Hi, Caleb here (the ex and current boyfriend of Tori). This will be a one-off thing, I don't intend on responding/posting regularly but I figured I could help clear the air while I'm here. I am not attacking or judging, just providing information. I also don't feel like replying to every post individually, so I'll address everything here.
I was just recently made aware of this forum, and while I did have a good laugh reading through a lot of the speculation, there were a few alarming comments I think deserve attention.
Aside from the prescribed Adderall for her ADHD, Tori won't touch any legal or illegal substances. I'm lucky if I can get her to have a drink every now and again. I did get her to try an edible one time, but unfortunately I knew nothing about dosing and gave her 100mg brownie for her first (and probably last) experience. Needless to say she had a terrible time and is probably traumatized for life.
It seems Tori is widely seen as a manhater; although that's not entirely untrue, it is not without reason. The amount of unsolicited dick-pics I've had the misfortune of seeing, plus the endless catcalling- it's very telling of her experience of men online. You're probably right that they're just looking to get a reaction out of her, but it does feel a bit odd to judge her response to sexual harassment, and not the.. sexual harassment. I don't think it would hurt if she toned down the out-of-context manhating posts, she might have overcorrected a tad but I imagine she's trying to distance herself from the experiences she's had so far.
To address the comments on Tori's mental health, I can't get too specific as it's not my place but I'll try my best to paint you a picture: Tori's upbringing was on one of the very far extremes as far as parenting methods go. Within six months of us dating, while Tori was still in her senior year of high school, her mother got a restraining order on me by fabricating letters from my youth pastor claiming we had been inappropriate at church, among other lies and manipulation. She waited for the day that I turned 18 too. The same week, without warning she moved Tori across the country and made her finish her senior year at a new high school. Her reason behind all of it? Because she told me in our first month of dating that I was to be Tori's practice boyfriend, that I had to break up with her before college, but we were starting to look too serious so she had to put an end to it. I had to hire an attorney and take her to court to get the restraining order quashed, but can you imagine being raised by that woman? It's a miracle Tori's sanity is intact, let alone all of her achievements since.
In regards to the comments on Tori's and my relationship/breakup; we are each carrying a lot of baggage and it took us a long time to work through some of the incompatibilities. We used to be very toxic to each other because we were lacking understanding and a willingness to view the others perspective. We took turns being the good guy and the bad guy, but my point is just that we were both responsible in our ways.
Tori's channel has certainly received less attention as she's explored other creative outlets, but she is not just chasing the money. From the very beginning, she always told me two things: she was not going to make content that she did not want to make, and she was going to have fun. It might seem simple or selfish, but she isn't just playing whatever game is popular or chasing views. She is also a severe perfectionist. She easily spends 4Ă the amount of time editing a video as recording the damn thing (she's like 30 hours into a RDR edit, she's made me rewatch the video every time she has an update đŽâđ¨). I even tried editing for her for a bit, but after seeing the level of detail she wants in each video I had to throw in the towel. I doubt most people have the same attention to detail that she has, so it's been rough finding an editor who can keep up. Her channel probably wouldn't have lost priority if the fanbase didn't constantly bombard her with complaints on upload frequency (this was back when she was on a weekly schedule). People actually got pretty nasty and she took every message, every comment to heart. It was no longer fun, she lost a lot of the excitement of content creation and was considering quitting YouTube for good.
I am obviously biased, but I have had direct experience and involvement in her life for the past 7 years. After reading everything posted here, it seems a lot of people aren't viewing Tori or any of the content creators out there as actual people, the same as you and me. They're somehow being held to these higher standards, yet they exist only to please their fans. All of this speculation I read is just that- speculation. There were a few decent points made, but without knowing the person you're talking about it seems kind of pointless imo.
âď¸