Transcript

“Most Hated Woman on TikTok” gets ARRESTED & EXPOSED - The Disgusting Lies of Maddie Russo

From Danielle Kirsty · Episode page · Watch on YouTube

· 53 min · 9,173 words · 72 timestamped sections

This is the full, timestamped transcript of "“Most Hated Woman on TikTok” gets ARRESTED & EXPOSED - The Disgusting Lies of Maddie Russo", an episode of Danielle Kirsty published December 14, 2025 (53 min, about 9,173 words). It mentions 8 people, works and ideas, including Maddie Russo, St. Ambrose University, Jessica Sanders, Nikki Mitchell Foundation, Old Strong Foundation.

What is discussed, and when

  1. – 5:00: Maddie Russo
  2. – 10:00: St. Ambrose University
  3. – 15:00: Maddie Russo
  4. – 35:00: Jessica Sanders
  5. – 40:00: Nikki Mitchell Foundation, Old Strong Foundation
  6. – 45:00: Scott County Jail
  7. – 50:00: Ronda Mills

Notable quotes from "“Most Hated Woman on TikTok” gets ARRESTED & EXPOSED - The Disgusting Lies of Maddie Russo"

  • My name is Maddie Russo and this is my story because back in 2022, a woman named Maddie Russo started posting videos about the heartbreaking journey that she.
    about Maddie Russo · at
  • Her medication or anything like that. So now she does finish high school and she starts to attend St. Ambrose University and again it's a very similar story as high school. She does very well.
    about St. Ambrose University · at
  • With before and she would just steal their images. There was one ovarian cancer patient named Jessica Sanders who had been diagnosed with cancer at just the age of 20 and she…
    about Jessica Sanders · at
  • Scamming charities. Yes, she really cannot sink any lower. There was one charity called the Nikki Mitchell Foundation. Maddie scammed money from them. There was another charity…
    about Nikki Mitchell Foundation · at
  • She was lying. She was then charged with theft by means of deception, was booked into the Scott County Jail, and she only spent a few hours there before she posted a $10,000…
    about Scott County Jail · at
  • Also, Ronda Mills who ran the other charity that Maddie had scammed and they described feeling betrayed and how it has damaged their trust in other cancer patients stories. I never imagined.
    about Ronda Mills · at

Who and what is mentioned in this episode?

People

Companies & orgs

Products & tech

  • Kia — Product · 1 mention

Places & events

Full transcript with timestamps

Hey everyone, welcome back. I hope you're all doing well. So, today we are talking about another Tik Tocker that did possibly one of the worst things you can imagine.

My name is Maddie Russo and this is my story because back in 2022, a woman named Maddie Russo started posting videos about the heartbreaking journey that she was on and that was her cancer diagnosis.

On February 10th of 2022, quite possibly the worst day of my life occurred. She started to say that she didn't have long to live, that her chances of survival were incredibly slim. Thousands of people started to rally behind her. A lot of people related to her as well. She built up a massive following on Tik Tok. She was posting emotional, heartbreaking videos about her pancreatic cancer, leukemia. She also had football-sized tumors. She was doing interviews with local newspapers, giving inspiration and motivational speeches for charities. She seemed like the most inspirational cancer patient in the world.

Have been a little eventful week. Um, in the cancer world, eventful is not good.

But of course, there is a huge twist in today's story because Maddie Russo was keeping a very dark secret. And I have seen her described as many things on the internet, one of them being the most hated woman on Tik Tok. And eventually, thankfully, everything got exposed. So yes, today's case is going to make your blood boil. So that is what we are getting into today. So let's jump in. And I just want to give a huge thank you to today's sponsor and that is ExpressVPN. And do you know how much content is restricted online depending on where you live? It wasn't until I started using ExpressVPN that I realized how many websites, apps, TV shows, movies were restricted from me just because I live in the UK. And it's not just the UK, it's all over the world. It doesn't matter where you live, you will be restricted. And what is ExpressVPN?

Well, it's an app that I use on all of my devices. It allows me to change my location to practically anywhere in the world, giving me access to all of the content that other countries have to offer, which is so useful for so many things, but one of the most useful things is that it allows me to watch any TV show, any movie from anywhere in the world. For example, let's just say I wanted to watch the movie Parasite on Netflix. It's not available on the UK. Well, that is not a problem because all I have to do is turn on ExpressVPN, change my location to the US, and voila, I can now watch it. And I can do this over and over again. Let's just say I want to watch Interstellar. I change my location to Argentina. Do I want to watch Batman Begins? Well, I changed my location to France. What about Gongal? I changed my location to Australia and so on. But it's not just Netflix. I know I talk about Netflix a lot, but you can

use ExpressVPN across most streaming platforms such as Hulu, HBO Max, Disney Plus. You can even access websites and apps that are completely restricted on where you live on the region or country that you live in. And I cannot even tell you how useful that is because a lot of the cases that I cover are from the US and there are just some websites that I cannot access because I'm in the UK. I wouldn't be able to do a lot of the cases that I cover if it wasn't for ExpressVPN. And I would have found this so useful when I was in university studying law and criminology. So, if you want to make more use out of the internet, pretty much have anything you want available to you, but also staying safe and secure online, check out ExpressVPN. I have been using ExpressVPN for years now, and I cannot recommend it enough. And right now you can get four extra months of ExpressVPN for free by scanning the QR code that is on your

screen right now or going to the link expressvpn.com/daniel. And that's to get four extra months for free. So go to the link expressvpn.com/daniel and by clicking on my link in the description box. It really does help out this channel because it lets ExpressVPN know that you came from this video. So thank you again to ExpressVPN for sponsoring today's video. But thank you to every single one of you watching right now. And I really mean this because without all of you, I wouldn't get opportunities like this. And now, let's jump into today's case. Madison Russo, who goes by Maddie, was born on the 28th of April, 2003, making her a tourist. And she grew up in the city of Aldridge, Iowa, where she lived with her family. Now, as far as we are aware, Maddie's childhood was pretty normal.

She came from a very loving home. there are no red flags like no abuse, no trauma, nothing that's that substantial anyway. But when she gets to high school, this is when she really starts to develop the golden girl persona that she definitely has for the rest of her life. She attended North Scott High School. She had very good grades. She had a 3.7 GPA. She was involved in a lot of afterchool activities. She just seemed to be here, there, and everywhere and involved in everything. and good at everything. She was definitely one of the popular girls. Mhm. She liked attention. And for Maddie, what will become clear is it doesn't really matter what kind of attention, just as long as it is attention on her. That is what she loves. And I do feel like because she was this like golden girl in high school, because she was good at everything, involved in everything, one of the popular girls, I think it maybe

went to her head. Maybe when she left high school and reality hit her, maybe that what led to what happens in this case. That's just my theory, though, because she definitely has this persona of she's untouchable, which is just kind of stereotypical of like the popular kids in school, isn't it? However, this is where Maddie started to experience some difficulties in her life. For starters, her parents got divorced and it is said that Maddie did struggle through this. It did hit her very hard. It is also said that Maddie had quite a difficult relationship with her mom.

Things were definitely very strained in their relationship. Maybe she blamed her mom for the divorce. I don't know. Like, I don't know if their relationship was difficult just because of the divorce or maybe it was a bit iffy before. I don't know. But Maddie just felt caught between her two parents. She really struggled with the divide of her family, feeling like she was pulled in two different directions, like she had to do two things, but with two parents, like she had two birthdays, two Christmas, you know what I mean? And she just felt really responsible at keeping everything together. She just felt constantly in the middle. She had to keep the peace.

She always felt like she was the one responsible for fixing things. And it wasn't easy for her. Divorce can hit people very very hard. It affects everybody. However, Maddie would actually later go on and blame her parents' divorce for what she goes on to do. Mhm. Yeah. And it's just like, no, no, I'm sorry. No. She actually says that the only reason why she does everything in today's case is to bring her family back together. And I don't know why she thinks that because her parents got divorced, it gives her the right to do what she has done. But I am getting too far ahead of myself right now. So anyway, following the divorce of her parents, Maddie did start to struggle a lot with anxiety. She was diagnosed with very bad anxiety. She was prescribed Xanax, but apart from that, her overall life was pretty good. Even though she had anxiety, she was on a medication, and from what I could tell,

it was pretty managed. She never abused her medication or anything like that. So now she does finish high school and she starts to attend St. Ambrose University and again it's a very similar story as high school. She does very very well. She takes very difficult classes. She still had a 3.7 GPA. She was getting A grades left, right, and center from all of her classes. And she was pretty much the model student. Again, she had this very golden girl persona that she was just absolutely incredible, amazing. so intelligent, so popular. But by the time we get to February of Maddie's freshman year, this is when things take a significant turn for her. Because around Maddie's freshman year in college, this is when she started to experience some very concerning health problems apparently. So her health issues that she was having, she was having sporadic fevers, random nose bleeds, bloody stools, and she was very, very concerned

about all of these sudden health issues that she was getting. So she went for a blood test, and her results came back that her white blood cell count was very low, which was very concerning. So, she went for some further tests and she was eventually referred to the oncology department. And by the time we get to the 10th of February, 2022, this is where Maddie apparently had the worst day of her life. Because on this day, Maddie was just sitting in one of her lectures. She was actually in her accounting class, one of her very difficult classes, when she got a phone call and the caller ID said Iowa oncology department. She stepped out of class. She answered the call and she was given possibly the worst news you can imagine. At just 19 years old, she had stage 2 pancreatic cancer. Now, Maddie, when she received this news, she was so shocked. She was completely taken aback.

She could not believe what she was hearing and apparently she quote started balling her eyes out right there and then on the phone. She was completely numb after this phone call. She couldn't understand why this was happening to her. She was so young. She was healthy. Why was life so unfair to her? Why had she gotten this diagnosis? It just wasn't fair. However, this is apparently when Maddie pulled herself together. She did not want to let this diagnosis rule her life. She wiped away her tears and she went straight back into her lecture, sat down and carried on with the class as if nothing had happened. And she would later frame this moment that she had of pulling herself together and going back to class as if nothing had happened as a moment of incredible strength. She was basically saying, "Look how tough I am. I'm already fighting this cancer. I've just received the diagnosis and I haven't fallen

apart. I've picked myself together and gone back into my accounting class and I'm carrying on as normal." Maddie really liked to put across this image of herself that she was this fighter that she had so much strength, which is obviously all well and good. It's great to have that attitude. However, it is also okay to completely fall apart when you get that news. But for Maddie, oh no, no, no. She was a warrior. And I say all of this in a sarcastic tone because um well, you will find out later if you haven't already guessed it. So later that day when Maddie had received this news, she went home after class. She went into her bedroom and the first thing that she does after getting this diagnosis is she started to post about it online. Maddie took to social media to talk about her diagnosis. She made Tik Tok videos on that very day talking about her diagnosis and everything that had happened. and you can still see some

of the videos that she posted to this ry day. And of course, I will be inserting video clips of Maddie where I can throughout this video. My name is Maddie Russo and this is my story. And on February 10th of 2022, quite possibly the worst day of my life occurred. I got the call from my oncologist and they found a mass on my pancreas and I had stage two pancreatic cancer. But her first video in particular where she goes to Tik Tok to talk about the phone call and her diagnosis and everything. In the video, she is constantly looking to the side and people on the internet have suspected that she's reading off a script because it just felt really robotic her video. And the fact that she just kept like looking to the side as if she's reading from a script. Scared is an understatement.

I was terrified and I definitely still am. But I'm really glad I went to my yearly health check cuz it would have been so easy to just skip it and say I'm fine. So please take my experience and get regular lab work done because the sooner you catch anything that is wrong, the better chance of outcome and survival you would have and it really could save your life. And obviously there is no right or wrong way to talk about something as serious as cancer online or any kind of health issue. Maybe some people would write notes for them to follow, but it just seemed very suspicious. Why would you be following a script about your diagnosis, about a phone call that you have literally just had? People online have said that you would just talk from the heart. There was just no genuine emotion in her voice. But anyway, that is just the first of many suspicious things about Maddie's behavior because she posted a

lot of videos. Okay. So, in another video, she started to say that she had a deeprooted tumor in the tail of her pancreas, which was in an incredibly tricky position. She also said that surgeons had told her that surgery was just simply too dangerous, that they couldn't perform surgery, they couldn't remove the tumor, and she would have to rely on chemotherapy and radiation to help her. And this is also when she was apparently told that she only had an 11% chance of surviving past the next 5 years. The 5-year outlook of survival is a slim 11%.

11%. At 19 years old, I don't know if I will live to see the day when I graduate college, get married, become a mom, etc. So, in the meantime, I fight. I have to be so mentally tough to battle this beast.

And she really leaned into this in her videos. She was definitely running with that narrative about how young she was to be diagnosed with cancer, about the fact that she wasn't going to live past the next 5 years, that she doesn't know if she will live to see the day where she graduates or gets married, or she doesn't think she'll ever see the day where she becomes a mom. And then on top of all of this, Maddie started crafting her new persona, which was this cancer warrior. She wanted to make out to the world that this cancer was not going to stop her, that she was still going to live her life, that she was going to be strong. She was defiant against all the odds against her. She then started to say that 4 days after her diagnosis, which was actually Valentine's Day 2022, she had started 15 rounds of oral chemotherapy and 90 rounds of radiation.

Have been a little eventful week. Um, in the cancer world, eventful is not good. Um, I'd rather have an uneventful week because it means you're kind of just coasting along. But um I've had a little bump in the road. So it's my week off chemo, so I've just been doing um radiation. However, I've kind of came down with this fever. It's been really weird cuz I don't I don't feel like sick. I don't really have like a cold or um like sore throat, any of the other symptoms. Um I don't have COVID. I don't have any of that. I just have this like nagging fever and kind of just like that feeling of being like, you know, like run down and stuff like that. Um, so finally I got labs taken and um my lab results came back yesterday afternoon.

Um, and it showed that my um, ANC and white blood counts um, those two like run together um, was really low and it's most likely coming off of the chemo from last week. Um, and then you know your immune system is so weak cuz you have like no immune system when you're going through treatment. Um, so then I have a fever and it's kind of explaining I'm hopefully that's the full cut answer. And she was making out to the world that she was going through this extremely grueling treatment. She was making out that it was taking a massive toll on her body, on her mental health, on her energy levels. But then on the other hand, Maddie was also boasting about the fact that she was still attending college, that she was still getting incredibly good grades, she was still maintaining her GPA, and she was doing all of this, she was still succeeding at college whilst she was receiving this grueling treatment for her cancer. She

was also saying that alongside of her attending college and all of her classes, she had part-time jobs on the side. She was also playing golf on the weekend. I've been keeping busy with doing golf. So, I've been golfing.

And she even posted one video where she said, "Look at me. You wouldn't even know I'm sick."

I mean, if you would look at me, uh, you wouldn't even realize that I'm sick and going through treatment.

And it just makes me sick to my stomach. All of this. And why does it make me sick to my stomach? Well, if you hadn't already guessed, which I'm sure you all have, Maddie is lying. She is lying about absolutely everything. She never had a cancer diagnosis. She never had any health issues. She was not sick in the slightest. She made the whole thing up just so she could get attention and sympathy from people online. And I'm like, why? Why? Why? What the actual hell? Who the hell lies about cancer? That is just the lowest of the low. And we've seen this becoming more of a thing in recent years where people will lie about a very serious diagnosis just to get attention from people online or just to con people out of their money. And there's actually a new term that has been coined recently for this which is called Munchousing by Internet. And there is a whole page about it on the NHS website. They define it as quote

where a person joins an internet support group for people with a serious health condition and then claims to have the illness themselves. And it says that the warning signs of munchousen by internet are making posts that contain large chunks of information directly copied from health websites, reporting symptoms that appear to be more severe than most people would experience, making claims of near fatal bouts of illness followed by a miraculous recovery, making fantasy claims that they would later contradict or are shown to be false. claiming to have continual dramatic events in their life, particularly when other group members have become a focus of attention and pretending to be unconcerned when they talk about serious problems, probably to attract attention and sympathy. And as we will see throughout the rest of this video, Maddie pretty much displays every single one of those traits. And I don't know about any of

you, but I have known people like this in my real life. Granted, they haven't gone as far as Maddie to lie about cancer, but it's just crazy, isn't it? How many people lie about stuff like this. So, Maddie just continues on lying about her fake cancer diagnosis. And she does this for months and months. She is just continuing to lie on the internet about all of her health problems. And of course, as the months went by, things were becoming more and more extreme because her health condition was getting worse. She was now diagnosed with leukemia on top of her already existing pancreatic cancer. And then apparently she was also diagnosed with type 1 diabetes. It's like Maddie just can't catch a break, can she? And that's exactly what she wanted to put across on the internet. Look at me. Poor me. Look at all of the health problems I have.

Show me some attention and sympathy. I am too sick from treatment where I I can't go anywhere. I I can't do anything. Um, I feel like you know, I can't get ready. I just lay in my bed and um, puke, you know, and it's just it's extremely physically exhausting, but also the mental part of it, I think it's 10 times worse. And I think anybody that has struggled with anything uh, when it comes to kind of like their mental health, people say it is a lot worse. and I can fully attest to that. It's so true.

She even said that she had a footballsized tumor in the middle of her back. She also said that the cancer had wrapped around her spine, that it had spread to her blood, and the outcome was looking worse and worse as every day went by. And I am sat here thinking, what did the people in her real life think about all of this? because she's taking to Tik Tok to talk about this. Surely people in her life found her Tik Tok, found her social media. I mean, she's going by her name. It wouldn't exactly be hard to find her Tik Tok if you knew her. So, what did people in her real life think? Did they question it?

Did they go along with it? Or did they believe it? I mean, she's claiming to have a football-sized tumor in the middle of her back. Now, I'm not a medical professional by any means, but you would see that surely. I don't know, maybe you wouldn't. Maybe you wouldn't. But anyway, she's claiming that she has got pancreatic cancer, that she has leukemia, that she's going for all of this treatment, but then she's still attending classes. Like, surely somebody knew. Surely other people questioned it. Or did people in her life know about it and just go along with it? I don't know.

that's going into theories that yeah, you can you can make your own mind up on that because it's definitely suspicious. And then just to really play up to this character that she has created that she is a cancer patient, she started posting a load of photos of herself looking like a cancer patient, looking as ill as possible. She posted an image of herself with an IV bag, with feeding tubes attached to her nose, with stuff strapped on her chest. And it's just crazy that all of these photos that Maddie took of herself with all of the tubes and everything, she was not in hospital. I mean, of course, she wasn't in hospital because she's not ill. But this was all fake. All of these images were actually taken in her bedroom. She staged every single photo. She actually bought hospital equipment so she could stage these photos because she obviously wanted to continue the lie because she wanted to post proof that she was a

cancer patient, that she was receiving treatment, that she was struggling. She also started to talk about the apparent hair loss that she was experiencing. She even posted a photo of her hair loss. Now, this photo, I don't know how she thought she could get away with this photo. So, she shared an image of her hair apparently falling out in the bathtub, but the hair looks suspiciously cut off. Like, it's just cut. The ends are blunt. However, even after sharing all of these images of her hair falling out, and of her being in hospital, being incredibly ill, she was still posting videos and images of herself looking perfectly healthy. She had a full head of hair and she was gaining quite a lot of followers on Tik Tok because a lot of people were moved by her story. A lot of people suffering with cancer were also following her because they found her inspirational. And she would get comments from her Tik Tok followers

saying, "Why do you look so good? Like how do you look so good? Please share your secrets." So then Maddie started promoting vitamins. Oh my god. Wow. could she get any more stereotypical influencer if she tried? She started promoting vitamins and miracle hair regrowth treatments and she claimed that this was the miracle solution as to why she still had a full head of hair.

I take two every morning. Um so biotin, collagen, and keratin are crucial vitamins that are shown to help with like hair, skin, and nail growth. And um it's by the brand Wellabs. It's a beauty complex, but you can go to welllabs.com or I'm sure it's on Amazon. But I've been taking these. I've noticed a huge difference with my hair, too. So, that's been another really great product I think that's helping. And then my last thing is I've been using Ollex. So, I've gotten into the Ollex game. I've never used it, but I was like, I need something super super good. So, this is the Ollex number six bond smoother. So, it's a leave-in styling treatment and adds moisture, strengthens, and reduces frizz. I just after get out of the shower on wet hair, and it's really made it like super strong and healthy, which also helps with just your hair health and when you're going through such harsh treatment, it's so important to take

care of your hair. I think all of Ollex's products are super good. Um, but this is the only one I've picked up, but I might have to like extend to my line of Ollex cuz I really love this. Um, and so many people use Ollex, so I hopped on the bandwagon. And 10 out of 10, great things to say. Um, but other than products, I've just been not washing my hair every day. Um, it's that's actually healthy to not wash your hair every single day. Um, otherwise it strips a lot of the oil and you don't want that. Um, and just being really gentle on it and not really using a whole lot of heat, just brushing it easy. Um, and so far it's working and I'm so thankful.

Like I'm so so thankful for that. So, um, yeah, I get a lot of questions about my hair. Like, you look so good. Like, how are you keeping your hair? Um, it just comes down to my brand of chemo, which is oral chemo. Um, I got really lucky with that. So, thank goodness, fingers crossed. That's something to be so grateful for. and just adding in um different different supplements and products like I just mentioned and um I'm just really grateful for that. So, um hope that answered um and cleared up people's questions about my hair and um go try the products out if you want to.

I mean, it can be used for anybody. And she literally is talking like a proper little influencer. Now, I don't know if she ever was sponsored by anybody, but I wouldn't be surprised if she had affiliate links to these vitamins and hair treatments and stuff. And obviously, there is nothing wrong with influencers making money online. However, there is a huge problem when you are claiming to have cancer, and you are pushing a product, especially vitamins, anything to do with health, claiming that they are miracle workers, and you are pushing these vitamins as a solution to your followers who are cancer patients. No, that is the lowest of the low. How can you do that? How could she live with herself? She is just pushing these vitamins, making money off of her followers who genuinely do have cancer. And Maddie was the kind of person that I really, really dislike on the internet. The kind of person that

makes you feel bad because you're not doing enough. Because Maddie really was pushing this warrior persona like, "I have cancer, but I'm still doing all of this stuff, so you can too. It really, really makes my blood boil." She was still sharing images of herself playing golf. She then said that she had landed her dream internship at the John Deere company. And she was able to do all of these things whilst receiving treatment. She would write captions like, "No one is prepared for this. You have to fight like hell. You go to war with yourself every day." And people would leave her comments saying, "You inspire me. I feel guilty for not being as strong as you.

If you can do chemo and still get A's, I can do one more treatment." And that's why this annoys me so so much because people would actually say that they feel guilty for not being as strong as she is. And that is why I hate influencers like that because everyone is doing the best that they can. And for people like Maddie to make genuine cancer patients feel guilty, no, she she deserves to rot in hell because cancer affects so many people. It touches pretty much everyone in some kind of way. And for Maddie to just lie about this, for her to make people feel bad about themselves, no, she's disgusting. She was also very active on LinkedIn where she wrote about her health challenges, but also shared all of her academic success. She then shared an image on Facebook where she had just completed a sixmile run after having her 14th round of chemo. and she said, quote, "With going through treatments, there are many moments where

you feel like you lost part of your identity. I decided to throw on my running shoes and see where they took me. And they took me six miles." I'm thinking the bags of blood I received earlier this week fueled this one and made me speedy. Wow. Wow. Wow. My blood is boiling. I am so angry. How can she live with herself saying things like this? Imagine being one of Maddiey's followers who genuinely does have cancer and is struggling through one of the hardest battles of their life and then seeing a post like that from Maddie that she's just had her chemo and she just went on a six mile run like it's nothing. Making out that she can do everything, that she's this superwoman.

Imagine how bad you would feel about yourself. You would probably feel like you're not doing enough. Why don't you have as much energy as this woman online? Why can't you just grab your running shoes and do a six mile run? All while Maddie is lying about everything. She's able to do a six mile run because she does not have cancer and she's not receiving treatment. And obviously, I am not saying that people with cancer can't go on a six mile run or can't get good grades or land their dream job. It's just the fact that Maddie is lying about it. She is claiming to do all of these things whilst having cancer. And for those people that were following her that did have cancer that weren't capable of doing these things, Maddie was just making them feel bad about themselves. And she's just doing this.

She's lying just to get attention. It makes me sick to my stomach. I don't understand people. How can you want attention so badly that you will lie about having cancer? But if your blood is not boiling yet, it will be after you hear this next part. Because if it wasn't enough that Maddie was faking having cancer and lying about it, this is when she started stealing images and the stories of real people on the internet that had cancer and claiming them as her own. So Maddie started joining lots of groups online and these groups were for people that either had cancer or have been affected in some kind of way with cancer. And she would go onto the Instagram profiles of people of cancer patients that were from these groups. She would go on to the profiles of people that she had never interacted with before and she would just steal their images. There was one ovarian cancer patient named Jessica Sanders who

had been diagnosed with cancer at just the age of 20 and she had shared her story and her journey online. And Maddie went onto her Instagram profile and Jessica had shared an image of herself with the caption drained from chemo. Maddie then took that image, downloaded it, and shared it on her own social media, claiming it was her, and it's just like she's now stealing other people's images and claiming them as her own to make it seem like she actually had cancer. In another example, Maddie befriended another teenager, a girl called Charlie. Now, Charlie had been diagnosed with cancer at just eight years old, which breaks my heart that anyone that young is diagnosed with cancer. and she had battled her cancer through most of her childhood. She was starting to recover before it tragically came back just before her 18th birthday.

Now, Charlie lived in the same area as Maddie. So, they connected, they became friends, and they started texting one another pretty much every single day, supporting one another, sharing their story. And this whole time, Charlie had no idea that Maddie was just lying to her. Charlie thought that Maddie was somebody in the same position as her, but Maddie was just lying. and their friendship went on for quite a while. But very sadly, after battling her cancer for so long, tragically, Charlie passed away just before her 19th birthday, which just absolutely breaks my heart. I've read online that Charlie truly was a brave, inspirational, strong woman. And she really was an inspiration to fellow cancer patients unlike Maddie.

But after Charlie passed away, Maddie posted on Facebook saying, "This absolutely breaks my heart. Charlie and I would text each other daily talking about all of the ups and downs of both of our battles with cancer. And she was just seriously a sweet, genuine soul. And then afterwards, after Charlie passed away, it is believed by many that Maddie actually stole Charlie's cancer story and took it as her own. Mhm. Yeah. Yeah, you heard that right. Because they had been messaging one another for quite a while, she had learned about all of the details of Charlie's cancer. So then she took her story, repackaged it as her own to make her own cancer story more believable. She really is just the lowest of the low. I truly don't know how she sleeps at night. So we now get to October of 2022, 8 months since Maddie started lying about having cancer. Well, this is when things start to really spiral out of control because

her social media platforms had really exploded. People from all over the world were now following Maddie. People were inspired by her. People followed her because she was so strong. She was so brave. Cancer patients followed her for motivation. Families of cancer patients followed her for hope. And then other people followed her because they were just genuinely moved by her story and her battle. And she started gaining a lot of followers. So then Maddie then took this platform to new levels. She started making guest appearances on multiple different platforms. She first did an interview with a local newspaper saying how much of a warrior she was.

The article says, quote, "Maddie finished the semester with a 3.85 GPA, landed her dream internship at John Deere, all while continuing to undergo treatments." Maddie then started making multiple public speaking appearances. She was a guest speaker for the National Pancreas Foundation as well as the Project Purple organization. She also was making guest appearances on podcasts sharing her fake story.

How would you define the term pancreatic cancer? First word that comes to mind is just ugly.

And then Maddie then takes this whole thing to the next level. And this is when this case goes from her lying and just being the most awful person on the planet to an actual crime because Maddie was now using her fake cancer diagnosis to scam people out of money. After sharing her fake story online, she was gaining a lot of followers. A lot of people admired her. So, this is when Maddie set up a GoFundMe page so people could donate to her. And you can see images of the GoFundMe page where Maddie puts in the description her journey and her battle with cancer. Just a real subb story asking people to donate to her.

And people did. A lot of people donated to her. Cancer patients donated to her. family members of cancer patients, people that had lost loved ones to cancer donated to her and then just people in general donated to her to support her because she was so inspirational. But then Maddie was going one step further. She started making up even more lies to get even more donations. She started saying that she was going through the IVF process of freezing her eggs because of her cancer, which was another lie.

Um, it's kind of cool. I don't know. It's weird that like my eggs are just sitting in some medical freezer and if I need them down the road um I can just go and get them.

And this GoFundMe page was up for a few months. The campaign managed to attract $430 individual donors which raised a total of $37,000. It's unbelievable. It's unbelievable that she's just made up this whole fake cancer story and she's managed to scam $37,000. How can she be so heartless? Taking money off of genuine cancer patients. But Maddie wasn't just scamming individuals. No, no, no. She was also scamming charities. Yes, she really cannot sink any lower. There was one charity called the Nikki Mitchell Foundation. Maddie scammed money from them. There was another charity named the Old Strong Foundation which was set up by a woman named Peggy after she had lost her husband Brent to cancer. Now Brent had been a doctor. He was loved by colleagues by his patients and he had a 4 and 1/2 month battle with pancreatic cancer. And Peggy set up this charity in his name and she gave emotional and

financial support to cancer patients. And what makes this even worse is that Peggy was a family friend to Maddie. Peggy and her husband Brent had gone to the same school as Maddiey's parents. So they had known each other for a very long time. And as soon as Peggy found out that Maddie had cancer, she could not believe it. She felt so heartbroken that someone so young was going through cancer. And she obviously did everything that she could to help. So Peggy's Foundation donated gift cards to Maddie, gave her emotional support, and even held charity events in her name. And Maddie turned up to these events, posing for photos with other cancer survivors and patients. She even wore a custom t-shirt made by the charity with her name on it. I just can't believe people can do this and live with themselves. I know I've said that so many times, but how can you turn up to a charity event?

How can you look people in the eye that have cancer and lie about having cancer yourself? I just do not know. But would this go on forever? Thankfully, it would not. And this is now where Maddie's downfall begins. Because in late 2022, after Maddie had been making quite a few public appearances, she was showing up here, there, and everywhere. She was still posting a lot of videos on her Tik Tok. Well, this is when some people started to become very suspicious of her because people online, especially those working in healthcare, started to notice that there were some serious red flags in Maddie's story. But not just that, also the images that she was sharing online. People were pointing out that her feeding tube was inserted incorrectly, looked completely wrong. It was too far up the nose. They also said that the chemo port on her chest didn't look like a real port, that her dressings were placed in a strange way

that no nurse would ever sign off on. They also noticed that her treatment photos had been taken in her own home, not in a hospital. And some of these medical professionals even made Tik Tok videos themselves pointing out all of these red flags, pointing out that Maddie's setup was medically incorrect and in some cases would actually be dangerous if it was real. So behind the scenes, there were groups collecting screenshots and just evidence of all of these red flags and all of this suspicious activity documenting all of Maddie's lies. There were people out there determined to expose Maddie because it was quite clear that she was lying. And then on the 11th of January 2023, a group of anonymous witnesses went to the police and they told detectives all about Maddie's elaborate scam. And they gave the police a ton of evidence. They brought with them screenshots, medical explanations as to

why what Maddie was saying was just medically incorrect. They even had evidence that some of her stories and images were stolen from real cancer patients. And they told the police that Maddie was faking the whole thing so she could scam people out of money, which is all true. However, I will say in my opinion, I think all of this started with Maddie purely just trying to get sympathy and attention. I think that is truly what fueled all of this in the beginning. And then I think she just kind of ran with it and then she decided to start scamming people out of their money. So anyway, the police, they jumped on this very quickly. They opened an investigation and they subpoenaed all of Maddie's medical records. And what did they find in Maddie's medical records?

Absolutely nothing. Because she didn't have cancer. Her records proved that she was lying. That was cold, hard evidence. There was no record of any diagnosis, no record of any treatment, no chemo, radiation, nothing. It was there, clear as day in black and white, that Maddie had made the whole thing up, that she was lying. The police also found the GoFundMe account that Maddie had set up with all of her lies and saw that she had raised tens of thousands of dollars using this fake story. And in January of 2023, this is where Maddie was arrested on her university campus. And I truly truly hope that it was done in front of everybody. I bet it wasn't, but that would have been karma. That would have been attention that she probably didn't want, but that would have been so satisfying, wouldn't it? Her being arrested in front of everybody because she was lying. She was then charged with theft by means of deception, was booked

into the Scott County Jail, and she only spent a few hours there before she posted a $10,000 bail. So, she was released. Meanwhile, the investigation was still on. Investigators executed a search warrant at her home and inside they found all sorts. They found all of the medical equipment that Maddie had purchased. So, an IV pole, tubing, dressings, medical supplies. They found a wig. They found gift cards, which were probably from that charity. Receipts, bank records, and even prescription medication in other people's names. I don't know how she got hold of that.

They also seized several hundred in cash as well as her brand new Kia, her brand new car that she had bought herself with money that she had scammed from people. And after Mattiey's arrest, the story went public. It was spread all over the internet before blowing up on Tik Tok. There was videos after videos breaking down all of Maddie's lies about how the things that she was saying were just medically inaccurate, scrutinizing the images that she shared about how her chemo setup, it just wouldn't work. And people were understandably outraged. All the people that had followed Maddie since the beginning were appalled that she would lie about something like this.

And most of Maddie's followers were cancer patients themselves. And they just couldn't believe that someone would actually lie about having cancer. And donors who had given money that they couldn't really afford were outraged that they had been scammed by this woman and she had just lied about the whole thing. And people were demanding refunds from the GoFundMe page. People complained directly to GoFundMe saying how could they allow this to happen on their platform and thankfully Goof Forme stepped in and made a statement on the whole situation. They banned Maddie from ever using GoFundMe again and they gave everybody a refund. And then after all of this happened in October of 2023, this is when Maddie was finally due in court. Maddie initially plead not guilty. She was planning on fighting this. However, in the end, she made a plea deal and she plead guilty to theft by deception and the prosecutors brought

forward victims to speak such as Peggy who had lost her husband to cancer and set up that foundation in his name. Also, Ronda Mills who ran the other charity that Maddie had scammed and they described feeling betrayed and how it has damaged their trust in other cancer patients stories. I never imagined somebody someone so callously would fake they had such a devastating cancer as pancreatic cancer and willingly accept our gift of love and kindness and lie directly to my face. Wore our old strong sweatshirt that had her name on it. She took pictures with me. The Olstrong team and other recipients of our oldstrong gift. Families who lost loved ones to pancreatic cancer. She stood at her event knowingly lying about her cancer is really unbelievable. She stood in front of me with her wig on knowing she wasn't sick at all,

which is just so heartbreaking. And this is how Maddie damages so many people's lives because of people like Maddie. Genuine people are not trusted. But these charities were also really angry with Maddie because she had drained their resources when those resources could have gone to people that genuinely needed it. And then Maddie herself made a statement. She said how sorry she was that she had beaten herself up in silence for a year and that she wanted to learn from this, move on and become a better human. The audacity.

First and foremost, I want to thank the court for the opportunity to speak today in front of you all. Um, this experience, sorry, has been by far one of the most difficult things to navigate in my life. It has been very scary and challenging in more ways than one. I fully acknowledge that what I did was wrong, and I am incredibly sorry. If there was anything I could do to take it back, I would. I realize that I can't undo the past, but that doesn't mean that I still can't walk away from this experience as a better human and move forward.

She also said that she didn't do any of this for the money or attention. She only did it to bring her family back together. What do I say in response to that? I don't even know what she means by that. What does she mean bring her family back together? I mean, I know she means bring her parents back together because they got divorced. So, that is why I asked those questions earlier on in this case about the people in her life. Did the people in her life know about this? Did they believe her story? Were they in on it? The fact that she said that she only did all of this to bring her family back together makes me think that the people in her life did know about her whole cancer story and believed her. I don't know. In her sick and twisted mind, did she think that if her parents thought that their child was sick with cancer, would they come back together, rally around her, realize that they actually

still loved one another, and get back together? Is that what was going on in her sick and twisted mind? But obviously, we cannot believe anything that comes out of her mouth because, oh, she's a liar. And this next part is really, really frustrating because when it came to sentencing her for her crimes, the judge went lenient on her and gave her a 10-year suspended sentence, and she will be on probation for the next 3 years, which means that she will not face any jail time, unless, of course, she breaks her probation conditions. She was also forced to pay $39,000 in compensation, as well as competing 100 hours of community service. So yeah, she didn't go to prison. Like I know she didn't murder anybody or anything, but she should still have gone to prison for like at least a short amount of time. She's just out there living her life. And yes, she's had to pay money back that she stole and she has to do community

service, but in the grand scheme of things, she's just got a slap on the wrist. And I don't think that that sends the right message. It just sends the message that you can lie about things like cancer, scam money out of a lot of people, and not go to prison. But what Maddie did hurt so many people, would have had such a negative impact on so many people. She betrayed so many people, scammed money out of people that were in vulnerable positions. And I'm so sorry to every single person that Maddie hurt, betrayed, and scammed. And I just wish you all of the best. And I just want to let you all know at the end of this video that this is my last video of the year. So, I just want to thank you all for all of your support in 2025. It truly truly does mean the world to me. I love reading all of your comments on my videos every single week. Some of you guys make me laugh so much with your comments on my videos. But your

comments, your likes, just watching my videos, you don't know how much it means to me. And I do actually have something that I need to tell you all because I kind of have been keeping a secret all year. Some of you actually guessed it. I saw your comments. I'm not surprised that some of you guessed it, though, because it was pretty noticeable at the end because I did film a couple of videos when I was 9 months pregnant. I've had a baby. I can't believe I'm saying that. It feels so weird. I'm a mom. When does that sink in? I'm a mom now. What the actual hell? I gave birth a couple of months ago now and baby boy is my whole world. And oh boy was pregnancy birth a whole roller coaster.

My pregnancy was actually pretty smooth. Even though a smooth pregnancy still has its challenges, but my birth was very, very traumatic and it's taken a very long time to recover from physically. I'm actually still not physically recovered right now. There is a long journey ahead of me. And baby boy actually came early. Yes, he could not wait to get here in this world. So, I wasn't actually fully prepped for maternity leave because I was pre-filming like crazy, editing, trying to get everything ready for me to have maternity leave. But, uh, baby boy had other plans. So, I had to get back to work a lot sooner than I had planned.

So, I am going to take some time off in January just to rest, just to recover, just to soak everything in and live in this new bubble that I am in. And I'm just I'm obsessed with him. I'm obsessed with him. So, I just wanted to tell you all that at the end of this video. And your support this year has meant even more because of what I've been going through. Like, that first trimester. Wow. I don't even know how I filmed some of those videos, but you guys kept me going with your comments. You were just truly supportive and uplifting even when you didn't realize you were. So, I just want to say thank you so much. I hope you all have an amazing holiday season and new year and I just wish every single one of you the best. I just love you all and I cannot wait to see you all in 2026. So, just thank you for absolutely everything. And that brings us to the end of today's video. Thank you again to ExpressVPN for sponsoring

today's video, and I'll see you all in my next one, which will be next year. So bye.

Questions about this episode

What is discussed in "“Most Hated Woman on TikTok” gets ARRESTED & EXPOSED - The Disgusting Lies of Maddie Russo"?

In order: 0:00 Maddie Russo; 5:00 St. Ambrose University; 10:00 Maddie Russo; 30:00 Jessica Sanders; 35:00 Nikki Mitchell Foundation, Old Strong Foundation; 40:00 Scott County Jail; 45:00 Ronda Mills.

What is mentioned in this Danielle Kirsty episode?

8 people, works and ideas are mentioned, including Maddie Russo, St. Ambrose University, Jessica Sanders, Nikki Mitchell Foundation, Old Strong Foundation, Scott County Jail. Each one on this page links to its own page with every episode that mentions it.

How long is "“Most Hated Woman on TikTok” gets ARRESTED & EXPOSED - The Disgusting Lies of Maddie Russo"?

The episode runs 53 min; the transcript is about 9,173 words in 72 timestamped sections.

More from Danielle Kirsty

About this transcript: the episode's spoken words as captioned on YouTube, split into timestamped sections. Reclip.Me locates every person, work and idea in the text, keeps the time it is first named, and quotes the words around it verbatim. Last updated January 24, 2026.