Kriti Mehrotra
With Netflix’s ‘Bad Influence: The Dark Side of Kidfluencing’ being a 3-part original production created by Kief Davidson, we get a documentary series that can only be described as disturbing. That’s because it follows the life and career of child internet personality Piper Rockelle, whose Squad shattered amid claims of emotional, verbal, and sexual abuse at the hands of her guardians. Amongst those to thus also be directly affected by it is none other than Walker Bryant, the fellow kidfluencer whom the former was in a “ship” with for two years until he left the Squad too.
Walker Bryant Knew Early On That He Wanted to Be an Actor
Born on September 26, 2006, in Columbus, Ohio, to Jennifer and Rodney Bryant as the elder of their two kids, Walker Bryant reportedly loved being the center of attention from a young age. It thus came as no surprise to loved ones when he gradually developed an interest in the entertainment industry, only to then become quite vocal about wanting to be a professional actor. Therefore, since he was not only serious but also had visible potential, his family decided to help him pursue his dreams by relocating to Los Angeles, California, for good when he was merely 10 years old.
It wasn’t long after this move that Walker began securing auditions and landing roles for commercials, print ads, and short films alike, indicating he was well on his way to soon getting feature films. In fact, just some of his credits include shoots for brands like Nike, Mattel, Universal Studios Theme Parks, Legoland, as well as Suzuki, right alongside a feature in an episode of ABC’s ‘Station 19.’ With the way things were going, the then-tween had an incredibly bright future ahead of him, yet things changed once this ‘Her Secret Family Killer’ (2019) star’s focus shifted to social media.
Walker Bryant Allegedly Never Wanted to Leave Piper Rockelle or Her Squad
According to Walker’s mother in the aforementioned documentary series, it was around the summer of 2019 when she received a direct message from Piper’s page with an innocent inquiry. She was asked if Walker would be interested in auditioning to be a part of her Squad, which comprised a group of similar-aged kids who hung out and filmed several videos together almost daily. Because kidfluencing was still relatively new at the time and seemed like a great avenue to explore, considering Walker’s ambitions, they agreed, and he actually ended up being her “ship.”
Despite the fact Piper and Walker were merely 11/12 at the time, they began a sort of online involvement and became #Piker, but in real life, he was seemingly just friends with the entire Squad. As time passed, he actually evolved into one of its core members, driving him to launch a YouTube channel too, where he built quite a following by sharing his passions and posting many collaborations. However, everything turned upside down for him in 2021 when his mother pulled him from that environment upon allegedly noticing some extremely toxic behavior even though he didn’t want to.
In other words, Walker reportedly didn’t want to leave the Squad or the friendships he had built through it, but he had no choice owing to his mother’s concern, as iterated in the documentary. He and Piper thus “broke up,” just for him to then allegedly be blacklisted by almost everyone he considered a friend and even lose thousands of views as well as followers per video. Then, as he began processing all his experiences, he reportedly realized that things were indeed not at all normal in that situation, so he also became a part of the 2022 civil lawsuit against Piper’s mother, Tiffany Smith, and her partner/the Squad’s editor-director, Hunter Hill.
Walker Bryant is Leading a Comfortable Life On His Own Terms Today
Walker, through his mother Jennifer, was one of the 11 former Squad members who accused Tiffany and Hunter of physical, mental, verbal, and sexual abuse in the 2022 civil lawsuit. This resulted in an (allegedly still ongoing) FBI investigation into the matter too, only for the accused to eventually settle the case for $1.8 million in 2024 – Piper was never mentioned in it. Furthermore, it’s imperative to note that by this time, his career trajectory and social media standing were at an entirely different level than what they were a few years prior while he was still in the Squad.
While Walker was on the path to possibly achieving wonders in the entertainment industry as an actor in the late 2010s, he essentially stepped away from it all following his exit from the Squad. He also stopped posting on YouTube as frequently, and then things only got harder when he unfortunately dislocated his collarbone in 2022 – it all culminated in a 10-month complete hiatus for him. The then-17-year-old did post a video on June 2023, titled ‘I Surprised My Best Friends with a MEGA MANSION,’ wherein he indicated his return with additional claims of several projects lined up, but then he vanished from YouTube again. Even the last Short he posted there was over a year ago, on April 5, 2025.
Since then, though, it appears as if Walker has found his true calling as a health and fitness influencer. He may only be 18 as of writing, but the way he has managed to hone in on his interest and build a following around it on Instagram and TikTok makes it clear there is a lot of scope for him in this field too. In fact, he currently has over 1 million followers on Instagram, 2.1 million followers on TikTok, as well as nearly 850k subscribers on YouTube.
On a more personal level, it seems like Walker is currently in a healthy relationship with fellow actor and influencer Ella Noel. From what we can tell, they have reportedly known one another since at least 2021, but they didn’t go public with their romantic involvement until 2023 — it’s also unclear precisely when they really started dating. Truly, we wish the young adult nothing but the very best for his future and hope that he can one day accomplish all his broken or new dreams, even if they include more BMWs. We say more because the Los Angeles-based fitness buff and sports enthusiast currently already owns a BMW M5, particularly one with a 4.4-liter twin-turbo V8 engine.
Read More: Gavin Magnus: Where is Piper Rockelle’s “Crush” Now?
