16 March 2023 , 15:40
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An OG mummy blogger who secretly became an online troll herself has received a one-year caution, after she was caught in the act using a fake profile by observant followers in 2019.
Clemmie Hooper, formerly known as Mother of Daughters, used to have 700,000 followers on Instagram, two books, sponsored ads with the likes of Mothercare and Boden, and she even appeared on This Morning.
But just at the peak of her success, she was exposed by eagle-eyed internet detectives for using the pseudonym 'Alice in Wanderlust' on Tattle Life, a popular gossip forum, to slam other women in the industry.
Clemmie was exposed when internet detectives spotted her location (Ken McKay/ITV/REX/Shutterstock)
The mum-of-four was forced to apologise to the bloggers she trolled (INSTAGRAM)The mum-of-four admitted to creating the anonymous account in order to defend herself against criticism, before she completely retreated from view.
This month, Clemmie was brought back into the spotlight after a midwifery misconduct hearing with the Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC) found her guilty of three charges and cleared of one.
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The 38-year-old admitted that she posted 'one or more inappropriate comments' as a registered midwife between November 2018 and March 2019, and those actions were intended to 'undermine and humiliate' the subject of one of her comments.
Among many of the jibes made under Alice in Wanderlust, Clemmie accused Black influencer Candice Brathwaite of being "aggressive", "social climbing" and using her "race as a weapon".
On March 7, she accepted that elements of the posts were 'racially offensive and/or discriminatory' on the basis that she was 'not aware' of the offence at the time.
Clemmie, who also works part-time as a midwife, was cleared of a fourth charge of knowing and intending her comments to be racially offensive and discriminatory, something she had denied.
The panel took account of mitigating factors, including Clemmie's health at the time of making the posts, and several positive testimonals in regards to her career as a midwife.
It also noted her personal reflection and insight into her conduct, and her 'evident remorse', as well as how she had been affected by reading an extremely large volume of negative comments about herself online.
Her decision to remove herself from social media, and what the panel considered to be her negligible risk of repetition, were also considered mitigating factors.
In addition, the panel said it accepted that Clemmie was unaware that describing a Black woman as aggressive was a racial trope when writing the posts, and that she has since engaged in training and reading around equality and diversity since/
Candice said it was 'painful' reading Clemmie's racially offensive comments online (Candice Brathwaite)Candice Brathwaite told Grazia in 2021 that it had been "painful" reading the posts on Tattle and it was a "knock to her confidence".
The mum-of-two said: "I step into this arena as a minority, you know. I wasn't called chubby, I wasn't called ugly, I was spoken about based on something I cannot change. That was a bitter pill to swallow."
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It hurt even more because Clemmie had invited Candice onto her podcast to discuss her traumatic birth experience, just two months before making the comments.
The influencer trolled Candice and other friends for the duration of eight months - but she was finally unmasked when Tattle users matched her location with that of Alice in Wanderlust's.
As well as posting from St Lucia, Clemmie was recognised for praising her own account and criticising others - though she did call her own husband a "class A t**t".
Alice said that Clemmie (herself) "seemed like a laugh", but lifestyle blogger Emily Murray was "smug as f***", "bland and incredibly try hard".
Writing about Candice, she said: "She is often really aggressive and always brings it back to race... It feels like a weapon to silence people's opinions."
The mumfluencer said she 'regretted' her comments and felt 'deeply sorry' (mother_of_daughters Verified/Instagram)
She revealed that she was Alice in Wanderlust on her Instagram stories (mother_of_daughters Verified/Instagram)After initially denying Alice was "not associated with MoD or her Insta crew", Clemmie stepped forward later that year to make her bombshell confession.
She wrote on her Instagram story: "I know there are some rumours circulating and I want to take the opportunity to explain.
"Earlier this year, I became aware of a website that had thousands of comments about my family and I. Reading them made me feel extremely paranoid and affected me much more than I knew at the time.
"I decided without telling anyone else that I would make an anonymous account so that this group of people would believe I was one of them, so that I could maybe change their opinions from the inside to defend my family and I."
She went on: "It became all consuming and it grew bigger than I knew how to handle. When the users started to suspect it was me I made the mistake of commenting about others.
"I regret it all and am deeply sorry - I know this has caused a lot of pain. Undoubtedly I got lost in this online world and the more I became engrossed in the negative commentary, the more the situation escalated."
Clemmie's husband Father of Daughters continues to share parenthood on social media (father_of_daughters/Instagram)Clemmie added: "Engaging in this was a huge mistake. I take full responsibility for what's happened and I am just so sorry for the hurt I have caused to everyone involved including my friends and family."
Some of the victims of Clemmie's cruel comments lashed out, with Laura Rutherford @that_mummy_smile, saying: "You've looked me in the eye and asked me how I’m doing when I've been at my lowest. How dare you?"
Bethie Hungerford @hungermama addressed the drama on her story and insisted Clemmie should "acknowledge her wrongdoing and apologise to all of the people she's hurt".
Clemmie's husband Simon - known as Father of Daughters with 800,000 followers of his own - said he was "angry and sad" to learn about his wife's anonymous profile and he had "no idea" it was going on.
The dadfluencer said he wished she had spoken to him first, and explained that he's "seen what three years of being attacked online can do to someone".
Since 2019, Mother of Daughters has stayed off social media and Simon has continued to post content of his four daughters - including the odd snap of their mum.
The Mirror has contacted Clemmie Hooper for comment.