To the public, she cast herself as a frightened and abused woman who said she had been pushed to the brink by a boyfriend she claimed was threatening her life.
Yet before her manslaughter conviction, model Courtney Clenney was allegedly pressing jail staff for the kinds of beauty perks and wardrobe tweaks more associated with a celebrity dressing room than a prison cell.
Prison records obtained by Our News Outlet show that Clenney, 30, repeatedly voiced frustration over the absence of the comforts and conveniences she had been used to outside custody.
Her concern over appearances was so persistent, according to the records, that she complained about not having access to “cosmetology” services ahead of her court dates.
Clenney is set to serve two more years behind bars after pleading guilty to manslaughter in the killing of her boyfriend, Christian Obumseli.
Obumseli died after Clenney stabbed him inside their Miami condo in 2022, following one of the couple’s explosive fights.
At the time, Clenney was widely known online as an OnlyFans model and social media personality.
Her feeds often featured polished images of the couple together, with Clenney’s long blonde hair and dramatic makeup forming a familiar part of her carefully curated public image.
Life at Miami’s Turner Guilford Knight Correctional Center put an abrupt end to her Instagram-ready look.
Model Courtney Clenney told the world she was the victim of abuse and had no choice but to stab her boyfriend to death
By the time Clenney faced court, her appearance had changed drastically. New documents reveal her private outrage at being forced to strip back the false eyelashes and make-up. She is pictured in her latest mugshot last month
Clenney, 30, was furious at having to appear in court bare-faced, with wild frizzy hair and wearing a frumpy orange jumpsuit.
Prison records reveal the once-peroxide blonde model begged staff for tighter clothing that would accentuate her curves.
But an unimpressed corrections officer is said to have told Clenney: ‘We don’t need to see all that thickness.’
Another staffer supposedly mocked the influencer’s thirst for fame by ‘sarcastically’ asking for her autograph.
Their cutting exchanges are described in dozens of grievances Clenney filed while waiting four years to go on trial.
She also whined about her bedding, moldy meals and faulty vending machines – even accusing corrections officers of body shaming and targeting her for being white, the files reveal.
Clenney was facing a second-degree murder charge and, if convicted, the prospect of life in prison for knifing Obumseli during an April 2022 fight at their swish Miami apartment.
But the Texan pleaded guilty to manslaughter with a deadly weapon last month and will spend just two more years in Florida’s state prison system after factoring in time served.
The trove of complaints obtained exclusively by Our News Outlet suggests she was seething over her matronly makeover
Records reveal the once-peroxide blonde model begged prison staff for cosmetics and tighter clothing that would accentuate her curves
Clenney is currently serving time after pleading guilty to manslaughter with a deadly weapon for stabbing her 27-year-old boyfriend, Christian Obumseli, to death
Clenney’s dowdy court look was a far cry from her glamor girl heyday when 1.7 million Instagram followers ogled at photos of her sexpot alter ego, Courtney Tailor, frolicking in bikinis and lingerie.
The trove of complaints obtained exclusively by Our News Outlet suggests she was seething over her matronly makeover.
‘Access to makeup basics can make a difference in appearance/perception in court,’ Clenney wrote to prison supervisors in February 2023, pleading for cosmetics to be added to the jail commissary.
‘This especially applies to those like me, who unfortunately face photo + video media coverage during every court appearance.’
Clenney filed multiple grievances, riddled with spelling errors, grumbling about her unflattering prison-issue garments.
‘There are numerous other inmates with actually tight uniforms that are not given a problem about it. Mine is loose and are falling off my hips,’ she sniffed in January 2025.
‘It is obvious Im [sic] being targeted due to my body type, my race, or both. It makes me uncomfortable and I am tired of being sexualized by staff at this facility.’
A month later, Clenney again demanded a medium uniform instead of a large.
A nonplussed officer is said to have replied: ‘We don’t need to see all that thickness. You’ve gained a lot of weight.’
‘No officer should comment abt my body/weight,’ Clenney fumed afterwards. ‘Unfortunately, this is representative of the sort of inappropriate comments ive recieved [sic] by staff while at this facility.’
Clenney’s dowdy court look was a far cry from her glamor girl heyday when 1.7 million Instagram followers ogled photos of her frolicking in bikinis and lingerie
A supervisor for the downtown Miami lockup, which houses around 1,300 inmates of both sexes, agreed the remarks were unprofessional and inappropriate – ‘if true.’
Bosses were less sympathetic when Clenney accused an officer of handing her a pen and ‘sarcastically’ asking for her autograph after her case was featured in a CW TV special.
‘I spoke to Cpl. Fancher and he informed me that he has never mentioned anything about your case, as he does not know or has any interest in knowing why you are in jail,’ came the reply.
Clenney also took issue with the more mundane aspects of prison life, including asking for tampons and painkillers, and demanding comfier bedding, nail clippers and protein bars.
In one grievance, she demanded a refund after a vending machine swallowed her money without dispensing a packet of Ruffles chips.
‘My halal diet tray came with MOLDY BREAD and exploded mustard packs today. Mold would have made me sick if eaten,’ Clenney wrote last December.
There’s no indication the OnlyFans star has converted to Islam behind bars because elsewhere she demands a new pair of glasses so she can read the bible.
‘We have NO WAY to listen to music,’ Clenney raged after batteries sold out in the jail commissary.
Other gripes referenced a ‘popped basketball,’ a lack of exercise mats and a ‘messed up’ Wi-Fi signal that made the feed glitch during her video visits.
‘We are not animals in a cage but rather human beings with rights,’ she protested in a grievance about a lack of books.
The papers also reveal Clenney’s constant fear of being targeted by inmates outraged by her brutal knife attack on Obumseli, who is black.
‘My case is highly publicized and the media has demonized me and deemed me as a racist in a predominantely [sic] black jail, putting me at a higher risk to be attacked,’ Clenney wrote in April 2025.
Elsewhere, she complained of inmates challenging her to fights, ripping her earbuds out and branding her a ‘killer’ and a ‘cracker.’
Last October, Clenney complained of a cellmate who ‘goes out of her way to be nasty and target me because of my case and the color of my skin.’
Before being convicted of manslaughter, model Courtney Clenney was making diva-like demands for hair, make-up and tighter clothes behind bars
Clenney admitted to throwing a knife at Obumseli but claimed she only meant to scare him during their deadly April 3, 2022, dustup
Authorities nixed her demands to have the girl removed, replying: ‘Your case is over 3 years old and very few inmates may know about your case.’
Clenney admitted to throwing a knife at Obumseli but claimed she only meant to scare him during their deadly April 3, 2022, dustup.
Police bodycam footage captured the petite beauty cowering over his body, covered in blood and sobbing, ‘baby, baby, wake up.’
Her attorneys branded Obumseli an abusive partner and claimed their client was the victim of domestic violence.
But Obumseli’s family insisted it was Clenney who had instigated bouts of violence throughout the ‘extremely tempestuous and combative’ two-year romance.
Surveillance video emerged of her repeatedly punching and clawing at Obumseli in an elevator months before his death while he did little more than push her away.
‘Everyone who knew Christian can attest that he was kind-hearted, compassionate, friendly and respectful,’ his grieving mom, Chio Obumseli, told last month’s sentencing.
‘No sentence, no plea can bring back my son to me.’
Clenney was expected to fight the charges but instead accepted a plea deal sentencing her to six years in state prison and five years’ probation.
With time served she will be eligible for release in roughly two years.
She is currently being held at a Women’s Reception Center in Ocala while the Florida Department of Corrections decides which state prison to send her to.
Our News Outlet requested a jail interview with Clenney but her attorney Frank Prieto said it wasn’t possible.
‘Her plea to manslaughter was in her best interest, not because she was in fact guilty,’ he previously told Oxygen.
‘The actions she took that evening, based on all the evidence, and our expert testimony, was taken to save her life; she acted in self-defense as a battered partner, to defend her life from her abuser.’
Our News Outlet reached out to Clenney’s attorney but didn’t hear back immediately.
