Photo: YouTube
The boy's mom supports their relationship.
By Sarah Gangraw — Written on Aug 07, 2018
An American YouTuber is under fire for defending her relationship with a 13-year-old.
Dallas beauty blogger Ariadna Juarez, 18, posted a video with her boyfriend's mother on her now-deleted YouTube channel addressing those who are criticizing her for dating a minor. The video, "Speaking Up About Our Controversial Relationship, was an attempt to convince her 600,000 subscribers that "maturity is not determined by age."
The boy's mother supported their relationship.
The two were "just getting to know each other" when they fell in love, Ariadna said. She went on to ask her viewers to accept her relationship even though her boyfriend is still four years younger than the age of consent in Texas.
YouTube
"It’s stupid to think that if I was one year younger or if he was one year older, it would make such a big difference, and people would be accepting of it," Ariadna said.
The public outrage began when Ariadna posted a photo of the 13-year-old laying on her bed without a shirt on.
"I can tell you, one year is not going to make a difference when you love somebody. You can love the same person today, tomorrow, next year or three years later. For that same reason, we decided we’re gonna wait and we are gonna try this again when everybody will be OK with it."
Her fans, however, were not okay with it.
"You are a legal adult and could be taking advantage of a minor," Reagan Wolfe said in a YouTube video titled "THIS NEEDS TO STOP" discussing her concerns about Ariadna's relationship. "That is what we're worried about, not two people being happy."
Ariadna went on to say that she's disappointed people aren't willing to accept her and her now-ex-boyfriend.
"I wish that since it’s 2018, people would be more open-minded and more accepting of happiness," the vlogger said. "But as we have found out in the past few days, that’s not how people are."
Ariadna went on to say that she and the boy's mother consulted a lawyer before they began dating.
"There's nothing wrong with dating" if there is "no type of sexual contact," she claims the lawyer told them.
"It’s sad to know that we have to put our love aside just because people don’t want to see us together, and because people are ignorant," Ariadna said. "It’s sickening to see that people don’t want to see you happy without knowing anything about you."
The child's mother made it clear that she was aware of her son's relationship and "would never allow him to be in any kind of danger." She is upset that public negativity has since brought them to break up.
"It’s very upsetting for me to see them because I can see and I can tell how much they both love each other," she told viewers.
Ariadna brought up that she and the boy have split up despite trying to cloud out the negativity they have received from the world.
"We tried to be strong for a while, and just block the negativity but it got out of hand," she said.
After the breakup, Ariadna deleted her entire YouTube channel and made her Instagram private.
Sarah Gangraw is a travel-addicted cat lady who lives on black coffee and cheese. She has a degree in journalism and writes about all things news, entertainment and crime. You can follow her on Instagram and Twitter — she's occasionally funny.