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It’s not uncommon for meme stars to use their popularity for financial gain. But this is a story about someone who transcended a specific 15 minutes of fame in order to reach a much higher degree of success—all while legitimately earning a reputation as a Bhad girl.
Dr. Phil & “Cash Me Ousside”
In 2016, Barbara Ann Bregoli was trying to deal with her 13-year-old daughter, Danielle.
The two appeared on Dr. Phil to try to sort out how to move forward, because between the screaming, theft, and violence, it seemed as though there was nothing mom could do about her problem child.
The audience, who Danielle called “hoes,” laughed at her. So in response she challenged them, “Cash me ousside, howbow dah?”
Image macros appeared all over, combining a still from the TV show with her taunt. Over the course of the next year, “Cash me Ousside” grew steadily in interest, with one image being shared 75,000 times.
“I’m About To Start Swinging”
Meanwhile, “I’m about to start swinging” grew as its own thing in parallel. When the camera crew came to take Danielle to a rehab camp, she had an episode where she told them to back off, because she was “about to start swinging.”
Interest in “Cash me ousside” came to a sharp peak when the Bregolis got into an altercation at LAX; her mother was having issues putting her luggage in the overhead. It appeared that Danielle began screaming, then Barbara Ann put her hand on another passenger’s throat, then they shoved Barbara Ann, then Danielle punched the woman back—all while shouting “what’s up ho whats up?”
All three were banned for life from Spirit Airlines.
Bhad Bhabie the Rap Star
It generated enough search interest to attract the rap music scene. The following month, Danielle’s social media channels appeared to be hacked, but it was actually an attempt at viral marketing for a music video —which featured Danielle. Later, she released two rap videos under the moniker “Bhad Bhabie,” and around the same time, she’d signed to Atlantic Records.
She became the youngest female rapper ever to chart the Billboard Hot 100, and when her single “Hi Bich” broke 500,000 sales, she posted a video of herself eating cake off her gold record.
In 2019 she released a mobile game app, and in 2021 she became the highest paid creator ever on OnlyFans, and later in that same year, she launched her own record label “Bhad Music.”
Feud with Alabama Barker
She’s even had her first rapper vs. rapper feud—in which there was drama with Alabama Barker surrounding the father of her child, Le Vaughn.
While the feud itself caused backlash because both rappers are white and people claimed they were appropriating Black culture, in a backhanded way the fact that it went viral in the first place lends Bhad Bhabie’s career a certain legitimacy.
Danielle’s Background
Danielle was born in a gang-ridden county in Florida, raised mostly by a single parent. After the Dr. Phil appearance, she was sent to a ranch for troubled teens where at least one staffer was accused of sexually assaulting the residents, and where Bregoli claims they were underfed, and deprived of sleep.
She alleges domestic abuse by the father of her child, and in 2024 revealed a cancer diagnosis following dramatic weight loss.
Her whole adolescence happened in the public eye, where people gawked at her. Despite that, by age 21 she reached an 8-figure net worth by leaning in to what everyone wanted her to be—a professional bad-girl.
So “Cash me ousside” may be the best cashphrase for her after all. It seems like despite whatever setback she’s faced with, she keeps bouncing back more successful than before.
Are we supposed to laugh or cry at that? Maybe both.
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