Controversial vlogging YouTuber Amberlynn Reid is such a topic of online conversation that she a cottage commentary community based solely on her life and behavior.
The major catalyst for Amberlynn’s breakout success as a YouTuber in 2016 came from her relationship Destiny Cook, which started in 2015. The dynamic of the couple and their willingness to share almost every moment of their lives in barely edited vlogs engrossed viewers.
When Destiny broke up in 2017, the dramatic factor of the Amberlynn’s story ramped up and interest in her and everyone she vlogged exploded. Now, Destiny is no longer friends with Amberlynn and is finally speaking out about her time dating and being friends with Amberlynn on her YouTube channel called “Lightly Toasted.”
Like reality television, fans of Amberlynn Reid’s content, often called the “Amberverse” or “Gorlworld,” is seen by viewers as a cast of characters whose real life drama is fodder for entertainment. The real people behind all of this attention, including Amberlynn herself, often grow weary of this situation.
For Amberlynn, though, sharing the story of her life in this way with an online audience has awarded her a way to earn money that would hard for her to come by via another avenue.
At first she sought attention by sharing her life online with her girlfriend Krystal. She was living with Krystal and Krystal’s parents at the time in Virginia, and didn’t need to work because Krystal’s parents provided her with shelter and food for free.
She was soft-spoken during the early days of her YouTube channel, and would film mostly herself as she struggled through losing weight. Krystal and her family were reluctant to be on camera, but Amberlynn would sometimes film them anyway. At the time, this was of little consequence because of how few people were viewing her videos.
At the time, she said that she had lost 89 lbs. with Krystal’s help, but she was having trouble maintaining that weight loss and continuing on.
The Krystal breakup
In 2015, Krystal told Amberlynn that she was no longer in love with her and wanted to date other people. Amberlynn continued to live with Krystal after the breakup, and even asked Krystal to continue sleeping with her in the same bed.
While Krystal pursued other romantic prospects online, Amber decided she would try to make some friends on WhatsApp.
Destiny cheated on her girlfriend with Amberlynn
19-year-old Destiny Cook, who was living in Florida at the time, messaged Amberlynn (24.) Destiny was in a long-distance relationship at the time, and said she wasn’t using the app to find romantic partners. Instead, her claim is that someone had used her photos to catfish people on the app, so she decided to log in to make sure people still weren’t using her photos. It may be just a coincidence, but she also shared with Amberlynn that MTV’s Catfish was her favorite show at the time.
Amberlynn and Destiny continued chatted on the app. According to Amberlynn, they bonded over the fact that they both liked cats and Miley Cyrus was their mutual favorite celebrity.
When Amberlynn asked Destiny for her Instagram account information, Destiny claimed she didn’t have one. Eventually, she revealed to Amberlynn that she did have an Instagram and she didn’t want to share it because she had a girlfriend but she said she had feelings for Amberlynn.
According to Destiny, Amberlynn messaged Destiny’s girlfriend to tell her that Destiny was talking to her behind her back.
“I did, essentially, cheat on the girl I was with with Amberlynn,” Destiny admitted in her latest video. “I was being a player. I was doing too much.”
Amberlynn and Destiny moved in before even meeting each other
After Destiny’s breakup with her previous girlfriend things started moving fast between Amberlynn and Destiny. Amberlynn was afraid that Destiny would not accept her for her large size because she didn’t believe that Amberlynn weight as much as she did. Amberlynn sent Destiny an undressed photo of herself so show her what her video really looked like.
Destiny won Amberlynn over by replying back that she loved her and felt like they were meant to be together.
Both Amberlynn and Destiny say that Amberlynn didn’t need to move out of her ex-girlfriend’s house, but it’s doubtful that her ex and her family wanted Amberlynn to stay there forever.
Destiny and Amberlynn decided to move into an apartment together in Florida, so in July 2015 Destiny made the trek from Florida to her family in Kentucky, who then helped her drive to collect Amberlynn in Virginia.
Destiny and her grandparents drove about seven hours to get Amberlynn, loaded up her stuff, and then slept on the side of the road and drove to Kentucky.
They spent the 4th of July in Kentucky with Destiny’s mom, and Destiny officially asked Amberlynn to be her girlfriend. From then until they broke up, Amberlynn and Destiny celebrated every 4th montheversary.
The footage of their first meeting was documented by Amberlynn in the vlog titled “I’m With Destiny.”
Amberlynn and Destiny then drove to Florida where they stayed for a while in Destiny’s room in her dad’s house. Soon enough, though, they moved into an apartment with one of Destiny’s childhood friends. Destiny and Amberlynn would often refer to this friend as their “stripper roommate” because of her occupation. This friend also had a 15-year-old sister who started coming over the apartment and spending a lot of time with Amberlynn and Destiny without her sister present. She became a major staple in Amberlynn’s vlogs.
The minute Amberlynn met Destiny, the tone of her vlogs shifted dramatically. Amberlynn became much more animated and spirited. She laughed louder, acted sillier, and overshared more of her life than ever. Destiny was also very unpredictable, funny, and uninhibited. At first she seemed really opened to vlogging and being silly with Amberlynn, but as Amberlynn started to gain online popularity and their relationship progressed Destiny started becoming more withdrawn.
When they first got together, the couple worried a lot about money. Amberlynn had had a very scant work history, had limited mobility, and couldn’t drive. At the time, she wasn’t really making money on YouTube either, so this left most of the money-earning responsibility to Destiny, who was a PCA (personal care assistant) at an assisted living facility.
A part-time position did open up at Destiny’s work which was perfect for Amber because she didn’t need to drive there and it didn’t need any prior experience. At first she would only work four hour shifts helping out with the hectic dinner service.
When she wasn’t on the schedule, Amberlynn would “volunteer” by staying at the facility and hanging out with the residents or just sitting in the common area. In a few months, she was trained to be a PCA so she could help cover shifts when people called off.
Amberlynn later admitted that she lied to her audience that she had had a full-time position from the beginning. She also lied about the seatbelt on Destiny’s car being broken. Destiny explained that her seatbelt wasn’t broken, but Amberlynn said it was at the time because she didn’t want to admit to her audience that the belt couldn’t fit around her body.
What is Gorlworld?
“Gorldworld” is based off of Amberlynn’s peculiar pronunciation and overuse of the word “Girl” while talking to the camera during the Destiny era. It’s come to be a name for the commentary community and viewers who talk about Amberlynn and Amberlynn.
Gorlworld also includes similar dramatic overweight and obsese creators, but mostly centers on Amberlynn and fellow controversial mukbanger and live-streamer Foodie Beauty.
She’s struggled with weight the entire time she’s been a vlogger, and her weight has oscillated between 330 to almost 600 pounds over the course of her online career. Many of the criticisms lobbied at Amberlynn come from the frustration of her many failed weigh loss attempts.
