• News
  • Film and TV
  • Music
  • Tech
  • Features
  • Celebrity
  • Politics
  • Weird
  • Community
  • Advertise
  • Terms
  • Privacy & Cookies
  • LADbible Group
  • LADbible
  • SPORTbible
  • GAMINGbible
  • Tyla
  • UNILAD Tech
  • FOODbible
  • License Our Content
  • About Us & Contact
  • Jobs
  • Latest
  • Topics A-Z
  • Authors
Facebook
Instagram
X
Threads
TikTok
YouTube
Submit Your Content
TikTok Star Whose Family Says She’s Being Held Hostage By Cult Posts Taunting Video Online

Home> News

Published 16:09 22 Mar 2022 GMT

TikTok Star Whose Family Says She’s Being Held Hostage By Cult Posts Taunting Video Online

The family have claimed their daughter cut off communication more than a year ago.

Emily Brown

Emily Brown

Featured Image Credit: @itsmirandaderrick/Tiktok

Topics: TikTok, Viral, US News, Life, Conspiracy Theories

Emily Brown
Emily Brown

Emily Brown is UNILAD Editorial Lead at LADbible Group. She first began delivering news when she was just 11 years old - with a paper route - before graduating with a BA Hons in English Language in the Media from Lancaster University. Emily joined UNILAD in 2018 to cover breaking news, trending stories and longer form features. She went on to become Community Desk Lead, commissioning and writing human interest stories from across the globe, before moving to the role of Editorial Lead. Emily now works alongside the UNILAD Editor to ensure the page delivers accurate, interesting and high quality content.

Advert

Advert

Advert

A TikToker has shared a video seemingly mocking concerns expressed by her family amid fears she may have joined a cult-like management company.

Miranda Derrick, formerly Miranda Wilking, is thought to have joined management company 7M Films in late 2020 or early 2021 and now posts content involving her partner, James Derrick, and a number of other participants.

Last month, Miranda's sister, Melanie, and her parents shared an Instagram Live video in which they claimed Miranda had stopped communicating with them a year earlier, had started attending a church and had married James without telling them. They claimed she was 'part of a religious group' and was 'not allowed to speak' to them, but Miranda appeared to dismiss the claims in her video posted this week.

Check it out below:

The owner of 7M, Robert Shinn, is also a pastor for Shekinah Church, and a spokesperson for 7M told The Daily Beast that while Miranda and James are members of the church, the business dealings of 7M Films were conducted separately.

Advert

They also denied being a cult, and said the claims made by Miranda's family came amid a family dispute.

Miranda and Melanie initially gained more than two million followers on TikTok through sharing videos together under the name the Wilking Sisters. The pair stopped posting videos together in early 2021, and while Melanie continued entertaining fans with home dance videos, Miranda created new social media accounts to share her new videos, Rolling Stone reports.

The TikToker's family claimed she had refused to come home for her grandfather’s funeral last year and that she has blocked her family members on social media, with their concerns echoed by other people whose friends work with 7M.

However, Miranda appeared to dismiss the claims in her latest video, titled 'When you're TAKEN...way too long to film', which showed her filming various pieces of content while James stood ominously in the background. In the final clip, James taps on the window of Miranda's car and breaks the tension by asking if she is ready to go and get food together.

As well as releasing the video, both Miranda and James have issued public statements denying they are in a cult, while a lawyer for 7M told Rolling Stone the TikToker is 'a successful businesswoman and a loving wife and daughter who cares very much about her family'. The company's statement added, in part, "It is pathetic and contemptible to try to turn her private family matters into a tawdry public scandal for clicks and clout."

Advert

A former member of the Shekinah church has told The Daily Beast the church would 'totally ruin your life' after losing a lawsuit against Shinn in which she alleged he conned her out of $4 million.

If you have a story you want to tell, send it to UNILAD via [email protected]  

Choose your content:

9 hours ago
10 hours ago
11 hours ago
  • 9 hours ago

    Scientists issue warning for surprising item people use that's 40 times dirtier than a toilet seat

    Scientists found that your travel companion is harboring a dirty secret

    News
  • 10 hours ago

    Bizarre photo of Trump as Superman shared by White House has people questioning one thing

    The image shared by the White House has left social media users confused

    News
  • 10 hours ago

    Friends and family of Idaho students killed by Bryan Kohberger explain why they thought they were 'next' in chilling new documentary

    The small Idaho community was racked with anxiety after a stranger murdered four college roommates while they slept in 2022

    News
  • 11 hours ago

    Japan breaks record for fastest internet that's 3.5 million times faster than US and can download Netflix in 1 second

    Japan's internet can download Netflix's entire library in seconds

    Technology
  • Family claim couple are being held 'hostage' in Mexican prison over credit card dispute with resort
  • Mom-of-three shot and killed while filming TikTok video
  • People left gobsmacked after White House posts bizarre video in response to NATO chief calling Trump 'daddy'
  • Family of TikTok star, 2, who died in horror car crash speak out after cops make shocking claim