Lily Phillips and Bonnie Blue are two young women who have gone viral recently, each for the same goal of being the first to sleep with 1,000 men in a 24-hour period.

Aside from their matching life objectives, their paths prior to this point also shared some similarities. The two were even friends before this corrupt, carnal competition created a rift in their friendship.

Both girls grew up in small English villages in the UK, and both have described their childhoods as being relatively normal.

“I had a very average life, really,” Bonnie says of her upbringing. “I didn’t go to a private school, and my parents had money but nothing crazy.” She also detailed her professional life prior to adult content creation, having worked in retail and then recruitment. Lily, too, grew up in a working-class family, though with a few more comforts, as her father established and built a successful cleaning business, which allowed her family to enjoy things like frequent vacations and expensive vehicles.

As for their journeys to becoming viral sensations for their willingness to not only engage in extreme sexual behaviors but to share them with the world, both have attributed their decisions to a fascination with sex and the pursuit of wealth.

In an interview with the Daily Mail, Lily admits that “she developed something of a fascination with sex as a young teenager and watched her first porn film at the age of 13.” Following that experience, it became obvious, even to her friends, that Lily developed a unique obsession with these things, which she openly admits.

While the ventures of Bonnie and Lily have stunned their general audience, what is even more shocking than their debauched bedroom activities is the role that their parents, particularly their own mothers, have played in their rise to fame in the adult entertainment industry.

Bonnie and her mom, Sarah, sat for an interview with “The Reality Check” podcast, and Sarah was asked how she felt when she found out what her daughter was doing as a career. “I was gutted at first.” A normal reaction.

However, the initial dismay faded quickly as she reported on the nice vacations and lavish gifts afforded by her daughter’s career, though insisting that the fancy expenditures did not influence her change of heart. “We’ve had nice holidays and nice gifts, but that doesn’t bother me. She’s happy, so I’m happy because she’s happy.”

Most parents would likely argue that it is not our job to accept every decision that our kids make simply because they appear to be happy. The long-term consequences of their choices will come — both good and bad — and they depend on us to weigh the pros and cons of those choices with them. Perhaps Sarah advised her daughter this way, but the fact that she recruits clients for Bonnie might suggest otherwise.

The Daily Mail describes Sarah making signs to attract young men to the cause — one that read, “Uni students bonk me and let me film it,” and also, “handing out flyers and condoms to students ahead of Bonnie’s sex quest at the university in September.”

While Lily’s parents have stayed out of the spotlight, they have backed her career from behind the scenes, serving as their daughter’s finance manager. Another Daily Mail article says “her mother is responsible for handling her finances and help establish a property portfolio with her substantial earnings, said to be at six figures per month.” Interestingly, Lily’s parents can drum up concern about how she handles her finances but not how she handles her own body.

What many would view as poor parenting in these circumstances is not limited to just these two women.

Denise Richards, actress and ex-wife of Charlie Sheen, reentered the entertainment scene recently. She provided an exclusive interview to People magazine, including her three daughters, Sami, Lola, and Eloise, to discuss their own business ventures.

As a successful adult content creator herself, Lola shared her reasons for pursuing the porn industry while her mother looked on, unfazed by her daughter’s discussion of her work as if it were a normal career choice. “I really wanted to get an apartment, and I knew that working at the candy shop I was working at wasn’t going to cut it. So I went to the next best thing and made OnlyFans.”

Selling candy or selling your body are not the only two choices for financial independence. Moreover, Richards, age 54, admitted that she had joined this platform herself, leaving many readers shaking their heads.

To defend her move to open an OnlyFans account after her daughter did so, Richards suggested it was merely to “educate herself” on the inner workings of the site and to stand up to the negative reaction Lola was receiving. “At first, I didn’t understand what OnlyFans was,” Richards said. “When I saw that she was getting backlash for owning her sexuality and doing what she wanted to do, it upset me as a mom and also as a woman in business.” So, what made sense to Richards to “protect” her daughter was … to engage in the same damaging and degrading behavior.

The trend of moms avoiding their parental responsibility of being good role models, particularly for their daughters, seems to be a growing problem. Instead of guiding young girls in a healthy way into adulthood by encouraging them to make wise choices with long-term goals like marriage and family, their female leaders and mentors have regressed in their roles. Today, mothers would rather be friends than responsible teachers and protectors willing to risk their own “popularity” at home.

Yes, fathers are responsible for their children as well, but as the wise Dr. Phil McGraw has stated repeatedly in his counseling of parents over the years, “The most powerful role model in any child’s life is the same-sex parent.”

With mothers who abandon their duties, the harm that will come to young women who did not have someone to deter them from destructive life choices — and even became their greatest cheerleaders for catastrophe, in some cases — is inevitable and likely irreparable.