Haliey Welch, who shot to internet stardom as the “Hawk Tuah Girl,” is slowly stepping back into the public eye to talk about the $HAWK cryptocurrency controversy.
Speaking with Vanity Fair staff writer Chris Murphy, Welch addressed the crypto collapse that led to a lawsuit against those behind it. “I hate that that’s even a thing,” she admitted. “Half of those people that done it were, like, my fans. They trusted me, like, guiding them to it. And I don’t know … It really hurt my feelings when it turned out the way it did. I wish it hadn’t have happened.”
Though Welch wasn’t named in the lawsuit, she vanished from public view for three months after releasing a statement in December where the viral sensation said she was “fully cooperating with and am committed to assisting the legal team representing the individuals impacted.”
During her hiatus, Welch became a “24/7 dog mom” at her Tennessee home with boyfriend Kelby Blackwell, known as Pookie on her podcast. She told Murphy this time away gave her a crucial mental health breather.
“I see things a lot differently than I used to,” she revealed. “My eyes are open a lot wider.”
When asked what wisdom she’d share with other viral personalities, Welch drew from her recent experience, advising them to “definitely be careful what you tie your name into and who you trust.”
In a February episode of Talk Tuah with FaZe Banks, Welch confessed she didn’t know much about cryptocurrency when the $HAWK project was first pitched to her.
“So basically how this idea got brought to me, it was supposed to be more of a long-term coin,” she explained. “The guy that ran the account, he was like, ‘Oh, we’re gonna change the way everybody thinks of crypto, crypto is gonna be a good place.’ And I feel really bad for all the people that got affected by it. It just didn’t go the way I planned.”
