Exclusive: YouTube 'Bridezilla' Wasn't Hacking Off a Wig

By
ABC News
November 8, 2007, 10:33 PM ET
2 min read

Feb. 2, 2007 — -- It was a hair scare viewed around the world.

A YouTube clip of a Canadian bride cutting off her unflattering updo got 2.8 million clicks after it was posted Jan. 18 by someone who appeared to be a back-stabbing bridesmaid.

While it was undoubtedly entertaining, many wondered whether the clip was real. More than 1,000 people on YouTube debated the legitimacy of the frenzied hair-hacking. Even the mainstream media couldn't figure it out.

This week, though, Jodi Behan, the video's star, came clean. Far from a "bridezilla," Behan is a 22-year-old aspiring actress from Toronto.

The whole escapade was staged to make a splash on the Web, like Lonelygirl15, who duped millions over the summer.

Lonelygirl15 -- aka Jessica Lee Rose -- appeared in videos on sites like MySpace and YouTube, and was supposedly a precocious home-schooled 16-year-old until it was revealed that she was really a a budding actress.

In an exclusive interview on "Good Morning America" today, Behan; Ingrid Haas, the co-creator of the video; and the two women who played Behan's bridesmaids talked about the video and what drove them to make it.

Haas said a hair horror story from her high school prom inspired the video. Talking with other women, she realized how common it was to want to hack off a frustrating hairdo.

"It's a collaborative effort," she said. "Women have stories like this."

While many people on YouTube assumed Behan had taken scissors to a wig, she was actually cutting off her own tresses. That meant no do-overs -- the whole video was filmed in one take.

"No -- wig," Behan said, shaking her cropped locks.

Just Doing Their Jobs

The women said they didn't feel guilty for duping YouTube viewers -- they were simply doing their jobs.

"We got hired, and we played our parts. We're just actors," said one of the women who played a bridesmaid.

Some viewers say they knew the video was a hoax from the beginning.

"The moment the bride came in I knew it was a fake," said TV Guide's Rochell Thomas. "She was just too over the top."

Now that they've become an international sensation, the four women are hoping more acting job offers are on their way.

Asked whether Hollywood had come calling yet, Haas said, "We're waiting."