Star, aged 22, slams 'disgusting' troll who 'faked her death' as she reassures fans she's alive after video claiming she'd died went viral

Earlier this month, a video began circulating which claimed that popular social media star Grace Wolstenholme had died.

This was not true, and the content creator has been forced to make her own video to show fans that she is alive and well. “It has come to my attention that someone has put on TikTok saying that they’re my brother and that I'm dead. Well, excuse me if I’m mistaken, I've not just risen from the f***ing dead, have I? I’m obviously still here,” the 22-year-old said in her video.

Grace then shared a clip of the hoax, which featured an old clip of her falling over in the gym that she posted on her page back in 2021. This then cut to a clip of a casket being lowered into the ground. The text which overlaid the video read: “I lost my autistic sister today so I bought this pillow to imitate cuddling her.”

Grace, who is known for sharing videos about her living cerebral palsy and has more than 1.3 million TikTok followers, called the hoax “sickening” and accused the user behind it, who has not been identified, of using her and pretending to have cerebral palsy to promote his business.

Cerebral palsy is the name for a group of lifelong conditions that affect movement and co-ordination. It's caused by a problem with the brain that develops before, during or soon after birth, as stated by the NHS, and can be mild or severe. Symptoms can include delays in reaching development milestones, weak arms or legs, fidgety, jerky or clumsy movements and walking on tiptoes.

Grace explained that she learned about the death hoax video after someone sent her mum a message of condolence. She told BBC that her fans truly believed she had passed and were upset: "People were commenting saying ‘Rest in peace, Grace.’ [They] were severely devastated.” The creator hadn't been active on social media at the time due to feeling ill, which is why people believed that the hoax could be real.

In her video addressing the hoax, Grace said: “I’ve been very ill lately, so him posting this false information and claiming I’m dead is very serious.”

The hoax video received more than 40,000 views before it was removed by Instagram. TikTok also removed the video, and all social media accounts associated with the username behind it have been deactivated, the BBC reported, but not before Grace allegedly received “offensive messages” from the user.

“It’s just disgusting how he can make out I’m [dead] to get views and to pretend he’s got cerebral palsy. I cannot tell you how angry this video has made me,” Grace added.

She received many messages of support on her response video. One person wrote: “ Love you Grace, there are some troubled people in this world for sure,” and sent a love heart emoji. A second person penned: “You have my support all the way, what a sick person he is”

Grace reported the harassment to the The Metropolitan Police. A police spokeswoman told the BBC: "The victim continues to be supported by officers. At this stage no arrests have been made."