Three-part Peacock Girls Gone Wild docuseries pulls back the curtain Joe Francismulti-million dollar empire—and its eventual downfall after being plagued by controversy.
c Us Weeklyexclusive clip from Girls Gone Wild: The Untold Storywhich premieres on Tuesday, December 3, a woman named Trista recalled being featured on the cover of Girls Gone Wild videotape during the franchise’s heyday.
“I turned on the camera. I give them verbal consent on camera. But I don’t remember talking to anyone on camera,” she recalls. “I’m in shock and a bit in denial. There’s no way that’s me. That’s not me.”
Trista said the situation was “escalating quickly” after a clip with her it was stands out prominently, adding, “And you let it sink in and you’re like, ‘Oh my god, that’s me.’ I’d say within a few weeks, literally everyone I knew knew about it. But I didn’t realize I was on the cover of one until a few weeks later someone took notice and sent me a photo.
From the Sherry Papini kidnapping hoax to the two separate documentaries on Scott Peterson’s murder conviction, it’s safe to say that most streaming services are investing in true crime in 2024. Netflix and Hulu usually corner the genre by focusing on the latest—and most surprising—cases. Investigation Discovery however (…)
After being featured in a recording released by the adult entertainment company, Trista faced major problems in her personal life.
“Well, that just made it worse for me,” she remarked. “People posted pictures of my family. Me, my mother, my father and my brother. They put them on sites saying “This is this girl”. So you have no personal life.
Trista specifically called out the company’s founder, saying, “I don’t think it’s ethical. I think it’s immoral. I feel like they think it’s OK because Joe Francis and his Girls Gone Wild team tried to make it OK.”
Girls Gone Wild: The Untold StoryMr relies on first-person accounts from former employees, survivors and Francis himself to explain the company’s rise to fame in the late 1990s and early 2000s. The documentary series includes Francis’ first extensive interview with a journalist in almost a decade Skaachi Kull visit to his Mexican compound in 2022. for unfiltered conversation.
According to the synopsis, the Peacock special will explore the multimillion-dollar business that is “built around the idea of Spring Breakers posing on camera for t-shirts and hats.” The purpose of the documentary is to find out how Girls Gone Wild “shaped American pop culture and sparked significant debate about exploitation, consent, and the ethics of entertainment.”
The trailer, which was released last month, offered a look at the emotional interviews.
“I never thought it would come back and haunt me for 20 years,” one survivor said in the short clip, while another claimed, “I was too young to be recorded.”
Getty Images (3); MEGA From the assassination of JonBenét Ramsay to convicted murderer Ed Gein, there are several scripted true crime shows coming our way soon. Paramount+ recently announced a limited series that will cover the Ramsay family before and after Jon Bennet’s 1996 murder. The untitled John Bennet Ramsay series specifically focuses on the parents John and (…)
Meanwhile, Francis could be heard saying in a clip from a previous interview: “If I had taken no for an answer, I wouldn’t be where I am!” The entrepreneur was asked if he felt “bad for the girls” more than two decades later, but his response was not included in the video.
After starting to be promoted in late commercials, Girls Gone Wild I blew up and did $20 million in the first two years alone. The company later faced multiple lawsuits after being accused of using footage of minors, filming without consent, causing emotional distress to those involved in the Girls Gone Wild films, and more.
Francis, for his part, was convicted of child abuse and prostitution, tax evasion and bribery, assault and false imprisonment, and ordered to pay millions in a defamation suit. He denied any wrongdoing and publicly stood by his company’s reputation. After Francis was convicted of taking three women in his Los Angeles home, refusing to let them leave and slamming one woman’s head into his tiles.
“I disagree with the jury’s verdict as I am completely innocent of the charges and intend to appeal,” he said The Hollywood Reporter in 2013 “I received a fair trial, and if I lose on appeal, I will grudgingly but fully accept the jury’s verdict.”
Frances has since left for Mexico and has not returned to the U.S. “Hundreds of thousands of women appeared on Girls Gone Wild just as hundreds of thousands of women appear on Instagram in bathing suits and on Twitter topless,” he wrote to Koul in a 2023 email. for her profile on it. “Nobody seems to care. They are free to do whatever they want.
Girls Gone Wild: The Untold Story premiere of Peacock Tuesday, December 3.
