My mother was bipolar, Tiktok sensation, Jarvis reveals

Nigerian content creator Jarvis has opened up about the difficult experiences she endured growing up, including family challenges, financial hardship, hunger and struggles with school fees before becoming popular on TikTok.

Jarvis shared the story during a meeting with Spark Nation founder, Pastor Tobi, where she reflected on the circumstances that shaped her early life and eventually pushed her towards social media content creation.

She said growing up with her mother, whom she described as battling bipolar disorder, was often difficult and unpredictable.

“My grandpa was sick and I came into a family where my mother has bipolar disorder. Growing up with her has been very stressful and depressing because sometimes the disorder is crazy. Today she is nice and good and next minute she is violent, insulting us,” she said.

Jarvis also disclosed that she did not grow up with her father, saying her mother travelled abroad and later returned pregnant with her.

“I didn’t grow up with my father because my mother travelled out of the country and came back pregnant and gave birth to me. Growing up without a dad has not been good because my mum is not mentally okay,” she said.

According to her, her grandparents played a major role in raising her and her sister despite the difficulties they faced.

“I grew up with my grandma and grandpa. They did their best to raise me up and they are very learned and strict. All their strictness made me who I am today,” Jarvis said.

She recalled that the family also went through severe financial difficulties, including periods when they could not afford food or school fees.

“When everything was going down and there was no school fees, I didn’t want to drop out from school or go through the wrong way to make money,” she said.

Jarvis said her fortunes began to change after someone introduced her and her sister to TikTok livestreaming as a means of earning money.

“Someone messaged me on TikTok and told me if I know that by just going live on the app I can make money. So I started with my sister and we made $5 at first and we were very happy because it was crazy,” she recalled.

She further revealed that hunger became so severe at some point that she and her sister resorted to watching cooking videos on TikTok to cope with the situation.

“I and my sister used to watch cooking food videos on TikTok just to salivate and at the end of the day we cry and sleep because there is hunger,” she said.

Jarvis said her motivation was not only to improve her own circumstances but also to support her sister and provide a better life for both of them.

“I wanted to take care of my sister. I want to be able to provide a living,” she said.

Her account highlights the difficult circumstances she says preceded her rise as a social media personality and content creator.