I was a flat-chested body positivity influencer — until I was ‘canceled' for getting implants
Clara Dao, 26, garnered almost eight million followers on social media making content about being flat-chested for six years but, three months ago, in March 2025, she got a $3,398.56 boob job.
Clara went from a bra size 32AA to a 32C and is 'loving' her new chest but says many of her followers 'hate' her choice, calling her a 'hypocrite.'
But, despite the backlash, Clara insists she doesn't regret undergoing the procedure, as it's given her a new, 'feminine' kind of confidence.
Clara, originally from Hanoi but currently living in Danang, Vietnam, said: 'I fully expected I would be cancelled once I announced my boob job.
'I've lost a lot of followers – around 500,000 across all my platforms.
'Losing followers doesn't come as a shock.
'I built my following based on that one single message of loving your natural body, your flat chest, especially.
'A big part of my following followed me for that message.'
Size XS, Clara says she was taunted and 'skinny-shamed' through college in Canada for her flat chest.
She bought weight-gain supplements and syrups off Instagram in a bid to put on pounds and even stuck her ideal Kardashian body on her mirror to manifest it.
In February 2019, she started uploading YouTube videos documenting her journey to self-acceptance.
She said, 'I lived and breathed the message of body positivity. I created content about it every day, day in, day out.'
But six years of making content later, she said her perception had changed.
Clara said, 'I felt boxed into that content.
'People just knew me as 'the flat-chested girl.'
'As long as I had my flat chest, I could fall back on it and increase my subscribers, and things would just be the same.
'Creatively, I feel boxed in; I don't feel passionate about the content I did anymore. I don't want that option anymore.
'I got the surgery because I was bored. I wanted to get out of the trap of making content about my flat chest.
'I had a lot of self-love and body positivity before, and I have a lot of self-love now.'
Clara underwent the two-hour surgery on March 5 at a clinic in Danang, Vietnam, where she had moved with her boyfriend at the time from Canada just a week before.
She said, 'It was pretty impulsive. I had the idea at the beginning of February and had the surgery exactly a month later.
'I had the surgery in Vietnam – it's quite different from having the surgery in the UK or America, you could have the surgery the next day if you want.
'With the surgery itself, I had slight complications.
'The wound on my left side didn't close for two, three weeks, so it took a bit longer to heal, but nothing major. The service here is very good. They checked the wound every day.
'It really hurt for the first three days. I'd need help getting up and down from the bed, and I couldn't do certain movements with my arms.
'But after a month, you get back basically to normal.'
Clara says she's 'very impulsive', but doesn't regret the decision at all.
She said: 'I'm very happy with the results. Now it just feels like it's part of me.
'In the first month, your skin feels very stretched out, tight, and heavy. But after three months, it feels normal, it's getting softer and softer.
Clara – who is moving to LA for a 'brand new start' – said: 'The reaction to the surgery from my immediate circle is very positive, my friends and family know I did it because I wanted a change.
'My family has always encouraged me to get the surgery since I was 17, since before I started making the content.
'There's a cultural difference. In Asia, people are a lot more image-focused.
'They want you to show the best version of yourself, no flaws, especially online.
'When I first started social media and showed my flat chest, showed my imperfections, belly rolls, acne, skin texture, my family was against that for a very long time. But I never really listened to them.'
Clara says the backlash has been 'pretty brutal.'
She said: 'Before, when I did flat chest content, most of the hate came from guys, saying you look like a guy, you look ugly, you're like a piece of wood.
'Now my hate comes from women, saying you're a hypocrite, you're so fake.
'A lot of people won't understand. I accept that I won't be understood by most people, especially my fans.
'The first video I made was about doing what you love. That's the deeper message I want to spread with my content.
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They're influential — and invisible. Inside the high-stakes world of celebrity social media managers
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He didn't realize the mistake until hours later, when a flood of missed calls and texts hit. 'My heart dropped,' he recalls. The gaffe made headlines. 'BECAUSE OF JAKE: Kelly Clarkson baffles fans with Emmy Award message blunder as they beg for a 'Jake reveal' & say 'he deserves a raise,'' read one headline. Clarkson, for her part, found it hilarious. In the comments section of her own post, she thanked Updegraff for 'simply killing it ... I have never laughed so hard!!' "That just shows you the kind of person she is," Updegraff says. "She could have easily been like, 'You're fired.' That's what I thought was going to happen." Moments like this reveal just how close — and high-stakes — the job of a celebrity social media manager can be. If you've ever wondered whether your favorite celebrity is actually the one hitting "post" on their social media accounts — their selfies, their beauty routines, an oddly relatable meme — the answer is: Maybe. Or maybe it's someone like Updegraff, one of the many digital ghostwriters and content strategists working behind the scenes. Their job? Curate every pixel of a celebrity's personal brand online — on their verified account, in their voice, as if they posted it themselves. It's not a new role in Hollywood, but it's one that has evolved significantly. Today's celebrity social media manager is part brand strategist, part confidant, part crisis manager — and, most important, an invisible architect of influence. It's a high-stakes, high-speed job that requires precision, patience and a sixth sense for timing. And while the work is mostly behind the curtain, the impact is often front-page. I spoke to four social media managers — two on the record, two anonymously — who've run social media accounts for some of the biggest names in Hollywood. They revealed what celebrities are like on the other side of the apps, how the culture of posting has changed since the early Instagram era and why, as the people running the show, success often means leaving no trace. The evolution of the celebrity feed While it may seem second nature now, there was a time when celebrities wanted nothing to do with Instagram. When the platform launched in 2010, few saw the value in sharing glimpses into their private lives, especially while they were still figuring out how to make the most of 140 characters on Twitter. 'When we first started publishing for celebrities, not only did they not really think about social media to any great extent, they were very cynical about it,' says Patrick Mulford, former chief creative officer and later CEO of theAudience, one of the first agencies to manage celebrity feeds. 'They already made a lot of money. This was kind of fractional compared to what they'd make on a movie.' Founded in 2011 by Ari Emanuel, Sean Parker and Oliver Luckett, theAudience offered full-service 'ghostposting,' where the agency would craft content that is then published on a star's social media channel. It counted stars like Hugh Jackman, Emma Watson and Charlize Theron as clients. 'We managed a good 40 or 50 big stars,' Mulford says. 'Only about 10 were really engaged. The rest didn't even realize we were posting for them.' When I ask who was disengaged, he politely declines to give names but says his company found ways to work around the challenge. For example, they would build posts from scratch — using image libraries or stock photos to create the illusion of activity when stars weren't available or willing to share personal content. Mulford says stars' early hesitation with Instagram came down to privacy and image control. But over time, celebrities like Chrissy Teigen, Will Smith and the Kardashian-Jenners changed the game. 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The real challenge became finding someone who could manage the pace, protect the brand and disappear into the background. Today Instagram feels like the one platform stars have to be active on. It's the digital front door to both a celebrity's brand and personal life, where a single post can launch a product, spark a headline or shift a narrative. Being invisible For one social media manager who worked closely with two A-list stars, a key part of her job wasn't the content strategy or the caption copy — it was knowing how to disappear. She asked to remain anonymous due to NDAs she signed with both celebrities, so we'll call her Sarah. 'The most important quality of being a celebrity social media manager is the art of being invisible,' she told me. Her job required her to be with one actress almost 24/7. 'When I'm in the glam room, when I'm in the hotel room getting my content, she doesn't even feel my presence — but I'm always at the ready. I'm getting what I need, but I'm never in the way.' Sarah started as a personal assistant to a television personality, eventually running that star's personal and business social accounts before moving on to an A-list actress. "There's a lot of perks to the role," she tells me. " When I traveled, I got to stay where they stayed. They're staying at the f***ing nicest hotels, I get to stay at the nicest hotels. We're flying first or business class. The best part, bar none, is the exposure to their worlds — not from a gossip level but just being able to attend events and go to the premieres and get all the perks.' 'The most important quality of being a celebrity social media manager is the art of being invisible.'Sarah But with those perks came pressure and unpredictability. "The hardest part is the emotional roller coaster that comes with [the job]," she says. "Every day is a different emotion and a different hurdle, but you also learn to be super empathetic to what they deal with. There's somebody needing something from them 24/7. They're never alone. And I think you forget that they're people too.' That emotional proximity gave her a front-row seat to something else: just how involved celebrities actually are in crafting their online images. Far from being hands-off, many stars are invested in what they post and how they're perceived. They care about the tone of the caption, the order of the photo carousel and the filter used on pictures. For them, every post is a piece of the puzzle: a carefully calibrated extension of their public persona. And they expect the people running their accounts to not just understand the vision but to execute it flawlessly. How involved are these stars, really? Quickly learning that the job required emotional intelligence as much as creative instincts helped Sarah be successful. For the A-list star, she knew all personal socials were "the front door into all her business verticals." "I was with her every single day, traveling the world with her, in her home," she says. But with proximity came pressure. The closer you are to a celebrity, the more disciplined you have to be. 'Where people in this job really struggle is they make their presence too known,' she said. 'They try to insert themselves into their lives too much. The people who are successful in a celebrity's life want nothing in return. I don't need to be in the video. I don't care if my socials grow. I just want to do a good job and make sure she's comfortable and happy.' I spoke to another woman, I'll call her Kate, who also asked to remain anonymous as she's still running all personal and business social accounts for a major multi-hyphenate celebrity. Like Sarah, she assumed the star she worked for might be more hands-off. After all, said star should be busy running an empire. 'I come from a news background, and I was like, she's one human being — how much work could there possibly be?' Kate says. 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Woman Says Friend Texts Her Fiancé Behind Her Back, Then Asks Him to Hang Out
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