Back in December 2024, Brazilian woman Jeniffer Castro went viral after refusing to give up her pre-booked seat for a crying child on a 50-minute flight from Rio de Janeiro to Belo Horizonte.
Castro was then filmed by another passenger and posted online in an attempt to shame her behaviour, with the person recording the video heard saying (in Portuguese): “I’m recording your face, this is disgusting.”
The clip subsequently went viral online as people debated the finer details of plane etiquette and whether or not it was appropriate to film strangers in public.
The moment has also had a significant impact on Castro’s life, with the 29-year-old since revealing that she’d been forced to give up her entire career over the incident.
An argument onboard a GOL airlines flight about seating would go viral at the end of last year (GB Photo Library/Universal Images Group via Getty Images)
“Since that incident, my life has taken a turn I could never have imagined,” she said in an interview with MailOnline.
“Professionally, my life has changed a lot, so much so that today I am no longer in the field I worked in before. I was a banker.
“In my personal life, at the height of the repercussions, I practically didn’t leave the house.”
Castro has since leveraged her two million Instagram followers to pursue a career as an online influencer, however she added that this wasn’t something which she particularly wanted.
“What should have been just an ordinary flight turned into an extremely embarrassing situation, exposing me unfairly and causing consequences that affected both my personal and professional life,” Castro explained.
“I was the target of judgments, attacks and speculation from people who don’t even know the full story.”
Castro recently revealed that she was also in the process of suing airline company GOL due to the backlash she’d experienced in the weeks and months following the incident.
“I decided to sue the airline because what happened to me was a huge embarrassment, and this situation should never have reached this point,” she said.
Casto has now used her fame to become an influencer (Instagram/@jeniffercastro)
“This lawsuit is not just about reparations, but also about setting a limit on this type of behaviour.”
Castro had previously suggested that she was pursuing legal action, previously telling Portuguese language podcast Cola Mais that ‘measures are now being taken’.
She also confirmed that it was not the child’s mother who was filming her, as initially believed, but another passenger, adding that she was only focused on taking action against those who had ‘violated my privacy’.
