Caroline Calloway
Calloway in 2016
Born
Caroline Calloway Gotschall[1]

(1991-12-05) December 5, 1991[2]
Falls Church, Virginia, U.S.
EducationNew York University
St Edmund's College, Cambridge (BA)
Relatives
Websitecarolinecalloway.com

Caroline Gotschall Calloway (born December 5, 1991) is an American social media celebrity who initially developed a following while a student at the University of Cambridge. She is the author of the 2023 memoir Scammer, the title of which references accusations of scamming she has received from fans and critics.

Early life and education

Calloway was born in Falls Church, Virginia, and was educated at Phillips Exeter Academy.[2] Her maternal great-grandfather is Owen Burns, an entrepreneur and real estate mogul who developed many of the historic structures in Sarasota, Florida.[3][4] At the age of 17, she changed her last name to Gotschall Calloway because she considered it would "look better on books".[1]

Calloway began undergraduate studies in art history at New York University.[5] In 2013, after succeeding on her third application, she restarted at St Edmund's College, Cambridge, and was graduated in 2016.[2][6] She later admitted to having forged her academic credentials to secure admission to Cambridge.[7] Calloway has stated that she has general anxiety disorder and depression.[1] She has been open about her Adderall abuse and addiction while at Cambridge.[8][1]

Career

Influencer

Calloway joined Instagram in 2012 with the help of her NYU classmate Natalie Beach.[1] The Instagram account documented her life at Cambridge and contained long captions.[9] Calloway bought followers and purchased ads to grow her account.[8] She became known as the "Gatsby of Cambridge" for the lavish parties that she documented online, which she hosted in rented rooms at other Cambridge colleges that she considered more Instagram-worthy than St. Edmund's.[6]

Writing

And We Were Like

Calloway publicly announced that Flatiron Books had offered her a book deal to write a memoir for US$500,000 in 2015, of which she had received 30% as an advance.[10] She announced via her Instagram stories in 2017 that she was withdrawing from her book deal after failing to fulfill her contract.[11] Beach reported the deal was for US$375,000, and the advance she received was actually for US$100,000, which she owed back to the publisher after she canceled the deal.[1][12] After that, Calloway offered the book proposal with personal annotations for sale on Etsy.[11]

In 2016 it was announced that Calloway would publish a memoir titled And We Were Like about her time at Cambridge with Flatiron Books, an imprint of Macmillan Publishers, with the help of literary agent Byrd Leavell.[13][1] During her final year at Cambridge, Calloway had hired Beach to co-write the book and proposal.[14] She then set up an initial meeting with Leavell by pretending to his secretary that she was already his client.[1] Leavell has since said of his experience working with Calloway that she was "deeply unwell, deeply dishonest" and that "It was more important to her to be seen as an author than it was to be an author."[15]

Workshops

In December 2018, Calloway launched an international "Creativity Workshop Tour". Her original announcement indicated that the workshop would offer tutorials on building an Instagram brand, developing ideas, and addressing "the emotional and spiritual dimensions of making art."[16] Participation in the tour was priced at US$165 per person, and tickets were sold for events in Boston, Denver, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Atlanta, Chicago, Dallas, Austin, Charlotte, and Washington DC.[11] This tour was subsequently canceled due to Calloway failing to book venues for these events, with Calloway announcing that she would refund those who had already bought tickets.[8][11] Eventually, Calloway held two workshops in New York.[17] The cancellation of the workshops gained public attention when reporter Kayleigh Donaldson created a Twitter thread that gained news coverage comparing Calloway's tour to Fyre Festival, later publishing this as an article for the online publication Pajiba.[16][11][18] After the publication of Donaldson's article, Calloway briefly offered t-shirts for sale on Threadless that bore the caption "Stop hate-following me, Kayleigh".[19] Threadless suspended sale of these shirts for violating its targeted harassment policy.[19]

In August 2019, Calloway held a second creativity workshop, "The Scam", in New York.[20] Although press was not invited to the event, a Vice reporter bought a ticket, attended the event under a false name, and published an article about her experience.[20]

In September 2019, Beach wrote an essay for The Cut, "I Was Caroline Calloway", chronicling her friendship with Calloway and disclosing that she had ghostwritten a number of the Instagram captions credited to Calloway and collaborated with her to produce a subsequent book proposal.[2][8][12]

Also, Calloway brought Depths of Wikipedia its first wave of followers, publicizing the account's posts favorably after resolving an incident in which Annie Rauwerda had posted about Calloway's Wikipedia page.[21][22]

OnlyFans

In 2020, Calloway created an OnlyFans account, promising videographic and photographic content containing nudity.[23] She alleged in interviews that her intention to enter the adult entertainment industry had been planned by Playboy, and that the magazine had commissioned a photo shoot of her dressed as a student in a library.[24] When asked, the magazine stated: "Playboy does not have and did not have any photo shoot planned with Caroline Calloway."[24] Calloway has described her sex work as "emotionally poignant, softcore cerebral porn."[25] Her content includes cosplay of characters from children's movies such as Harry Potter, Matilda and Beauty and the Beast,[26] and partially undressed photographs of herself captioned with details of her father's autopsy.[27][24]

Calloway posted her projected income from sex work on her Twitter account in May 2020, leading to criticism about her failure to recognize difficulties faced by sex workers, as well as her attempts to distance herself from sex work.[28][26]

In July 2021, Calloway began selling a homemade blend of grapeseed oil and essential oils branded as Snake Oil through her website.[29][30][31]

Scammer (2023 book)

In April 2020, Calloway announced that she would publish a response to Beach's 2019 The Cut essay.[32][33] Scammer was released in June 2023 through Calloway's website.[34]

Scammer has received generally positive reviews, with Becca Rothfeld of the Washington Post calling Scammer "gloriously opulent"[34] and Kitty Grady of Vogue writing that Scammer "welcomes Caroline onto the scene as a new character: that of a deft and funny writer".[35] A more critical review by Charlie Squire for i-D describes Calloway's attempts to clear her name and address her scandals "unstimulating" and says that the book is "fatally mediocre in the middle".[36] However, Squire's review ends positively, praising Calloway's "hazy, modernist writing", concluding:

"Caroline is unafraid to want things that we are not supposed to say we want: fame, thinness, adoration – and yet she never veers off into cheap shock value. Where Scammer really shines is in its descriptions of the quotidian. Caroline's story is interesting, sure, it's a life she's lived to write this specific book. But where she proves herself to be an artist is in descriptions of her back-alley psychiatrist, an old friend living just outside of Boston, the electrical cords at the Harvard Lampoon house, or the fundamentally English aversion to sitting on the floor."[37]

Personal life

Until March 2022, Calloway lived in the West Village in Manhattan;[38] she announced then that she was moving to Florida.[31]

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 Hunt, Elle (April 28, 2020). "'I love fame': how Caroline Calloway survived being cancelled". The Guardian. Retrieved May 16, 2020.
  2. 1 2 3 4 Barr, Sabrina (September 12, 2019). "Who is Caroline Calloway, why is the Internet talking about her and how is she connected to Natalie Beach?". The Independent.
  3. ↑ "Instagram influencer Caroline Calloway finds solace in Sarasota". Sarasota Herald-Tribune. June 20, 2020.
  4. ↑ "Caroline Calloway on Instagram: "My grandma's father's name was Owen Burns..."". Instagram. Archived from the original on December 24, 2021.
  5. ↑ Flanagan, Caitlin (September 27, 2019). "Caroline Calloway Isn't A Scammer". The Atlantic. Retrieved February 15, 2020.
  6. 1 2 Steafel, Eleanor (June 6, 2023). "How easy is it cheat your way to university? American social-media star Caroline Calloway, 31, seems to take great delight in having successfully 'gamed' Cambridge". Daily Telegraph.
  7. ↑ Clarence-Smith, Louisa (June 4, 2023). "'Gatsby of Cambridge' Caroline Calloway lied on university application". Sunday Telegraph.
  8. 1 2 3 4 McNeal, Stephanie (September 25, 2019). "Caroline Calloway Wants To Talk About Why You Love To Hate Her". BuzzFeed. Retrieved February 14, 2020.
  9. ↑ La Ferla, Ruth (March 27, 2019). "The Captionfluencers". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved July 8, 2020.
  10. ↑ "Caroline Calloway Talks Social Media, Book Deals and Fans". Man Repeller. June 20, 2018. Retrieved July 8, 2020.
  11. 1 2 3 4 5 Donaldson, Kayleigh (January 18, 2019). "The Empty Mason Jar of the Influencer Economy: The Case of Caroline Calloway and her Creativity Workshop Tour". Pajiba. Retrieved July 8, 2020.
  12. 1 2 Beach, Natalie (September 10, 2019). "The Story of Caroline Calloway & Her Ghostwriter Natalie". The Cut. Retrieved May 16, 2020.
  13. ↑ Palmer, Alex (February 5, 2016). "Follow the Influencers: Social Media Stars 2016". Publishers Weekly.
  14. ↑ Scott, Daniella (September 11, 2019). "Caroline Calloway's ex-best friend Natalie Beach has published a story about all her scams". Cosmopolitan. Retrieved July 8, 2020.
  15. ↑ Mauzy, Alexa (April 21, 2020). "Donald Trump's Book Agent Comes Clean". Public Seminar. Retrieved July 8, 2020.
  16. 1 2 Kircher, Madison (January 14, 2019). "This Instagram Influencer's Failed Tour Will Satisfy Your Fyre Fest Nostalgia". Thecut.com.
  17. ↑ McNeal, Stephanie (September 11, 2019). "Who Is Caroline And Why Is Everyone Talking About Her? Let Us Explain". BuzzFeed.
  18. ↑ Sicha, Choire; Jonah Engel Bromwich (September 11, 2019). "Who Is Caroline Calloway? An Explainer". The New York Times. Retrieved February 14, 2020.
  19. 1 2 Grady, Constance (September 11, 2019). "Caroline Calloway, her 'one-woman Fyre Fest,' and her ex-best friend Natalie, explained". Vox. Retrieved July 8, 2020.
  20. 1 2 Iovine, Anna (August 6, 2019). "I Scammed Influencer Caroline Calloway at Her Event, The Scam". Vice. Retrieved February 14, 2020.
  21. ↑ Kambhampaty, Anna P. (March 31, 2022). "Want to See the Weirdest of Wikipedia? Look No Further". The New York Times. Archived from the original on March 31, 2022. Retrieved March 31, 2022.
  22. ↑ Cavender, Elena (October 24, 2021). "Travel down a Wikipedia rabbit hole with the mastermind behind DepthsOfWikipedia Instagram". Mashable. Archived from the original on October 26, 2021. Retrieved October 26, 2021.
  23. ↑ Downs, Claire (May 14, 2020). "Why Is Everybody Suddenly Selling Their Nudes?". Elle. Retrieved July 8, 2020.
  24. 1 2 3 "Who's Actually Horny on Main When Everyone's Horny on Main?". MEL Magazine. April 16, 2020. Retrieved July 8, 2020.
  25. ↑ Sung, Morgan (August 19, 2020). "Influencers are flocking to OnlyFans but not everyone is happy about it". Mashable. Retrieved August 28, 2020.
  26. 1 2 Downs, Claire (May 14, 2020). "Why Is Everybody Suddenly Selling Their Nudes?". Elle. Retrieved May 20, 2020.
  27. ↑ Sweeney, Tanya. "Caroline Calloway: From self-styled 'scammer' to queen of quarantine horniness". The Irish Times. Retrieved July 8, 2020.
  28. ↑ Grant, Melissa Gira (May 13, 2020). "The Coronavirus Is Making Us All Camgirls". The New Republic. ISSN 0028-6583. Retrieved July 8, 2020.
  29. ↑ Song, Sandra (July 8, 2021). "Caroline Calloway Has a Homemade 'Snake Oil'Skincare Product'". Retrieved August 6, 2021.
  30. ↑ Michelson, Andrea; Haasch, Palmer (July 10, 2021). "Caroline Calloway released a 'snake oil' skincare product, but a dermatologist says the concoction is probably not the 'elixir of youth' it's billed as". Insider.com. Retrieved August 6, 2021.
  31. 1 2 Merlan, Anna (March 9, 2022). "The Short, Strange, Very Predictable Story of Caroline Calloway's Snake Oil". Motherboard. Vice News.
  32. ↑ Yalcinkaya, Günseli (April 1, 2020). "Caroline Calloway's response essay to Natalie is finally here". Dazed. Retrieved July 8, 2020.
  33. ↑ "I Am Caroline Calloway". Retrieved July 8, 2020.
  34. 1 2 Rothfeld, Becca. "Caroline Calloway and Natalie Beach, ex-friends, now have rival books". The Washington Post. Retrieved June 25, 2023.
  35. ↑ Grady, Kitty (June 24, 2023). "In Defence Of Caroline Calloway". Vogue. Retrieved June 25, 2023.
  36. ↑ Squire, Charlie. "Caroline Calloway's 'Scammer' is clever, confessional and a bit unbearable". i-D. Retrieved June 25, 2023.
  37. ↑ Squire, Charlie. "Caroline Calloway's 'Scammer' is clever, confessional and a bit unbearable". i-D. Retrieved June 25, 2023.
  38. ↑ Colyar, Brock (March 7, 2022). "Caroline Calloway's Final Days in Her West Village Studio". Curbed. Retrieved March 13, 2022.
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