Photo: Instagram
She could be seen making out with an older man.
By Rebekah Kuschmider — Written on Jan 03, 2020
YouTuber and musician Lia Marie Johnson scared her fans the other night after a long Instagram livestream where she was behaving erratically and making out with an older man. The social media star could be seen taking questions and rambling on about various topics and viewers thought she seemed to be under the influence of drugs or alcohol. Then she and the man started kissing just out of view of the camera.
When the man realized he was being broadcast out to Johnson's 1.3 million Instagram followers he told her it would be bad if the video was broadcast and he took her phone away. That's when fans started to get concerned for her safety and called the cops. Hours later, she got back on social media to confirm that she had been detailed by police and yelled at the concerned followers who had sent the cops to go check on her.
Who is Lia Marie Johnson and what happened with her the other night? Is she ok? Read on for all the details.
1. Who is Lia Marie Johnson?
Like a lot of aspiring performers, Lia Marie Johnson started out posting videos on YouTube when she was very young. She was about 11 years old in 2007 when her mom started uploading clips of Johnson performing in talent shows and performances at church. Two years later, she was posting her own content, a combination of sketch comedy videos and music performances. In 2010, she started appearing as a recurring guest on the Kids React series on YouTube. Eventually, she moved to different franchises in the react video family, appearing on Teens React starting in 2011 and then in 2014, joined the newly established YouTubers React. She also appeared on the Nickelodeon show Awesomeness and starred in Terry the Tomboy: The Movie, a spin-off film based a character she performed there. Since about 2015, she has been focused on a recording career, even signing with Capitol Records to produce her first single "DNA" in 2016. She stopped producing videos for her YouTube channel several years ago.
2. Her recent Instagram live stream was very concerning.
On January 2, Johnson took to Instagram live from a dark room. She appeared to be under the influence of something as she rambled to the camera. She alternately talked and sang snippets of lyrics she seemed to be making up on the spot, sometimes talking to someone off-camera. The whole time a short cut of music kept playing over and over again, with Johnson claiming she had written the melody. Eventually, the other person in the room changed the music and he and Johnson started kissing. She broke away from him and asked for more wine, while mugging a bit for the camera, which was still on. The man grew alarmed and asked if she was on Instagram, saying “Are you on Instagram? No, you’re not — you can’t be on Instagram. Are you really on Instagram? Because that would be bad."
3. "I'm hijacking your phone."
Johnson's companion finally tried to cut off the livestream, saying“Now we’re going back to us. I’m hijacking your phone.” A little while later, Johnson was back online but her companion was no more excited about being on the second livestream than he was about the first one. “Lia," he pleads, "I need this not to go out, because it will affect my work, please.” Johnson, meanwhile, appeared agitated and responded to fan comments about her safety by telling them not to call the cops and send the police to her address.
The man in the video begged her not to broadcast the video.
4. Fans called the cops anyway.
Johnson's fans disregarded her admonition to leave her alone and somehow sent the police to go check what was going on. Hours later, Johnson was back on Instagram in another live stream, which has since been deleted, yet again to update her followers about what had happened. “The cops showed up and detained me, put cuffs on my hands," she said. "So, I would really appreciate it if everyone … stopped worrying so much. There’s no reason to worry, I’m okay. I just want to be left alone.”
5. Who was the man in the room with her?
The livestream was so dark that it was impossible to see the face of the man Johnson was with. Fans have jumped to the conclusion that it was her producer Stephen Wetherbee.
According to his bio on the Golden Track Stuido website, "As the founder of Golden Track Studio, Steve has gained a wealth of experience throughout his 30+ year career. Steve has worked with members from Rush, Santana, Kansas, REO Speedwagon, Yes, Chicago, P.O.D , Genesis, Survivor, Alan Parsons, Foreigner, Fat Burger, and Tonex."
Wetherbee has known Johnson since at least 2012 when he produced “The Stars Will Shine,” which includes Lia and other young YouTube stars. At the time, she would have been about 15 years old. He is also reportedly a go-to producer for a lot of other young aspiring performers as well.
Wetherbee has deleted all his social media accounts since the livestream incident. Some fans think that the whole incident is an indication that he produces music to creep on young girls and he didn't want to get caught hooking up with one of his clients. It's also possible that he was just upset about a hook-up being broadcast to Instagram without his consent. Either way, however, there's a major age difference between the two and Johnson was so debilitated — or at least seemed to be — by drugs or alcohol that it would have been better to just put her to bed and leave her alone.
6. Is Lia Marie Johnson okay?
This isn't the first time that the social media star has appeared on video seemingly under the influence. In May 2019, she posted several streams where she appeared agitated and loopy but insists that she isn't high, it's all just her "interesting mindset" before launching into a rant about how she didn't go to college and can't even get a job as a barista. This second, more recent video where she seems out of control is leading fans to wonder if she needs more help than she's willing to admit. One fan tweeted, "forget about james charles, lia marie johnson is suffering from drug abuse and mental illness and nobody is talking about it or reaching out to her. watching her recent lives streams is heartbreaking. she is not okay and i really hope she gets the help that she needs!!"
Twitter user Suana Richards, who claims to know Johnson wrote a thread about her concerns. "Listen, I’ve worked with Lia Marie Johnson and I’m incredibly concerned after watching the live that was posted with her producer," she wrote. "It would be irresponsible to not call out what we’re seeing. I hope that someone takes this seriously as Lia said many alarming things throughout the video. What’s even more alarming is her producer’s behavior. I can’t speak for Lia but there’s a reason why she kept going live and there’s a reason for why he kept telling her to turn it off. There’s an obvious power dynamic and he’s been working with her for years. He’s clearing grabbing her and being intimate with her. It doesn’t matter if she’s of age or if she’s under the influence, this is a grown ass man."
She concluded by saying, "And for EVERY person who’s shaming Lia, stay the fuck away from my mentions. She’s in her 20s and has been working under this man since she was a teenager. He is supposed to mentor her and support her, NOT take advantage of her. He was the aggressor throughout the entire video.
Neither Johnson nor Wetherbee have commented at this time.
Rebekah Kuschmider has been writing about celebrities, pop culture, entertainment, and politics since 2010. She is the creator of the blog FeminXer and she is a cohost of the weekly podcast The More Perfect Union.