An influencer in the culinary scene has brought to light a harrowing experience of being drugged and kidnapped during a high-profile Hollywood premiere event.
Meredith Hayden, better known to her 2.3 million TikTok followers as Wishbone Kitchen, recounted this chilling incident that occurred four years ago.
Hayden, 30, shared this story while replying to a comment about her unease before a trip to Japan to celebrate her birthday.
She revealed that her tearful anxiety stemmed from a previous experience where she was drugged at a party she believed to be secure.
‘And then when I went outside to try to go home because I started to feel weird, someone pushed me into their car and kidnapped me for like, a few hours,’ she said Tuesday.
Laughing as she shared her ordeal, Hayden noted that humor is her mechanism for dealing with such trauma.
“This happened just as my TikTok presence was growing,” Hayden explained. “I didn’t want to be known as ‘that girl who got roofied and kidnapped.'”
The private chef–turned–influencer added that she began therapy shortly after the incident, but claimed her therapist told her she ‘probably just drank too much.’
Food influencer Meredith Hayden, 30, claimed that she was drugged and kidnapped while attending a Hollywood party four years ago
Hayden said she had not reported the incident to the police. She added that a psychiatrist later diagnosed her with post-traumatic stress disorder, anxiety, depression and agoraphobia
‘So no, I didn’t report it to the police,’ Hayden continued. ‘I put my big girl pants on. and I shoved the feelings down for as long as I could.’
She said she still felt anxious leaving her house and was not sure when that would ease.
The video of Hayden’s allegations had more than 391,000 views as of Wednesday night.
Hayden also claimed that a psychiatrist later diagnosed her with post–traumatic stress disorder, anxiety, depression and agoraphobia.
The TikTok star said her fear of cramped spaces became apparent during a trip to Tokyo to celebrate her 30th birthday.
‘Guess what’s really crowded?’ Hayden asked.
‘That was my present to myself but that doesn’t mean you can’t have anxiety about your situation, about being in a foreign country where you don’t speak the language, and you know nobody except for the person you’re traveling with,’ she said.
Hayden said she hadn’t wanted her ‘roofie survival story’ to be told this way, but felt her hand had been forced.
She said that she did not report the incident to police after a prior experience during which she was allegedly ‘robbed in the street in the West Village.’
Hayden claimed that teenagers stole her phone and used the Venmo app to send money to themselves.
When she went to the precinct to file a police report, she experienced ‘the most humiliating, frustrating, and unproductive two hours of my life.’
Despite allegedly providing the robbers’ full names, police told her there was ‘nothing we can do.’
The influencer said that experience caused her to not report what allegedly happened at the ritzy Hollywood premiere.
‘So what was I going to do? Go into the police station and say, ‘Hey, I think someone slipped something in my drink last night?’ she said.
Hayden claimed she did not know anyone at the party and that there was ‘no security footage.’
Hayden claimed that the cameras were turned off at the ‘luxurious’ Hollywood party and that there was no security footage of what happened to her
‘This is something I know because the invite to the party said, don’t worry, the cameras will be off so we can all really let loose,’ she alleged.
Hayden said it was ‘such a weird red flag comment’ but that she ignored it because it was apparently a ‘thing at big Hollywood parties.’
The food influencer initially worked as a private chef in the Hamptons while planning to eventually publish a cookbook.
In 2022, she posted a ‘day in the life’ TikTok video on a small account, which went viral and rapidly grew her following.
Her behind–the–scenes videos working in the kitchen and planning her life soon drew millions of views and likes.
Hayden’s debut cookbook was released last year and spent 12 weeks on the New York Times bestseller list.
The Daily Mail has reached out to Hayden for further comment.
