Sofia Franklyn has issued an apology to Trisha Paytas for their online beef after making a snarky comment over her appearance during a disagreement.
According to Centennial World, it all started when Sofia — who is the host of the Sofia With An F podcast and formerly one of the co-hosts of the cult podcast Call Her Daddy — was called out for glamorising mental illness on her podcast.
During a chat with former Dance Moms star Kalani Hilliker, the pair reflected on their mental health struggles and how they love their mental illness because it makes them who they are.
“My mental illness literally makes me, me,” Kalani told Sofia.
TikTok users called the pair out for painting mental illness in a positive light, which prompted Sofia to delete her video of the comment.
Before it was scrubbed from the internet, long-standing internet celebrity Trisha Paytas stitched the vid to have her say.
“No hate to those two girls, but for those of us who don’t love our mental illness, this one’s for you,” she said.
“So I feel like it’s great that mental illness is normalised and talked about and just so many more people are coming forward with their mental health struggles.
“It can be discouraging when it gets so glamorised and it looks like people are functioning so easy and you’re not.”
She went on to detail her experience with borderline personality disorder and explained that it can still be super difficult even with all the treatment and therapy available to her.
“So for those people who genuinely love their mental illness, I’m happy for you. But I don’t love mine, and that’s okay. But you can have a really fulfilling, successful life full of love and happiness and still have bad days,” she concluded.
Sofia proceeded to clap back with a video of her own, making a slightly snarky comment about Trisha’s appearance.
“Okay no hate to electrocuted hair girl but I just think it’s a little bit damaging to tell people how they should or should not express their mental illness,” she said.
Trisha later responded in an episode of her own podcast Just Trish, claiming that her comments in the stitched video weren’t about Sofia and Kalani specifically.
She explained that she found the soundbite triggering when she was having a difficult day with her own mental health and wanted to speak to people struggling like she was.
“I thought let me just stitch this because I do talk about mental health a lot, and let me just talk about how I’m feeling,” she said on the pod.
“It’s okay to love your mental illness but I really hate mine and that’s okay too.
“I love that you love your mental illness. I love that you talk about mental illness because you are a conventionally beautiful girl, and you’re talented and successful and that’s great that you talk about it to show that everyone has mental illness.
“Sofia, if you’re watching this, it was never about you. I love, adore you. I always talk positively about you.
“It was never an attack on you. I’m so sorry because when I saw this, my heart went to my stomach,” Trisha said.
Two weeks later, Sofia released a podcast episode called “Another Apology?” where she addressed the whole situation.
“First and foremost, I would like to apologise to Trisha Paytas. What I said and what I did was a low blow, and I can fully acknowledge that,” she said.
Sofia explained that she didn’t know why she was so triggered by Trisha’s stitch, especially since it “wasn’t mean”. But she also denied the claims that she was glamorising mental illness.
“It’s how I felt in that moment,” she said.
“Me laughing and saying, ‘I love my mental illness’ on my show was just me taking ownership of my brain and my humanity and acknowledging something that’s a part of who I am.
“I just don’t want that one moment to negate all of the real discourse and genuineness that I have brought to the topic of mental illness.”
Sofia also said that she’d love to have the opportunity to chat to Trisha on or off air, adding: “You are harder to get in touch with than the president.”
Trisha is yet to respond to Sofia’s apology but I think for online drama, this is actually a pretty nice resolution. Mental health is a touchy subject filled with multiple perspectives and loads of nuance. And dealing with that certainly isn’t a one-size-fits-all.
Personally, I like to talk about my own mental illness with a healthy dose of self-deprecating humour. But I can imagine many people wouldn’t find that too empowering when speaking about their own. Whatever floats your boat, I guess, because we’re all just doing what we can to stay afloat.
Fingers crossed we’ll be able to see a podcast cross-over with Sofia and Trisha in the near future.
