A fitness influencer is being sued by the Texas Attorney General's Office for dishing out "bad health advice" and faulty meal plans to people dealing with eating disorders.
Brittany Dawn Davis, who boats almost half-a-million followers on Instagram alone, allegedly scammed a bunch of women between 2014 and 2019 by selling meal plans that were actually detrimental to her clients.
The lawsuit is asking for damages of up to US$1million for false, misleading and deceptive practices.
Davis' business claimed to provide "cardio exercises and low-calorie macronutrient suggestions that would only be suitable for someone who needed to lose weight, not put it on."
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"She was described as 'your coach, your confidant, your biggest supporter & friend,' there to 'push you, mould you, and to help you find that person that you've always wanted to become,'" the deceptive trade practices lawsuit reads.
But according to court documents, per TMZ, instead of getting personalised workout advice and dietary guidance to help her clients achieve their own individual fitness goals, many of the women on Davis' books received super low-calorie diets when they were actually trying to put on weight.
To put it simply, these plans weren't tailored specifically for that individual.
On top of that, it's alleged that Davis didn't address her upset clients when they tried reaching out to her.
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Instead, reports suggest they were met with a number of automated emails and DMs like "you've got this babe" or "you're killing it", despite being told they'd be subject to regular one-on-one check-ins.
"Davis posted videos on YouTube explaining that she overcame her [own] eating disorder through exercise and healthy eating," the lawsuit states.
"In the same social media posts, she then offered links to her fitness and nutrition plans. Consumers inferred from the Defendant's videos and links to her website that she had special training to address eating disorders."
Now, following the creation of the "Brittany Dawn Fitness Complaints" Facebook group back in 2019, the ex-influencer is being taken to court.
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Back in 2019, when these allegations all came to light, Davis quickly jumped on YouTube to issue a grovelling apology.
"I apologise to anyone who feels like they got scammed from me and I genuinely promise that my intentions from the start were pure. I wanted to help and impact as many women as I could, because I feel like this is why I was given this incredible platform. When you're given an opportunity like this, you'd be stupid not to take it and run with it. Unfortunately, I ran too fast for one person," she said.
"These claims are coming from years ago after I got launched into a business that took off so fast, I didn't know to mentally handle it. I did what I needed to do to the best of my ability, I didn't know what I was signing up for simply because being an influencer and running a fitness influencer business was not really a "thing" back then," Dawn continued. "Therefore, I didn't have much guidance."
"At times at times it got extremely overwhelming and I took on more than I should have and for that I take full responsibility and I'm sorry."
Featured Image Credit: Instagram/@realbrittanydawnTopics: Court Case, Influencer, Fitness, Australia