Parenting influencers James Collins and Holly Cooper, known online as TheLDNfamily, have run into trouble with their daughters' headmaster over their family's relentless holiday schedule, sources say.
The pair, who share dance videos from luxury trips to Dubai, Switzerland and Paris with 1.7 million Instagram followers, were repeatedly pulling their children out of school to go on brand trips, according to insiders. After being fined for the girls' absences, James and Holly eventually decided to withdraw them from school entirely and teach them at home instead.
A source said: 'These children appeared to spend a significant amount of time away from school because of the number of brand trips they were going on. It's another example of an influencer family choosing to involve their children heavily in their online career, which inevitably raises questions about how that fits alongside their education.'
TheLDNfamily first found fame during the Covid-19 pandemic with videos of their daughter Mimi dancing, before building a following on posts of the wider family. Brands soon followed, turning a lockdown hobby into a social media empire. The family, thought to be multi-millionaires who live in a detached house in Petts Wood, south-east London, now has 1.7 million Instagram followers and 2.7 million on TikTok, drawn to slickly choreographed routines that often put the children front and centre.
Children's own social media accounts
Mimi, Pixi and even baby Zigi each have social media accounts run by their parents. Mimi has 50,000 followers, Pixi has 25,000 and Zigi, the youngest, has 6,000. Last year the family went on 20 holidays, including trips to Dubai, Qatar, Mallorca, Pisa, Hawaii, Abu Dhabi, Iceland, Florence and Paris, plus multiple visits to the Maldives and Royal Caribbean cruises. This year has already taken in Mallorca, Barbados, the Maldives and Switzerland, along with an invitation from Nintendo to Camp Bestival in Dorset. The family also counts Disney and Arsenal Football Club among its commercial partners.
Their profile led to a paid 'back to school' advert for the high street chain Next, in which Mimi, nine, and Pixi, five, wore school dresses, shoes and hair accessories. The posts have since been deleted after followers pointed out the irony. One commenter wrote: 'So disingenuous to be doing a back-to-school clothing ad when the kids barely even go to school.' A source was blunter still, saying: 'All of this child influencing makes you wonder what the children will grow up to be like. All they've known is performing to a little screen.'
James, 36, and Holly, 37, met as teenagers and have spent years dancing and choreographing together. James says he has worked with major artists and television shows, while the couple appeared on The X Factor in 2012 as part of the vocal group Mitsotu before founding a dance school and a children's acting talent agency. When approached, Holly confirmed the children are being homeschooled but said there is 'a little more' to the decision, without elaborating.
Viewers turn away from Meet the Owens
Michael Owen's family hoped their new Prime Video docuseries, Meet the Owens, would launch them as Britain's next influencer dynasty. Instead, ratings have tanked, with viewers branding the show painfully dull. One TV critic, despite being paid to watch it, gave the series just one star, saying: 'That's the only reason why someone should watch it. If no one has paid you to, please value your time more.' Comedian Harry Ford, who previously worked in television, revealed the Owens had been pitched as a reality show years earlier, but 'every commissioner said they were too boring.' Tellingly, while Michael, 46, has posted enthusiastically about the series, his children Gemma, 23, James, 20, and Emily, 18, have stayed silent online. Sixteen-year-old Jessica managed one post, one more than mum Louise.
Ellie Ellis becomes a TikTok sensation
Sixteen-year-old British schoolgirl Ellie Ellis has amassed almost 900,000 TikTok followers and 10.7 million likes in a single month after joining the platform on 8 August with the aim of becoming less shy. Her four-minute 'get ready with me' video, in which she said, 'I just need to get more confidence and I need to stop being shy,' has racked up 21.9 million views. She had just six followers before that clip; within 24 hours she had 20,000, and by the next morning 50,000. Her 37 videos of make-up tutorials and hair routines have already drawn attention from beauty brands including Garnier, Maybelline and NYX, and she now has an agent, with her bio confirming the account is managed by her parents because of her age.
Up and down in the influencer world
On the up, the community group @girlssonthego, founded in 2023 by Stephanie Barney, Martin Mach and Caitlin Lewing to make running safer for women, has grown into a nationwide friendship network hosting Pilates, book clubs and painting sessions across major UK cities.
On the down, food writer Meg Houghton-Gilmour exposed troubling practices after creating a fake Japanese restaurant and approaching 48 influencers. Of the 33 who responded, some offered positive coverage in exchange for a free meal, while five said they would post without declaring it as an advert.
US podcaster Alex Cooper's Unwell media empire is bringing back the Unwell Games, with former Love Island contestant Dejon Noel-Williams joining the mostly American line-up. Fellow Love Island alumna Ekin-Su Cülcüloğlu is hosting. Separately, influencer Isobel Lorna has launched Agende, a leatherbound organiser combining financial planning, diary management and everyday essentials, inspired by her mantra 'save the pennies and the Porsche will buy itself.'
