The Louisiana woman who went viral for using Gorilla Glue as hairspray said in an interview that she never intended to spread her sticky saga online – but was desperate for help in untangling her mess.
“I never was going to take this to social media. The reason I took this to social media was because I didn’t know what else to do,” Tessica Brown told ET.
“And I know somebody out there could have told me something. I didn’t think for one second when I got up the next morning it was gonna be everywhere,” she added.
Brown, whose hair has been stuck solid for a month, on Wednesday said she would be going to see a surgeon to get unstuck.
She made the announcement after TMZ reported that a Beverly Hills plastic surgeon had offered to help free of charge.
In describing how she ended up in the hairy predicament, Brown told ET that she “definitely” regrets using the industrial strength adhesive after running out of hairspray just as she was about to leave her home.
The mother-of-five said she had used Gorilla Glue before — though never on her hair — and assumed she could simply “wash it right out.”
After trying to use olive, tea tree and other oils to wash off the glue, she decided to turn to social media – and then went to St. Parish Hospital in Chalmette, where health workers tried using “little acetone packs.”
But Brown denied spending 22 hours in the ER as her video seeking help took the internet by storm and she was soon dubbed “Gorilla Glue Girl.”
“I told my son today, ‘I wish I could just go back,’ because I’m over it. I’m over it,” she told ET. “I’m usually the person that I don’t care what people say. I just move at my own pace. I don’t care what people say, but it’s just getting to the point where people are on TV saying stuff about me.”
Brown continued: “If you knew me, you wouldn’t say half the stuff they are saying. Then somebody said, ‘Oh, she’s just put that on her head on purpose just to get to here.’ Who in their right mind would say, ‘Oh well, let me just spray this in my head and become famous overnight?’ Never!…Who would want them to do that? I needed somebody to tell me how to take this off — that’s all it was.”
Brown, who owns Tessica’s Little Angels daycare and runs the Dazzling Divaz dance group, said she “didn’t need this” as her businesses were struggling during the coronavirus pandemic.
“[The news] put up a picture of me being bald, which wasn’t me. [My daughter] had to deal with that yesterday. The teachers are talking about it,” she told the outlet.
“My little girl, she don’t want me to do her hair no more. I told her, ‘Let me do your hair.’ She said, ‘You’re not doing my hair.’ But I’m thinking she’s joking and playing, but she didn’t let me do it,” Brown added.
She has already raised more than $16,000 in an online fundraiser, money she said will go toward “the wigs that everybody is telling me I’m going to need. That’s why I always said $1,500.”
“From us reading about everything — and already done start happening — [I’m getting] extreme headaches,” she said. “And the [doctors] said by the time they get it all out or cut it all off, I may have scalp damage and in some parts it may never grow back.”
Brown shared that what she finds the most hurtful is being called “Gorilla Glue Girl,” which “bothers my little girls when they go to school.”
“My name is Tessica. Every time somebody puts up something on social media, that’s it, my inbox is flooded. Don’t worry about this thing. Yeah, y’all can say that. This is what my momma keeps telling me, ‘Stop reading the comments,’” she said.
“But I can’t help myself. I go read them, and they’re still sending me clips of what happened…It’s way, way, way, too much,” Brown added.
Amid all the mockery and taunts, though, some people have come out in support of the woman.
Beyoncé’s hairstylist, Neal Farinah, has offered her a wig, while celebrities like Missy Elliott and Chance the Rapper also have backed her, according to ET.
“I’m glad mfs actually supporting her thru this,” Chance said on Twitter. “When I watched the video the second time it was hard to laugh cause I could tell shorty genuinely didn’t know she had put one of the worlds most powerful adhesives in her sh*t. I hope she recovers well.”
“Porsha [Williams], she wants to send me hair. Jess Hilarious, me and her talk every day like we’re friends,” Brown said. “A lot of people want to give me hair, but the reason I wasn’t accepting it is because I don’t want people to be like, ‘Oh, that’s why she did it.’”
She also denied claims that she is considering suing Gorilla Glue for the debacle. The company has empathized with her situation.
“If y’all knew me, y’all know I would never, ever do anything for clout. If y’all knew me, y’all would love me. Everything that y’all saying, call me, talk to me. I will talk to you. I really would talk to a lot of people. I’m not that person y’all trying to make me out to be,” Brown told ET.
“I’m not this whole Gorilla Glue girl, my name is Tessica Brown. Call me. I’ll talk to you. I’ll let you know exactly who I am,” she added.