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Many people had very significant friendships when they were growing up, in fact a lot of those relationships are still going strong to this day. That seemed to be the track Lawson Spolansky and his buddy of 10 years, Dexter, were on, until he discovered something that was so earth-shattering that it destroyed the "friendship." He found out that Dexter was just an actor who was hired to be Lawson's friend.
Lawson told the whole story on TikTok, explaining that as a five-year-old in 2012, he had some behavioral issues and wasn't doing great in school. His Aunt Jecka sat him down and told him he needed to "become a better man." A few days later, at the playground, he got hurt on the monkey bars and another boy's mom came over to bandage him up. Her son, Dexter, then played with Lawson. Dexter wound up going to Lawson's school and was in his class, cementing their friendship. They were very close and it helped with Lawson's behavior - he began to do better at school.
The pair was so tight that in 2018, Dexter invited Lawson on an epic trip to Paris, Spain and Los Angeles. Lawson was super excited but the next day, Dexter made up "all these strange reasons" why the trip wasn't going to happen. However, soon after, Lawson's dad showed him a photo on Instagram of Dexter, his mom and Lawson's Aunt Jecka together in Hollywood. Strangely, Dexter wrote it off as a "mix-up" and Jecka said she was buying a house out there and it was nothing, she just found out Dexter's family had an extra ticket and used it.
It took another three years before things really fell apart. In 2021, the man Lawson was dating turned out to be Dexter's mom's pool guy. That man overheard Dexter and his mom talking and found out that Dexter was an actor who Lawson's aunt hired when he was a boy. In fact, Dexter's mom wasn't his mom at all, she was his manager. Lawson's aunt was best friends with Dexter's actual mom, who Lawson had never met, and that trip to Hollywood was to get Dexter his big break after his "interactive media" role as Lawson's friend.
Adding even more layers to the already crazy story, Lawson revealed his therapist during all this turned out to be Dexter's manager's sister. Lawson's aunt and Dexter later confirmed it all and Lawson was devastated, saying, "Now I'm left broken, severe amount of trust issues." Lawson added, "Aunt Jecka, if you're seeing this, I don't think I'll ever be able to forgive you. That's pretty awful. I don't know who hires somebody to be the best friend, even when you're struggling. So I've never really experienced true friendship so thank you Aunt Jecka."
Commenters were aghast at the tale. One wrote, "[Not gonna lie], this is the wildest story I've ever heard in my life." Another said, "My jaw literally dropped open. I'm deeply sorry someone did that to you." Someone else asked, "Nooooo, is this for real?" and Lawson replied, "Unfortunately - I really truly wish it wasn't."
Lawson also added a little more detail in the comments, explaining why a five-year-old Dexter would do this by saying that Dexter's real mom signed him up for it and he just went along with it. Lawson thinks his aunt was behind everything though, and stated that his own mother was very much against it.
You can learn more about Lawson on his TikTok.