She Struggled to Go Back Online After Husband's Sudden Death. How Fellow Influencer Emilie Kiser Changed Her Mind (Exclusive)
- - She Struggled to Go Back Online After Husband's Sudden Death. How Fellow Influencer Emilie Kiser Changed Her Mind (Exclusive)
Zoey LyttleJanuary 16, 2026 at 3:00 AM
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Brielle Persun; Emilie Kister/Instagram
Brielle Persun; Emilie Kiser. -
In January 2025, influencer Brielle Persun became a single mom after her husband Tyler's sudden death, which followed four months after the birth of their first child
Persun originally built her following as a "Bookstagram" influencer, but as a widow, she has evolved her content into broader lifestyle posts and discussions of grief
She tells PEOPLE that fellow creator Emilie Kiser has inspired her to continue posting after Tyler's death; Kiser's 3-year-old son, Trigg, died after a drowning incident in May 2025
For years, Brielle Persun maintained a sizable social media following on what's known as "Bookstagram." Her posts were almost exclusively concerned with book reviews and recommendations, even when she married her husband, Tyler, and they welcomed their first child, son Colby.
But like every other part of Persun's life, her Instagram and TikTok content drastically changed after Jan. 10, 2025, the day when Tyler died from complications of pancreatitis.
Persun tells PEOPLE she couldn't bring herself to go on simply offering literary commentary as she'd done before. There was too much grief becoming a sudden widow, too much loneliness raising an infant born less than five months before his father's tragic death. Continuing to pursue her passion for content creation also meant evolving her output to reflect her new reality.
Brielle Persun
Brielle Persun with her son, Colby.
Her page, @BookwithBrielle, became more well-rounded. She expanded her work into a broader lifestyle category, not neglecting her love of reading but complementing it with the likes of day-in-the-life vlogs and open discussions about grief.
Persun says her community didn't push back against her shift into new content spaces, and in turn, her audience expanded. She had new supporters but also new critics, as tends to happen when anyone gets vulnerable online.
"People are very quick to think they can perceive something from a five-second snippet online — whether it's parenting, motherhood, grief, anything — and just blurt their comments out and think it's not going to affect people," Persun says. "You're always going to have people who have something to say, no matter what."
Brielle Persun
Brielle Persun.
Through social media, she's connected with people experiencing loss and grief, including other influencers balancing transparency, setting personal boundaries and navigating outside criticism. While dealing with comments questioning why she's able to smile and enjoy parts of life after losing Tyler, Persun says she's looked to people like Emilie Kiser, whose 3-year-old son Trigg died after a fatal drowning incident in May 2025.
After a months-long hiatus, Kiser returned to posting regularly on social media, where she posts about things like grieving and therapy in addition to the type of lifestyle content she shared before her child's death.
"I give Emilie a lot of credit for coming back and kind of showing her life. She's given me a lot of hope and strength to be able to just show up as I am," Persun says. "Watching her grief journey online, I now understand how important it is to talk about when you're ready to share."
Though their losses are unique, Persun sees an overlap in the types of backlash and challenging comments they both receive. "It's the same sentiment of, 'How could you be doing this? Aren't you sad?'" she explains.
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The good ultimately outweighs the bad, says Persun. As she becomes more and more comfortable occupying a new space online, those critical, "tone-policing" comments mean far less than the heartfelt words sent by followers who benefit from Persun's candid content.
"You can't expect widows to just be sad and cry all day. I really don't believe that. Until you're in it, until you're that person, I just don't really think you have a say on how someone decides to cope," says the content creator. "I have women who say to me all the time, 'I just really appreciate you being really honest about everything and still showing up joyful too. I can be happy as well.'"
on People
Source: “AOL Entertainment”
