Women who participated in Pearadise, a body-positivity community that gained nearly 250,000 TikTok followers during the COVID-19 pandemic, have accused founder Stefan Wilhelmy of unwanted physical contact and manipulation within what was marketed as a judgment-free sanctuary.
Former members Savannah Brown and Alejandra Javier filed detailed accounts in court documents alleging that Wilhelmy engaged in unwanted touching during visits to his Las Vegas mansion, where community members gathered. Brown alleged Wilhelmy rubbed her stomach, touched her shoulders and spanked her despite her objections. Javier alleged he rubbed her stomach without permission and photographed women in a pool without consent.
Marc Randazza, the attorney representing several former Pearadise members, characterized the alleged conduct in legal filings as "a scene of manipulation, victimization, coercion and sexual assault." Court documents suggest Wilhelmy used the community as a mechanism to identify and target women he found attractive.
When Brown and Javier publicly described their experiences as sexual assault on social media, Wilhelmy responded with defamation lawsuits. His legal strategy hinged on Nevada's criminal statute, which technically requires penetration to constitute sexual assault. Wilhelmy argued the women's use of the term "sexual assault" to describe unwanted touching was factually false and therefore defamatory.
Randazza challenged this argument directly, stating Wilhelmy's position amounted to claiming "I can do whatever I want to these women, and it doesn't become sexual assault unless I penetrate them."
The women countered with an Anti-SLAPP motion, arguing they were exercising their constitutional right to speak publicly about their experiences. The court record expanded as additional sworn declarations emerged from other former Pearadise participants. One woman described an alleged encounter in which Wilhelmy pressured her into sexual activity during an emotional crisis, language she later characterized as "predatory."
These declarations established a pattern of alleged behavior rather than isolated incidents, suggesting a systematic approach to boundary-crossing within a space marketed as safe.
In January 2022, Clark County District Judge dismissed Wilhelmy's defamation lawsuit under Nevada's Anti-SLAPP statute. The court determined that Brown and Javier had established a reasonable basis for believing they had been touched in a sexual manner without consent and that their use of the term "sexual assault" was not knowingly false simply because the conduct did not involve penetration.
The ruling protected the women's speech on grounds of process and public interest, rather than adjudicated truth. No criminal charges were filed against Wilhelmy.
The allegations formed the basis for Investigation Discovery's three-part documentary series "Big Girls Wanted: Escaping Pearadise." Director Tara Malone framed the project as an examination of body image, online community dynamics, power structures and the subculture of feederism.
The court filings reveal how an online community can be built, scaled and then contested. They demonstrate the legal complexity that emerges when alleged victims attempt to speak publicly about their experiences and face defamation claims in response.
The case also illuminates how the boundaries of legally recognized harm can diverge sharply from how alleged victims understand their own experiences. A touching without consent may not qualify as "sexual assault" under criminal statute, yet the same conduct carries different meaning when described by the person who experienced it.
The dismissal of Wilhelmy's defamation claims preserved the women's ability to speak but resolved neither the truth of their allegations nor questions about how platforms and community spaces should structure safeguards, oversight and accountability.
