‘The truth is even more bizarre than you think’: The Hawk Tuah girl is getting her own documentary
There’s a reason Haliey Welch seemingly vanished from the internet overnight: She’s the focus of an upcoming documentary exploring her meteoric rise—and dramatic fall—from viral fame.
The 22-year-old influencer will be the subject of an upcoming documentary from Emmy-winning production company Bungalow Media + Entertainment, according to Deadline. “The documentary will chronicle how Welch, a young woman from a small town with no active social media presence, unknowingly created a viral moment that gave way to a global phenomenon,” per a press release shared with the outlet.
The documentary will focus on Welch’s “unexpected rise to fame, the scrutiny that followed,” and will expose “the incredible power social media has to crown and crucify its internet darlings,” the press release continued.
Welch became a viral sensation after her video interview was uploaded by the Tim & Dee TV YouTube channel, where she responded to one of their questions with the now-iconic “hawk tuah” catchphrase.
“With only a single sentence, Haliey Welch went from an unknown young woman having a night out on the town to ‘enjoying’ 15 minutes of fame to global phenomenon who cemented her status in the pop culture lexicon. There are very few people who know what it is like to achieve this level of fame and live under the 24/7 microscope known as social media,” Bob Friedman, producer and CEO at Bungalow Media + Entertainment, said in a statement. He adds that the documentary will chronicle Welch’s journey as well as explore the highs and lows of living in the public eye.
After her viral moment, Welch parlayed her 15 minutes into a business empire, launching merchandise, the Talk Tuah podcast, and a Gen Z-targeted dating app called Pookie Tools. In early December, Welch announced that she would be releasing her own cryptocurrency memecoin called $HAWK, which quickly tanked and caused Welch to disappear from the internet in a cloud of controversy.
“I hope y’all been enjoying the crazy stories about ‘my life’ unfold on social media,” Welch said in a statement about the upcoming documentary. “First, I was dead. Then pregnant. Now I’m wanted by Interpol and in jail! Luckily, we’ve been working with Bungalow to start spilling the tea and the truth is actually even more bizarre than you think.”
To get the full story, fans will have to be patient. Release details for the documentary have yet to be announced.