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Casey Anthony is ‘cashing out’ on new generation in recent venture, expert says
Fox News Digital spoke with Ari Lightman, a digital media and marketing professor at Carnegie Mellon University, on Casey Anthony’s latest venture on Substack.
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“America’s most hated mom,” Casey Anthony, is now raking in money in her latest lucrative venture as a subscription-based blogger.
Anthony was accused of killing her two-year-old daughter, Caylee, in 2008 but was found not guilty in 2011.
As the 39-year-old works to establish a new identity, she has turned to Substack, a platform that allows followers to pay to subscribe to personal writings, videos, and other communications.
“It has been more than 16 years since my name became a household one,” Anthony wrote in her Substack bio. “Everyone seems to have an opinion — about me, and about my life. I am an advocate, a researcher. These are my words, this is my REAL life.”
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A split image of Casey Anthony in court in 2011 and Casey sitting on a couch with her daughter, Caylee, before Caylee’s murder. (Joe Burbank, Orlando Sentinel via Getty Images)
In Anthony’s case, subscription prices start at $10 a month and can climb as high as $250 per year. The subscription price will allow followers to interact with Anthony.
The 39-year-old has over 5,000 subscribers to her Substack.
Substack’s logo (Substack)
Fox News Digital spoke with Ari Lightman, a digital media and marketing professor at Carnegie Mellon University, on Anthony’s latest venture.
He emphasized how platforms like TikTok, which didn’t exist during Anthony’s trial, now allow public figures to reintroduce themselves to a new generation that is largely unaware of past controversies.
“It’s an opportunity for this person and this personality to do a refresh within the U.S. public and reinvent herself,” he said.
Lightman noted the rise in engaging in content that people are opposed to, also known as “hate clicking.”
“People enjoy hate-clicking on things or hate-reading and are fascinated with either the mystery or what they’re up to now,” he noted.
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Casey Anthony cries next to her attorney, Jose Baez (L), after she was acquitted on first-degree murder charges of her daughter Caylee at the Orange County Courthouse Orlando, Florida, July 5, 2011. (Reuters)
On March 1, Anthony launched her TikTok account and quickly garnered thousands of followers.
“This is my first of probably many recordings on a series I am starting,” Anthony said in a March 1 video posted to TikTok. “I am a legal advocate. I am a researcher. I have been in the legal field since 2011, and in this capacity, I feel that it’s necessary if I’m going to continue to operate appropriately as a legal advocate that I start to advocate for myself and also advocate for my daughter.”
She continued: “For those of you who don’t know, my name is Casey Anthony. My daughter is Caylee Anthony. My parents are George and Cindy Anthony. This is not about them. This is not in response to anything that they have said or done. . . .The whole point of this is for me to begin to reintroduce myself.”
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Lightman wondered whether Anthony’s ability to profit from her fame — even though it stems from scandal — will inspire more people to try to become famous.
“The question I would have is: Are we going to see this happen more and more often? This provides an example of people cashing in on their fandom. Does that imply that people will deliberately try to create fame — by any means necessary — whether positive, which is much harder to achieve, or through scandal, which is much easier?”
Caylee Anthony was two-years-old when she vanished in June 2008. (AP)
In 2008, Casey was charged with the murder of Caylee after the little girl was reported missing and later found dead in Orlando, Florida.
The prosecution claimed that Casey had intentionally killed her daughter to free herself from parental responsibilities, while the defense argued that Caylee had accidentally drowned and that Casey’s father had helped to cover it up.
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In 2011, after a highly publicized trial, Casey Anthony was acquitted of the most serious charges, including first-degree murder, but was found guilty on four counts of providing false information to law enforcement.
The verdict sparked widespread outrage and debate, and Casey has remained a controversial figure ever since.
Fox News Digital’s Audrey Conklin contributed to this report.
Sarah Rumpf-Whitten is a U.S. Writer at Fox News Digital.
Sarah joined FOX in 2021, where she has assisted on coverage of breaking and major news events across the US and around the world, including the fallout following the “Defund the police” movement, the assassination attempts on President Donald Trump’s life and illegal immigration.
She has experience reporting on topics including crime, politics, business, lifestyle, world news and more. You can follow her on Twitter and LinkedIn.