Rachel Hollis is Increasingly The Embodiment of Toxic Self-love
I am not a once-fan of Rachel Hollis turned sour. In fact, Hollis only came onto my radar in 2019 when she was accused of plagiarising other people’s words (including those of Maya Angelou for God’s sake) on her Instagram.
Great start.
When the news of Hollis’s plagiarism popped up in 2019, I was grossed out but not surprised. Every day, white women steal the work of black women and call it their own. Influencer culture is overwhelmingly racist: not only do BAME creators often get their work stolen by white influencers, like recently on the Jimmy Fallon show, they’re also often paid significantly less.
What did surprise me was seeing a supposed self-help writer who claims to focus on self-empowerment and self-love unable to apologise in a meaningful way. In case you weren’t aware, this is how a Hollis apology for stealing the work of a black icon and pretending it’s her own begins:
This morning I found out that my social team posted a graphic on my Instagram yesterday that said, “Still… I Rise” That is, obviously, an immortal line from a Maya Angelou poem — only, no credit was given to her. I immediately deleted the post but I want to make sure and publicly apologize…
