Grace VanderWaal

A photo of Grace VanderWaal.

Grace Avery VanderWaal (Born January 15, 2004) is an American singer, songwriter, and actress whom Daniel Larson has had an obsession with since his childhood. Daniel's obsession with Grace began when he saw her perform on America's Got Talent while watching the show with his grandmother, Nancy Shimer. Ever since then, Daniel has been obsessed with her, despite Grace being underage for much of it. Daniel is physically attracted to Grace and ever since his infatuation with her started, he has convinced himself that he is a part of her life. This 'relationship' progressed rapidly, primarily due to Daniel's delusions, which were mostly fueled by fake managers and trolls. Over time, his posts regarding her on his numerous social media accounts became increasingly explicit. In many of these posts, Daniel would engage in sexual fantasies about Grace and describe the various unspeakable acts that he would like to do with her. In a few notorious posts, Daniel is seen hysterically crying about Grace's supposed 'death.'

Grace has never publicly acknowledged Daniel, but according to messages from her mother, Tina VanderWaal, she wants nothing to do with him. Grace (and to a lesser extent, her family) is often impersonated by trolls, who use her identity to gain Daniel's trust as well as revealing personal information. On multiple occasions, Daniel has made a fool of himself by talking to these trolls about disturbing, and often sexual, subjects, sometimes even sending revealing, and even illegal, material to them. Despite having been fooled dozens of time by multiple people pretending to be Grace, he continues to fall for many of these tricks to this day.

Despite being told off by Tina VanderWaal, along with thousands of people online, Daniel still reposts photos of Grace on Instagram and is known to comment on her various platforms. He also mentions her almost daily in his YouTube shorts and community posts.

The Start

Side-by-side photos of Daniel and Grace for comparison's sake.

Beginning on May 12, 2021, Daniel claimed, though obviously untrue, that he and Grace had some sort of collaboration in the works that would be coming out soon. In a later post to TikTok, Daniel claimed that he and Grace had begun dating. Things escalated quickly from there. Daniel, on several occasions, recorded himself telling random strangers on the streets that he was dating her. More disturbingly, Daniel recorded multiple videos of himself moaning and whispering in a sensual manner, supposedly for Grace's viewing pleasure. In stark contrast to his lustful posts regarding Grace, Daniel posted hysterical videos about her allegedly 'breaking up' with him, calling her a bitch and various other expletives. Although Daniel would make several apologies for the multiple sexually charged videos he made about her, he would continue with this disturbing behavior. Regardless of malicious trolls tricking and persuading him into thinking that he was dating Grace, and ultimately engendering his delusions of being with her, Daniel went above and beyond to show his unbridled obsession with her.

Daniel, well aware that Grace was only 17 at the start of his obsession, made various posts claiming that he would, "...wait until Grace is 18." Daniel has claimed to be in either a romantic or sexual relationship with Grace depending on his feelings (more so delusions) at the time. If romantic, he claimed that Grace was his girlfriend. If sexual, he explains the various explicit sexual acts he'd do to her. Even so, no matter what he is feeling, It is extremely disturbing.

Daniel still tries to claim that he does not like Grace for sexual reasons, but because he, "...wants to have a chance," with her. This is obviously untrue, and furthermore, everything Daniel says about Grace should be taken with a huge grain of salt as he has a penchant for lying and internalizing his delusions.

I just wanted a chance and I need help! I was never givin a chance and every single time I tried to contact you i get threatened. I really like your daughter for who she is and not for sexual reasons. The trolls want everyone to think it's for sexual reasons. I just wanted to stand out and have a chance with her! I know the competition she has. We are all human and we do sexual activities though. But that doesn't make me a pedophile if I have never even done anything and everyone uses me because I don't have protection. I'm sorry for everything being crazy.

Daniel seems to hold Grace in particularly high regard. Thus, Grace is oftentimes the primary victim of Daniel's delusional harassment. Every once in a while, posts made by Grace on TikTok or Instagram would be filled to the brim with comments from Daniel as if he were having a conversation with her in real time. Furthermore, in any TikTok posts that Daniel made that regarded Grace, he would tag her, which would result in her notifications being filled with nothing but Daniel. He does this on almost every TikTok account he has, to the point where one of Daniel's TikTok accounts was suspended for his constant harassment towards her. As of 2023, Daniel shows no signs of stopping his obsession with her. He is still constantly falling for trolls' claims about Grace, and people who pretend to be Grace to get him to do egregious and quite frankly disturbing things. Even though as of recent his Grace-posting has seemed to dwindle, it has never truly died down or went away, Daniel's current head-canon being that him and Grace are periodically breaking up and getting back together.

• 

  Daniel denying his pedophilic attraction to Grace.

• 

Delusions

The Death(s) of Grace VanderWaal

For some reason, Daniel has had multiple delusions of Grace being in harm, in the hospital, or even dying. The reason for this is still unknown, although he is most likely fed these ideas by trolls and various fake Graces.

The Likee Meltdown

During one particular delusion, Daniel, seemingly because he was without access to his phone, posts on Likee, a short video creating site that he stayed on during a period of time when he was banned from TikTok, in absolute despair for his followers to get him information. Based on the content of these videos, it seemed he was under the impression that there had been some kind of accident, and that the VanderWaal family, whom he believed were in contact with him up until this point, were refusing to give him information about what had supposedly happened to Grace. Throughout the video, Daniel hits himself and threatens to end his own life. Daniel obviously did not follow through with his threats. Additionally, Daniel said that if he did not get into contact with the VanderWaal family immediately, he would allegedly be on the streets. This was a sign, although small, of things to come.

"Rest In Peace Dave and Grace VanderWaal"

On the Fourth of July, 2021, Daniel uploaded a video to YouTube mourning the supposed deaths of both Dave, Grace's father, and Grace herself. In this video, Daniel believed that Grace had simultaneously commited suicide and suffered a heart attack. Before Daniel addressed the supposed deaths he began to cry hysterically, admitting and apologizing for sexting minors and sending Grace pictures of his genitals. He promised to repent for the bad choices he had made and honor her legacy.

After a brief live-stream, Daniel posted to his TikTok admitting that he was a pedophile, admitting that Grace was one of the minors he had supposedly sexted. Daniel admitted, "I have sexted minors, 13 years old, well I'm gonna be honest, 12 years old". The video ends with Daniel saying that he planned to move on by not doing things such as this anymore and putting in the work to become a better person for her, especially after her, 'death.'

It may seem as though the supposed death of Grace brought about a repentful era in the Larson arc. However, this did not last for long. Eventually, Daniel discovered that Grace had not died, and thus resumed his regular obsessive posting about her.

Daniel's (Failed) Trek from Colorado to New York

While in contact with Daniel, another account claiming to be Grace told him that she had just had sex with another man. Daniel, fueled by delusions, rage and obsession, decided to hike from Colorado to New York in a futile attempt to win her back, rambling on TikTok during the night while on his hike.

In these Tiktoks, Daniel claimed that he had, "...officially fucked up," with Grace to the point that she had broken up with him. In a rare moment of clarity, Daniel said that Grace was her own person and that she could date whoever she wanted to. Daniel’s reason for going to New York was to win back Grace’s love from whomever she was apparently having sex with. He tried to guilt trip her in these videos by saying that he had a, "...[h]eart disease from heartbreak," and in unnecessary, but presumably fake details about how hard his childhood was.

As the stream goes on, Daniel stays up through the entire night, to the point where you can see the sun rising in the video, determined to get to Grace. He continues to make wild claims and blatant lies during this walk, along with some karaoke here and there. However, this walk ultimately ended with Daniel, not even 48 hours later, turning back to Denver as he either got tired from walking, or possibly learned that the Grace whom he had been speaking with the whole time was a troll.

Contact

Grace's mom responding to what is most likely thousands of messages from Daniel

While it is likely that Grace is aware of Daniel's existence, she has never publicly acknowledged him on any of her social media pages, despite hundreds of spamming attempts and posts by Daniel and his trolls on both her TikTok and Instagram comments. It is likely that Grace simply does not want to give any of these people attention. Some believe that Grace has stopped posting to her TikTok due to Daniel's (along with many others) harassment.

Tina VanderWaal

Daniel's obsession eventually caused Tina Vanderwaal, Grace's mother, to message him on July 25, 2022. Although, it was not on the best of terms. Tina, through Messenger, demanded that Daniel stop making contact with her family, more specifically her daughter, and that all of Daniel's actions and feelings are in his own mind, calling out his obvious mental illnesses and delusions. Something to note is that she claimed to be in contact with the police, and if Daniel refused to stop making videos and posts about Grace she would presumably make the issue a legal matter and possibly get Daniel arrested. This has still not happened and shows no sign of happening. Presumably, this was said in an attempt to get Daniel to stop. Following this, Daniel responds by stating that he understands but will be ending his life that night. He does not, most likely saying it as a way to guilt-trip her or gain attention.

"Stop saying my daughters name. Stop saying you are in a relationship with her. You are scaring her and our family. Everything you have said and done has been in your own mind. You need to access some mental health support and stop harassing my daughter. I have contacted the authorities and will continue to press the issue of [sic] you don't stop making disturbing videos. You [sic] followers have harassed my daughter long enough. STOP. " -Tina VanderWaal confronting Daniel.

This interaction with Grace's mother was the focus of multiple videos and community posts for quite some time after. Daniel posted multiple videos crying and/or hysterically apologizing to the VanderWaal family, continuously addressing the, 'allegations' against him, which fluctuated from admitting his misdeeds, to pretending that they had never happened at all and were just rumors.

In an act of what can only be described as pity, mixed with empathy, Tina made a comment on one of his live-streams, begging him to stop his obsessive posting about her and her family, once again.

"God Daniel….. do you think I’m watching your lives? whoever just contacted you claiming to be me was not me. I have no idea who Ox even is. I don’t want you to talk about Grace or our family anymore. I have only replied to you once when you DM’d me a couple of weeks ago - then I told you to stop saying Grace’s name but clearly you refuse to listen. Stop all of this. Everyone [who is] communicating with you are trolls trying to get you to do crazy things. Please STOP." -Tina VanderWaal

Upon receiving this message, Daniel kept on pressing Tina with responses, asking her questions, to which Tina did not respond. Disregarding her messages, Daniel continued to post about Tina, Grace, and the rest of the VanderWaal team.

"I do mind. Stop everything to do with our family ESPECIALLY my daughter. You are making me reply publicly so you can’t censor what I’m actually saying to you. I’ve spoken to DDRC as well as the Denver police and Denver FBI. Do you really want to continue this? Again, just stop. Your reality is not real." -Tina's third, and final comment to Daniel.

Daniel responded to these posts by asking even more for forgiveness, claiming things got, "...fucked up," because of his supposed, "...past friendships," and that he's misunderstood, although once again, he never received a response. As of 2023, this was the last comment or message Tina has verifiably sent to Daniel.

• 

  Gallery of all of Tina's comments to Daniel/His responses. Read from right to left.

• 
• 

  .

Grace Rape Troll

Messages the troll sent to Daniel.

In 2020, Daniel texted a number who claimed to be Grace Vanderwaal, the person behind this number has yet to be identified. In the texts that the fake Grace sent, they claimed that they were currently at the White House, and was being raped by her father, Dave VanderWaal, along with being gang banged and impregnated by a multitude of people. Daniel, believed this to be genuine. Trying to understand it all, Daniel attempted to convince 'Grace' to move out to Denver, where he was staying at the time, so that she could press charges on her father and live with him instead. What is important to note is that the messages start off with Daniel genuinely caring for 'Grace's' well being and asking what he can do to help. This did not last long however, as Daniel proceeded to ask 'Grace' what it felt like to be raped, and what she thought about during it, so Daniel. He claimed to have asked these questions in order to use the information gathered by them in court.

Additionally, whenever this fake Grace would talk about allegedly getting raped, they said that it was being recorded and uploaded to some type of social media or pornographic website. It is noteworthy that Daniel wished to know where he could find this footage.

After this, Daniel went on to make multiple videos about this, claiming that he had called the police to deal with this matter, and considering his past actions, he most likely did call the authorities. Additionally, he claimed that Grace said in their texts that the Secret Service was fully aware of her being raped in the White House. He also claimed that 'Grace' wanted to date him because of her supposed, but obviously untrue, desire to get away from her father. This situation ended with the fake Grace presumably stopping contact with Daniel once they had successfully trolled him.

AI Prank

On June 16, 2023, Reddit user u/TMZ_news posted a video of Grace VanderWaal's Instagram account, editing the image, so her most recent post was a video addressing Daniel. The video was made using AI. In the video, 'Grace' tells Daniel to leave her and her family alone, and that Daniel had never been in contact with any of the members of the VanderWaal family. u/TMZ_news went on to post screenshots of messages between him and Tina VanderWaal, where Tina claims the video was taken down due to Grace's lawyer advising her to do so, although these messages could potentially be fake. Daniel addressed the video on the community section of his YouTube page. His panicked reactions made it apparent that he did not see through the invalidity of the media posts, and had fallen for the elaborate prank.

Messages with u/TMZ_News

While Daniel himself may not have had contact with Grace, on June 21, 2023, u/TMZ_News, as previously mentioned, allegedly reached out to Grace to ask if she knew who Daniel was and if she had ever been in contact with him at any point in time. Grace, of course, tells them that they she has never been in contact with Daniel and never plans to be in contact with him, emphatically stating her hatred for him and desire for him to keep her name out his mouth.

I know who he is, but I have never contacted him and don't have want anything to do with him. He's the worst thing that has ever happened to my career. Every time I search my name I see pictures of that dirty pedophile. My posts get spammed with comments about that freak Daniel. I hate him and I wish he would just stop talking about me. - Graces first message to TMZ_News

They reply to Grace with their condolences for both her and her family, offering to stop messaging Grace about Daniel.

No, it's okay I understand that you're just trying to help. It's nice having someone to talk to about the problem and I can tell that you're a nice guy. - Grace's last message to them.

This was the last message Grace sent before their exchange ended.

There is a very high chance that even if Daniel sees these messages, he won't change. Because of Daniel's delusions, he will likely go on thinking that Grace loves him and that everyone else is a liar. This response, if it is authentic, would only inspire him to keep trying as his efforts have proven successful in making her aware of him.

It is highly likely that these messages are fake. This same user had already doctured Grace's Instagram in order to trick Daniel, thus any other media coming from U/TMZ_news should be taken with a grain of salt. Until more evidence comes out, it is safe to assume that the exchange pictured above is doctured. However, the point still stands that Grace and her family want nothing to do with Daniel now, or ever.