The ACE Family's Catherine McBroom has accidentally inspired a new meme known as the Catherine Method after her ex-husband revealed a series of bizarre messages she sent.
Who is Catherine McBroom?
Catherine McBroom was best known for her role in the ACE Family, a wildly popular YouTube channel she ran with her now ex-husband, Austin McBroom. Together, they built a controversial influencer empire based on picture-perfect family content with plenty of drama brewing under the surface.
The two confirmed in 2024 that the seemingly happy couple had "mutually agreed to a divorce" less than four years after officially getting married. The ACE Family has been back in the spotlight recently after pages allegedly from Catherine's upcoming book leaked online and revealed her ex-husband's infidelity—something he confirmed via Snapchat in May.
Where did the Catherine Method come from?
As part of Austin's response to his infidelity being outed, he shared that Catherine had started regularly doing ayahuasca. He further claimed that this "spiritual journey" had caused hallucinations that included thinking Austin was a mermaid and that Catherine herself was the reincarnated Virgin Mary.
"You guys put yourself in my shoes, and if your significant other told you that they were the Virgin Mary and that they no longer wanted to have sex with you, what would you do?" he asked.
This led to him showing viewers a message Catherine allegedly sent to someone she met on one of these ayahuasca retreats that was nothing more than a series of strange images.
"What does that mean? What type of language is that?" Austin asked in a clip of the video that was ultimately reposted to TikTok and became the basis for the meme.
What is the Catherine Method meme?
Although Austin was looking for sympathy and understanding in sharing his side of his infidelity story, viewers took something else from the whole thing—especially when it came to that viral clip.
"i also had an ex so horrible i went into spiritual psychosis," reads one of the top comments.
It didn't take long for that snippet to inspire what has since been dubbed the "Catherine Method," which involves sending someone a series of seemingly random, strange photos. The sender then shares the results with TikTok, often with the audio of Austin sounding confused laid over it.
The Catherine Method in action
Mostly, the Catherine Method seems to be used in good fun—a playful way to see how a significant other might respond to something that makes little to no sense, or to try to reel in a crush with absolute chaos.
@ashcash7774 “does that make me joseph” BYE ?? #viral #fyp
♬ original sound - goldenaura
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