By Ana Perez, 10th Grade

In 2016, Twitch streamer Amouranth was asked by the company to join as a content creator. As of October 2022, she has 5.89 million subscribers and became popular due to her dancing, ASMR, and hot tub streaming content. A businesswoman, Aramounth owns a character company for children’s entertainment, a gas station, an inflatable pool company, and a company that matches content creators with personal assistants; she is also one of the most popular OnlyFans creators, earning about $1.5 million per month. Despite this, she still streams for about 16 hours a day, something many thought was because she is a ‘hard worker.’ However, it was revealed that this is all due to her abusive husband, who had been controlling her schedule, her finances, and her entire life.

It’s not uncommon for Amouranth to stream often, but things took a turn for the worse when she took a phone call while on stream. The call was from her husband, who was kept secret from her audience up until that moment. While the stream was taken down from Amouranth’s Twitch channel, clips have been circulating online. One of them shows a distressing scene of Amouranth asking her husband why he threatened to kill her dogs. Her husband said that it was a threat because she didn’t listen to what he said. He then started yelling at Amouranth, telling her to leave the house, before hanging up. In another clip, Amouranth reveals that her husband wanted her to tell her audience that she was single, but this was not true. She also revealed that her therapist stated that this is a form of emotional abuse and that she has been living in a fancy prison. Amouranth also uncovered that her husband controls all her bank accounts and has all her financial information; this means that he could ‘burn’ all of her money in an instant if he wanted to. In another clip, Amouranth shows text messages from her husband, insulting her, threatening to shut down all her social media accounts, and shutting down her bank account. Another particularly perturbing clip shows Amouranth revealing the damage that her husband had done to their house while in fits of rage. One final clip shows Amouranth stating, “It keeps you there with the fear and the threats if you’re going to do something to your animals, and then he’s nice again and says everything is going to be ok.”

The reaction online has been primarily supportive of Amouranth, although there are a few comments who believe the entire situation is fake and staged for ‘pity.’ Others are angrier at Amouranth for hiding that she had a husband, instead of being angry at the husband who abuses her. However, the main reaction online has been disgust for the husband and worry for Amouranth. Twitch streamer 39daph wrote that she was “genuinely terrified for amouranth” and that she hopes “she’s okay.” Streamer Asmongold said that he “hopes she gets away from that dude.” He also said that “I think the reason why she streamed it is it’s effectively like a cry for help. She knows that she’s being taken advantage of and she streamed it to get it out in the open.” Others online have expressed concern for Amouranth, wondering if her husband wouldn’t become more violent and abusive after exposing his actions for the world to see. And, since there were no updates on Amouranth for a long time, many thought that something awful had happened to her. Thankfully, there was finally an update from Amouranth herself.

She revealed in a stream that she’s doing well, that the authorities are involved, and that she’s seeking legal counsel. When talking about the things she could do knowing that she was free, she mentioned how she could finally wear the clothes she wanted to wear, do what she wanted to do, and sleep for more than 5 hours a day. Since her husband was so controlling of her, Amouranth had no freedom and was practically treated as a slave. Some have compared her husband to a pimp since he had been forcing her to do her OnlyFans content. While many online seem to be happy for Amouranth, others are skeptical and believe she’s not truly “free” from her husband, since there’s no way someone as dangerous as him would back off that easily. There is speculation, however, that her husband backed off after a talk with a lawyer.

The online discourse surrounding Amouranth also shifted to domestic violence and how hard it is for victims to receive help. Despite the overwhelming evidence that Amouranth is being abused by her husband, many decried the stream as fake. Several Twitter users believed this showed how hard it is for women to escape their abusers, because more often than not, they are not believed. Experts say to believe victims when they tell their stories, but this rarely happens. According to Scott (n.d), recent statistics show that 60% of victim-survivors of domestic and family violence don’t go to the police, and the experts we spoke to say that figure is likely much higher. This is because most victims believe that others won’t take them seriously and, unfortunately, this is true. 

There are many ways we can help victims of domestic violence, although the main way is to believe them. However, we can also make time for them, start a conversation, listen without judgment, and learn the warning signs (physical, mental, and emotional).

What the Amouranth situation shows us is that we must believe and support victims, especially when given overwhelming evidence proving their point. While some allegations are fake, this is quite rare, and we should not decry all domestic violence allegations as fake because of this. We need to believe in and aid victims instead of putting them down.

References:

• Wikipedia contributors. (2022, October 20). Amouranth. Wikipedia. Retrieved October 20, 2022, from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amouranth
• Niemeyer, K. (2022, October 16). “Living in a fancy prison”: Twitch and OnlyFans star Amouranth revealed she is married and accused her husband of emotional abuse, forcing her to stream. Insider. Retrieved October 20, 2022, from https://www.insider.com/amouranth-revealed-she-is-married-and-accused-her-husband-of-abuse-2022-10
• Henry, M. (2021b, October 27). ‘Believe them’: Experts say, too often, domestic violence survivors are not truly heard. https://www.kktv.com. Retrieved October 20, 2022, from https://www.kktv.com/2021/10/27/believe-them-experts-say-too-often-domestic-violence-survivors-are-not-truly-heard/
• How to Help a Victim of Domestic Violence. (2022, August 29). Verywell Mind. Retrieved October 20, 2022, from https://www.verywellmind.com/how-to-help-a-victim-of-domestic-violence-66533