St. Barth’s is the place to be during the holiday season, hosting celebrities, billionaires, and social climbers eager to ring in the new year in the opulent backdrop. But what should have been a champagne-soaked getaway devolved into a viral disaster—in more ways than one.
The chaos began on January 3rd when the U.S. military struck Venezuela’s capital and captured President Nicolás Maduro. The operation immediately froze Caribbean airspace, grounding all US-registered flights and trapping the island’s elite visitors in a golden cage. Leonardo DiCaprio found himself marooned on Jeff Bezos’s superyacht. Even Wendi Murdoch couldn’t leave. Influencer Alix Earle, TV personality Bethenny Frankel, and dozens of other internet darlings were suddenly stuck.
Hotels grew overcrowded, putting beds in living rooms of villas. Lavish parties erupted as the stranded elite made the best of the close quarters.
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The TikTok That Started It All
Then came the video that spread like, well, a virus. A TikTok user claiming to work on a yacht in St. Barts alleged that an facial STI was spreading rapidly among visitors and crew, moving “from yacht to yacht.” According to the TikToker, an unnamed influencer was “Patient Zero”—and while never publicly identified, the poster claimed everyone on the island knew exactly who it was.
The comment section exploded. Fingers quickly pointed to Alix Earle, especially after rumors surfaced that she’d been “hooking up” with Tom Brady throughout the week with photos to support.
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Bethenny’s Infection Goes Viral
But when Bethenny Frankel revealed that she and her daughter Bryn had developed a severe bacterial infection on their faces during their Christmas trip, even more dots began to connect. Frankel shared graphic close-ups of angry, inflamed skin. Good ole Bethenny – classy as always.
The infection was so severe that they’d left the island three days early and were on strong antibiotics. She blamed contaminated hotel linens—”pillowcases, towels or bedsheets.”
But it was her Instagram posts from before the infection that really sent social media into overdrive. Frankel had been photographed with Alix Earle, along with Glen Powell and Lauren Sánchez Bezos. The proximity seemed like confirmation, and soon, social media immediately linked Frankel’s very real, very visible skin infection to the alleged “Super Chlamydia” outbreak.
What Actually Happened?
Medical experts have pointed out that chlamydia doesn’t present as facial skin infections, but who’s to say the billionaire class hasn’t created an infection of their own? While no hard facts point to an actual STI outbreak in this paradise for the elite, the scenario doesn’t sound entirely far-fetched… Wealthy people trapped together, partying in close quarters, alleged hookups, all culminating in a mysterious infection? Sounds like a recipe for a Netflix special.