- - Piper Rockelle Breaks Down in Tears Believing It’s Her ‘Fault’ Her Mom Doesn’t Get ‘More Respect’

Luke ChinmanFebruary 14, 2026 at 2:45 AM

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Piper Rockelle

Piper Rockelle/Instagram

Piper Rockelle revealed that she feels responsible that her mom, Tiffany Smith, doesn’t get “more respect”

Smith was sued by 11 former members of “The Squad” — a collective of teen content creators she helmed — for alleged “abusive treatment,” allegations she has repeatedly denied

“It sucks that I have to sit here and, like, talk about this,” Rockelle said through tears, addressing her relationship with her mom during an interview on an episode of IMPACT x Nightline

Piper Rockelle is getting emotional as she reflects on the 2022 abuse lawsuit against her mom, Tiffany Smith.

The 18-year-old internet personality — who rose to fame at age 8 when her mom started posting videos of her online — spoke to anchor Juju Chang for a wide-ranging interview in an episode of IMPACT x Nightline, which aired Thursday, Feb. 12, and addressed the fallout from allegations made against Smith by 11 former teen content creators.

In 2022, members of “The Squad” — a group of teens, led by Smith, who made content together in the 2010s — filed a lawsuit against Smith, alleging that they had not been compensated for their time collaborating with Rockelle and that they had been subjected to "inappropriate, offensive and abusive treatment," including "wildly offensive and sexually explicit comments."

Smith has repeatedly denied these allegations, settling the lawsuit in October 2024 for $1.85 million, with all parties specifically disclaiming any liability. The allegations were also the subject of a 2025 Netflix docuseries, Bad Influence: The Dark Side of Kidfluencing, in which several former members of “The Squad” described their alleged experiences while working with Smith.

During Rockelle’s new interview — in which she maintained that she and Smith remain quite close — the internet personality got emotional as Chang scrutinized her relationship with Smith. “It sucks that I have to sit here and, like, talk about this,” Rockelle said through tears. “It’s really agitating. Because, like, I just think about my life as, like, such a good thing.”

The content creator continued, adding, “If I could’ve told [Smith] how the world would think of her now and, like, how they would think of her family — it would make her sad. And I feel like it’s my fault a lot.”

Responding to Chang’s follow-up question about why she blamed herself, Rockelle continued, “Well, because if I never got into the entertainment space, you know, I think that my mother and my family would have a lot more respect, but because I wanted to do this, you know, it dragged everyone down with me and it just — I don’t know.”

After turning 18 in August, the former child star made headlines — and drew scrutiny — when she opened an account on OnlyFans, a subscription-based platform known for adult content. Though Rockelle says she earned nearly $3 million in her first 24 hours on the platform, she also faced sharp criticism by those who said she was promoting adult content creation to a young audience.

Piper Rockelle via Instagram

Piper Rockelle/Instagram

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“I think that’s understandable. But I’m not going to be a kid forever,” she said in response during a Rolling Stone interview published in January. “I understand that it might be hard for some people to see someone who they’ve grown up with have so many different weird little lifestyles that they’ve had.”

Speaking to PEOPLE, Rockelle admitted that her audience includes “a lot of younger kids,” and that she had received messages from some of them saying that it’s their “dream” to be in the Bop House — a collective of OnlyFans creators — after watching her videos. But she brushed off the messages, saying that it’s “just the world that we live in.”

“I thrive off of the hate,” Rockelle told PEOPLE. “Honestly, I think hate has kept me around for a long, long, long time. I think, without it, I would have become a little bit irrelevant.”

on People

Original Article on Source

Source: “AOL Entertainment”