By Antonio Pellot –
Ariana Josephine Cossie was told she was too pretty to work at Home Depot. Some even suggested she could make millions by opening an OnlyFans account, a platform where models can make substantial income by posting explicit content for paid subscribers.
“I’m never going to do an OnlyFans account,” she firmly stated on X (formerly Twitter). She followed up with, “I really hoped that my post inspired little girls to realize getting money the RIGHT way is possible and you gain so many insightful things and benefits doing it.”
Her refusal to sell her body and soul generated a backlash. Incels were irked. Porn purveyors were peeved. The online comments and shares made her go viral. She was doxxed (had personal information posted without her consent) and had to quit Home Depot.
But Ariana stuck to her guns. She had already suffered enough to be sure of her convictions. The anxiety-priming bedlam online only drove her further into the arms of Jesus.
Before she went viral, Ariana Cossie – aka The Home Depot girl – grew up from age 12 helping her single father raise her siblings. She got good grades, worked hard, read her Bible, and went to church with her dad.
She was a senior in high school in December 2019 when she got the news that her mom had been murdered, stabbed in a hotel room, by the man she was talking to.
“That news forever broke my heart and changed my life as a person because prior to that event I was very careless,” Ariana says on her testimony video on YouTube. “My view on life changed a lot. I really hit a deep end. I instantly went into shutdown mode. I had to literally force myself out of bed because I couldn’t believe that the person who birthed me was no longer here, and that it wasn’t due to something natural but to something evil.”
The day of her graduation from high school was her mother’s birthday. The day prior, Ariana’s boyfriend broke up with her. She was bewildered by the bad things piling up. She battled mental health issues and tried to gather herself in Christ.
“My mom passing away formed me into believing in Jesus more,” Ariana says. “A lot of times people when they’re faced with death, they stray from God. Me, I drew closer to God.”
When Ariana got to the University of Houston, she felt “so, so very lonely. I didn’t realize my worth.” During her sophomore year, she pondered suicide. “I didn’t know if I was going to even live to see the end of the week,” she admits. “It was so hard faking being ok. I didn’t understand how so many bad things can happen to one person.”
Successive boyfriends hurt her; personal tragedies that eventually helped her get closer to God.
“I started going to church and built my relationship with God,” she explains. “I let myself heal and feel the emotions I was holding in since I was a kid. I let myself grieve and feel like I never let myself do. I got to the place where I determined I was going to let God handle everything.”
She had endured so much that when she went viral with the Home Depot girl pic, when a maelstrom whipped around whether she should turn to porn and her indirect criticism of girls who get sucked into the easy money pimping their bodies, she could weather it.
After initially shutting down some of her social media accounts, she’s back. But this time she’s proclaiming Jesus more loudly.
“I’m super excited to keep sharing the love of Jesus with you guys,” she says. “I want to keep talking about God and spreading light because the world needs love, the world needs God.”
If you want to know more about a personal relationship with God, go here
About the writer of this article: Antonio Pellot lives in North Hollywood and studies at the Lighthouse Christian Academy.
