As a child, Lauren Bell didn’t think there was anything weird about her family. She thought everyone knew how to be consistently aware of their surroundings, never walk the streets after dark dressed in headphones, and keep their massage box in their hands. than in your bag.
It wasn’t until he arrived at college that he learned that not all of his classmates had been trained on how to stumble and possible situations of violence. Again, not all teens were raised through a father who served 4 U. S. presidents. USA As a Secret Service agent.
“Our neighbors literally think my dad is a hit man,” says Bell, 34, who lives in Philadelphia and owns an online store called Cardy Couture. home . . . his life story is so crazy. “
Earlier this year, Bell went viral with a series of videos on TikTok that compiled “inspiring” quotes from his father about inspirational music. “Never turn your back on the door,” one council said. Others included “headphones never leave the house””. no one in Miami is your friend” and “orders bottled drinks, they are harder to drug. “
The videos were funny, but in the follow-up recordings, Ms. Bell once recounted where she thought her father’s recommendation stored her life, describing how a suspicious guy followed her to a supermarket and tried to lure her into his car before rushing in when she asked for help. Bell’s videos continue and have struck a chord with male users.
“Some of that wisdom makes a lot of sense, but if you’re not sure, your brain trained that way,” said Bell, who spoke to The Independent this month about his upbringing and how his father reacted to his online fame.
“There were a lot of mothers who said, ‘I tried to tell my teenagers this but they don’t listen to me. If it’s a viral TikTok, they take it more into account. ‘”
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While Bell won’t reveal his father’s identity, he says he worked for the Philadelphia Police Department before joining the Secret Service and protective presidents Richard Nixon, Gerald Ford, Ronald Reagan and George Bush Sr. , while they were in the workplace and after his retirement. He is now sixty-something years old.
“What is the name of this movie? Taken. C him,” Bell says, referring to Liam Neeson’s successful role in 2008 as a retired special forces soldier looking for his teenage daughter after her kidnapping on vacation. “When it came out, I like it, ‘Dad!It’s you!’He said, ‘Yes, but you would never have been in a place [like this] when you were 17. ‘
This led to a “very strict” education, out of step with the dominant culture of the 90s and 2000s. When other parents simply settle for their teens’ word about where they were going, Mrs. Bell’s father would call to check on it or even walk past his friends’ houses to check that his car is there.
Sleepover parties were strictly forbidden until age 14 (“I don’t know those parents, I don’t know their brothers and sisters, I don’t know the uncles,” he said), and until 11 p. m. The curfew remained in place until the age of 21.
“It all came here from a position of love,” Bell said. “When I was a teenager, I hated it because I think I’m missing something. . . I’m not satisfied that my friends can stay outdoors at any time of the night. “
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When the circle of relatives went to the restaurant, he insisted on sitting in front of the door and constantly listening to the closest conversations. Once, he even took her and her brother to a dilapidated community outside of Philadelphia that was torn apart due to heroin addiction. warn them that if they took drugs, it could be the place where they would end up living.
In college, Bell was surprised that her friends seemed “totally unaware of their surroundings,” displaying behaviors she thought were “just not sure. “Her roommate was confident that her mass could keep her buried in the back of her purse, inaccessible in the event of a crisis. .
“No one is going to prevent and wait for you to eliminate it,” Bell says. “That’s when I learned that this kind of data is not unusual knowledge. . . people didn’t know where they were. “
In March 2021, Bell saw a trend on TikTok of parent quotes disguised as “inspiring” quotes, circulating online in a fictitious or misattributed form versus generic clip art backgrounds.
Mrs. Bell sought to be funny, but she also sincerely believed that other people knew what her father had taught her. His first video was viewed about 640,000 times and the following clips totaled around 3. 8 m.
“Honestly, I’m very surprised,” Bell said. I didn’t think it was going to explode like it did. Which brought me some peace knowing that maybe this data would help someone. Obviously, I hope that’s the case. “
One of the pieces of advice that sparked the ultimate discussion was “men don’t ask for help,” meaning that women deserve to be wary of unknown men who do. Bell said: “It opened the eyes of a lot of people. That’s not to say. “they don’t want help, but they don’t usually ask women for help. If they want help, they ask other men for it. “
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Mrs. Bell’s father was even more surprised. “I had to tell him what TikTok is; I kept calling it Tic Tac,” he recalls. “You know, he’s an old-school guy, he just needs a shift phone [and] he has a Facebook account that he uses slightly. He said, “Are there a million perspectives on this?crazy. “
Since then, however, he has collaborated with her on videos, giving new recommendations, such as knowing where everyone comes out when a construction enters (in the event of a disaster, most people will approach to pile up in the same way they said), or never looking for a child lost in silence (“What does it matter if others think you’re crazy?”).
These days, Bell is satisfied with the way she was raised. As the mother of a two-year-old son, she feels as strong a protective intuition as any bodyguard and plans to raise him to be careful. She says her husband agrees, although he grew up much more tired.
She acknowledges that it’s hard to follow his recommendation in the fashion society, where oblivion is never more than a smartphone icon at hand. “Sometimes it’s hard. You are distracted. . . Oh my God, if I told [my father] that I was walking the streets of Philadelphia looking for my phone, he would have a central attack. “And she did that?” Of course I did! During the day. “
He doesn’t think everyone sticks to his father’s rules all the time; It’s based on your setting and where you live. However, she says the recommendation helped her several times, adding that two years ago at a pharmacy where a guy pushed her with his toe in the store and then stuck to his car with hers until she took a safe haven. in a car wash.
She makes sure to park next to a shopping cart stand when she goes grocery shopping, just to minimize the time it takes her to buy her shopping cart. Your child is dressed in bright colors when in public and in the driver’s appearance in the back of his car.
Despite her lead role in her videos, there are still things that Mrs. Bell’s father refuses to tell her about her time in the secret service. “The hard questions I’ve asked him all my life, I probably wouldn’t answer at all. to this day,” he laughs. I would say that 90% of your data is absolutely forbidden to me.
“I ask him like, ‘Oh, has this president ever been attacked before?’He said, “If I told you, I would have to kill you and my son, so I’m not going to do that. It’s up “. your salary. ” I’m 34 years old and I have nothing. “