After livestreaming herself giving birth, in front of thousands of viewers, Twitch streamer Fandy has hit back at claims she did it as a money-making stunt.
In this age where people will film absolutely anything, so they can post it on the internet, no matter how bizarre, inappropriate or dangerous it is, you’d think it would be impossible to be surprised anymore.
The past 12 months alone have seen someone sneak into one of rapper Diddy’s mansions while he was in prison, another held a livestream during a deadly hurricane, and one YouTuber filmed himself sitting in a bear cave.
Recently, though, Twitch streamer Fandy, who has 370,000 followers on the platform, broke new ground by streaming herself giving birth.
This took place on Wednesday, October 8, as she put out a post on X alerting her followers that her water had broken and she would be going live on Twitch.
She didn’t film herself in a hospital, though, as she instead intended to have the birth in the comfort of her home, accompanied by two midwives, as well as her husband and their friends.
Despite concerns that the birth could take 24 hours, her baby – a girl named Luna Rose – was safely delivered after nearly eight hours.
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At the time, the stream attracted upwards of 30,000 viewers, who were a mix of well-wishers, jokesters, and critics questioning Fandy’s decision to livestream such an event.
Perhaps the biggest surprise was seeing Twitch CEO Dan Clancy himself appear in the chat, to congratulate Fandy and state that the stream didn’t violate the platform’s terms and conditions.
That’s a tad perplexing given how prudish Twitch has been in other areas. For instance, just last year, VTubers were being told that even their hips need to be covered up.
At the time of writing, the VOD itself has garnered over 637,000 views and given the virality of such a stream, it’s surely earned Fandy some new subscribers.
In an Instagram post, Fandy defended her decision to stream the birth, arguing that it was no different to other instances of documented births: ‘… it was just done in a live format, which showed the entirety of the birth process – the ugly and the not so pleasant parts included.’
She also explained that she opted not to have a hospital birth, like she did with her previous baby, because she ‘was not a fan of how much agency over it you aren’t allowed to have.’
Fandy stressed that she took precautions to ensure everything was safely handled and hit back at assumptions that this was all a stunt to drive up subscriptions and make money.
‘I did not do it for the ‘money,’ Fandy wrote, pointing out she never asked for subs, made any sort of sub goals, or acknowledged any of the bit donations during the stream.
‘Ads were lowered to minimal levels like they always are and not raised. And seeing as how this isn’t going to be my everyday content, it wasn’t about building a new audience. [My baby] was not used for my personal gain, I was sharing something personal and in doing so making a memory I’ll never forget.’
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