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TikTok star Dixie D'Amelio addressed rumors that she 'fakes seizures for attention' and opened up about her struggles with anxiety and a rare condition

Aug 18, 2020, 17:38 IST
Insider
D'Amelio, who has nearly 35 million followers on TikTok, said she never wanted to share her medical history with the internet.Screenshot Instagram/@dixiedamelio
  • TikTok star Dixie D'Amelio addressed rumors being spread by her former classmates about her "faking seizures for attention" and to get out of class.
  • In an emotional livestream, D'Amelio described her medical history as something "very, very personal" that she "would never want on the internet," but wanted to clear up.
  • D'Amelio went on to say that she switched schools after dealing with severe anxiety and developing PNES, a condition that resembles epileptic seizures but is caused by psychological factors.
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After seeing rumors that she used to "fake seizures for attention," TikTok star Dixie D'Amelio went live to explain to her fans what really happened during her sophomore year of high school.

D'Amelio, a 19-year-old with nearly 35 million TikTok followers, noticed posts from self-described former classmates at her old high school that alleged D'Amelio would pretend to have seizures to get out of class. The anonymous source told influencer drama account Def Noodles that D'Amelio's former high school teacher recently told their class that D'Amelio's fake seizures were "annoying."

"One day kids were making TikToks towards the end of class, then somebody brought up Charli, he had no idea who she was, then someone brought up Dixie and he remembered her easily," the source wrote in a DM to internet commentary channel Def Noodles (Dennis Feitosa) that he tweeted out.

"He said he had her as a student and that she used to pretend to have seizures during his class and that it got annoying after a while."

In a livestream, D'Amelio said she experienced seizures in high school because of a condition caused by anxiety

Later that day, D'Amelio livestreamed her own explanation, which she said was "very, very personal" that she "would never want on the internet." After the livestream ended, D'Amelio gave popular TikTok drama account "@tiktokroom" permission to post a clip of her saying: "It's just so dumb, the things people say, so they can take other people down."

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In a longer recording of the stream, D'Amelio explains that she experienced severe anxiety during her sophomore year of high school, leading to Psychogenic Nonepileptic Seizures (PNES), which are attacks that may look like epileptic seizures but are caused by psychological factors.

D'Amelio said on her livestream that in April of her sophomore year, she began to feel shaky during the school day and asked a friend to help her walk to her mom's car that was waiting outside.

"I fall to the ground and have a seizure," D'Amelio said. "Then I'm taken to the hospital and I'm there for two days while they are constantly monitoring me and I have over 400 of these compulsions over the next few days."

D'Amelio then said that she left school after being hospitalized and was on bed rest for about five months, at which point she transferred schools and began attending a new one for her junior year. In addition to the rumors that she was "faking" seizures, D'Amelio said there are rumors about why she switched schools, and that her PNES was the real reason why.

D'Amelio also said that because of PNES, she developed a stutter and would shake any time she experienced anxiety.

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"I wanted to address this right away, because that's something I don't like talking about at all but I'm not going to let anyone think of me any other way," D'Amelio said.

"I was a person when I was at my old school who I did not like. I was not myself, because I had so much anxiety and everything going through my brain at the time where I couldn't even have a proper conversation with anyone. I'm so thankful for who I am now and what I am and all that. "

After her livestream ended, D'Amelio tweeted that she was "done with the internet today."

A few hours later, she wrote "imma use this opportunity to help spread awareness about some of the things ive been through because even though i dont do it offten i think it's important to talk about mental health."

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