial corner of the internet on which everyone has an opinion known as momfluencing and it might have infiltrated your algorithms. some have followers in the tens of thousands or even in the missharing tips and trips of parenting. >> when moms are up at 2:00 a.m. they are being sold a completely unrealistic version of motherhood and a lot of very expensive mom products. >> reporter: boasting everything from their kids' hair routines to back to school happens,

monetizing the mommy life style, pushing products, brand deals and partnerships to their followers. >> we have been loving or gel 3 toothpaste for all the kids. >> reporter: a lucrative industry that's only growing with so many wanting in on the action. >> historically there has been a sort of typical mom influencer that brandses flock to. a white woman, typically late 20s, early 30s, multiple children, a lot of blonds, and very beautiful. beautiful in like tv beauty way. so many of the original mom influencers come from the mormon faith and there's a lot of reasons for that. >> may i ask you to join the conversation by participating on the internet. >> reporter: this is the beginning of the mormon mom monopoly in influencing. church elder and faith leader spick to brigham young

university hawaii campus graduates over 15 years ago. >> share the gospel and explain in simple, clear terms the message of the restoration. >> reporter: the mormon religion really does emphasize journalling and chronicling your life. and when the internet and blogging came about, they encouraged women to take advantage of blogs to try to spread the mormon faith. >> you can start a blog in minutes and begin sharing what you know to be true. >> and so a lot of women took this on, a lot of more man women started blogging about their lives and those blogs turned into influencing instagram accounts. it doesn't hurt that a lot of these more man moms are beautiful and white and blond and they have a lot of children. >> reporter: but some of these picture perfect lives online are not what they're cracked up to be. the big business of influencing, going hand in hand with the scandals and controversies behind the screen.

so your followers can turn against you overnight and it can literally happen at the drop of a dime. it's a double edged sword to have the massive following. you're not just opening yourself up to that community that you once wanted to connect with, you're opening yourself up to all the trolls. >> friday night looking right, feeling better than i usually do. >> reporter: one of the most salacious headlines in mom influencing, the mormon montauk community scandal. a very famous online friend group of more man moms in utah who would get together to film videos for their socials. miranda quickly became a part of this crew. at the heart of the group was taylor frankie paul, a mom of two who seemed to have it all. their videos continuously going viral with followers joking and questioning if the women were sister wives. >> i really enjoyed the time that i spent with the girls that i made content with and so many

friendships that i made through that. >> reporter: but last year taylor sent shock waves through her following announcing that she was getting a divorce. the reason? she said she and her husband had been involved in what she called soft swinging, but that she took it too far. >> you don't like fully switch if that makes sense and go all the way and, to be honest, i did. we had an agreement, like all of us, and i did step out of that agreement. >> reporter: and the internet went wild. some fans from all around the world started speculating about who the other swingers involved were. >> no one was innocent. everyone has hooked up with like everyone in this situation. >> reporter: internet gossip accounts and reddit threads dredging up social media speculation breaking down the utah mom drama all members of the group targeted by the speculation quickly denied their involvement. at the time, miranda issued her

own denial going live on her tik tok with her husband addressing the rumors. >> had nothing to do with the divorce, we never soft swapped with anybody. >> reporter: we reached out to taylor for comment and didn't hear back. >> i always thought that i was someone who had like really tough skin, i didn't really care what people thought. >> reporter: and now a year later, in her first-ever tv interview she's given since the scandal broke, miranda's trying to move on but is moving on ever possible when you have over one million followers online scrutinizing your every move? >> if somebody likes or dislikes me because of something they heard or what they are perceiving, not because they actually know who i truly am, i think that's what's so hard because i'm just like, when you do feel like you are completely out of control, in any situation in life, obviously it's a pretty

scary feeling for sure. >> reporter: what miranda wants you to know is that there's a real person behind handle when some keyboard warriors take it too far. >> i experienced my first real panic attack, which i had never had before, just like rocking back and forth hyperventilating. >> reporter: she said it took her months to heal and now she's hoping to reclaim her narrative. >> i'm really proud of myself for how far i've come. i learned so much from these situations, and i know for a fact i'm a better person because of it. >> reporter: our thanks toss janae. you can catch the full episode montauk posting perfection streaming now on hulu. new episodes drop every thursday. coming up the little mermaid halle bailey creating a whole new world as ariel delighting a i knew generation of fans.

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♪ >> juju: halle bailey is just the latest in a long line of actresses to breathe life into an iconic disney princess but breaking new ground as the little mermaid's aerial already winning raves while inspiring a new generation of fans with the power of representation. here's abc's lindsey davis. >> the first time i saw the little mermaid i think we had the vhs actually, the big one, and we would put it in and we would watch it on repeat.

♪ i wannabe where the people are ♪ >> reporter: actress and singer halle bailey was captivated beside the coming of age fairytale of the little mermaid who dreams of a world beyond her own. ♪ strolling along down a -- what's that word again? street ♪ >> a big part of the reason why i wanted to swim was because i had seen the little mermaid and being in the water i would just pretend i was one. >> sebastian if you had just seen it up there. >> reporter: she's pretending no more. now 23 years old she is disney's newest princess ariel in the live action film the little mermaid. for bailey it's a dream come through after nailing part of your world during her audition ♪ >> wish i could be part of that world. >> i remember i think it was the ending notes and i closed my eyes and then i opened them and everyone was like crying and i

immediately thought, oh, no. like i just did something terrible. like they hated it. and then i quickly realized they were happy tears. >> reporter: do you remember the moment that you found out you're going to be ariel and how you reacted? >> i was of course crying and so grateful, so just screaming for joy. ♪ ♪ you dream about going up there but that is a big mistake ♪ just look at the world around you right here on the ocean floor. >> reporter: in 19 89 disney's smash hit the little mermaid ushered in a golden era of animated story telling instantly becoming a classic. can you channel your inner five year old and imagine what it would have been like at that time to see a little mermaid who looked like you. >> almost healing to your inner child to see, you know, someone who looks like you in such a big role that you are so used to

seeing a different image of and seeing someone who looks like you with your skin is so important to the development of youth. >> reporter: it is important to my understanding that you have your real hair. >> yes. >> reporter: why was that so important. >> just as a black woman being in the black community our hair is so important to us, it's spiritual, it's everything and it meant everything to me when i was able to keep my locks with the image of aerial, because that's part of the essence of who i am and, you know, just milwaukee it red because ariel's hair is red. >> reporter: was there pressure on you do you think being a black ariel? >> you know, i think that with any role and adaptation people have known for so long there's going to be pressure of some sort because people are investedd in this film and it's their childhood. >> reporter: some were not ready for the black actress taking on the role. when bailey's first came racist

flooded twitter saying not my ariel. was there any aspect that was prepared for that. >> just being a black woman in general you expect people to be a certain way. and i'm from the south so nothing kind of breaks my skin in that way. but i just focused on the positive, you know, the happiness, the babies, the reactions all of that lifts me up snow this may be her biggest role yet but bailey is no newcomer made her singing debut as a child as one half of the grammy nominated duo chloe and halle. pitts sat down with bailey and her older sister chloe in 2016 after becoming internet sensations and even getting noticed by beyonce. >> fair to say y'all became youtube sensations right snow how did that come about. >> we started doing youtube covers we're kind of board let's do this and sing this, best thing we ever had. ♪

>> reporter: it wasn't long before beyonce herself signed the siblings to a record label and they opened for her formation world tour in europe. >> just a great role model in every aspect of life, you know. >> reporter: the live action movie, which is distributed by disney the parent company of abc, takes a deeper dive into ariel's love story while still capturing the original films universal themes of family, friendship and falling in love. ♪ . >> reporter: this movie is not just about boy sees girl and falls if love with girl aerial has more of a voice how is it different. >> original, you always knew that ariel is passionate and knows what she wants for herself. i think that in our version you just get to see more into her mind and her brain and her heart and what she feels and her passions and her curiosity. >> reporter: so here's the deal. i'll whip up a little potion to make you human for three days.

>> reporter: the star studded cast includes melissa mccarthy as her nemesis ursula the sea witch putting her own comic spin on the villain ♪ >> there's amazing new songs that people are going to hear but i think it's just modernizing it to the world that we live in today but they're still the same songs that we all know and love. >> reporter: bailey's here at did i see any disneyland getting ready to surprise kidsers. >> i'm here for the children at the boutique so beautiful and they're turning into my version of ariel. >> reporter: these little ones are just some of the children who went viral when the first trailer revealed bailey, someone who looks like them, would portray their favorite mermaid. >> she's like me. >> keep watching, keep watching. >> a black mer

>> wow! >> you guys look amazing. i love your outfit. >> reporter: for many of this generation she is the only ariel they will know. bailey is the second black woman to become a live action disney princess. the first is someone she's noted as an inspiration. brandy, who starred in the 1997 remake of rodgers and hammerstein's cinderella. >> how do you do your highness? >> what would you hope that young black and brown girls and boys take away from being able to see you on the big screen? >> i hope that young black and brown boys and girls just take away that they are important, they are worthy, they deserve to be a princess, a prince, anything they want to be they should be able to and i hope

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♪ >> juju: and, finally tonight, some big news from garth brooks about his new las vegas residency. >> i plan on being here until they throw me out so we'll see

how long that is ♪ 'cause i got friends in low places ♪ >> juju: demand for tickets is so high that the friends in low places singer has already added additional dates for 2024. garth brooks plus one opens tonight and he's promising an intimate show with something new every night. >> i'm hoping they get something here that they can't get anywhere else but i think it's a lab, i think it's a laboratory. because no-phone policy, no video policy, which makes me go, here's a song i was working on today. boom. >> juju: and that's "nightline". see you right back here tomorrow sa