Tina VanderWaal

“ Stop saying my daughter's name. Stop saying you are in a relationship with her. ” — Tina's first words to Daniel, after months of harassment

Tina VanderWaal (born February 22, 1972 - October 20, 2025) was the mother of the 21-year-old singer (and Daniel's crush) Grace VanderWaal, whom Daniel was stalking and harassing due to his unhealthy obsession with her. Daniel messaged her multiple times, only to find that Tina wanted nothing to do with him, told him to stop harassing Grace and advised him to seek mental help, to which Daniel threatened suicide to guilt-trip.

Daniel would mention Tina during the First Jail Arc, specifically the video call on February 13, 2024, where he expressed hope that Clark would talk to her about bailing him out. He continued to mention her in the Second Jail Arc, from Clark mentioning Tina's messages to Daniel to more delusions about her bailing him out.

Tina passed away on October 20, 2025 at 53 after a battle with breast cancer.

Prior Events

Sometime in December 2021, Grace's brother Jakob VanderWaal had messaged Daniel, confronting him and telling him to leave the family alone, with the threat of a criminal case if he violates a restraining order. Daniel, who was in the hospital after seeing these messages, began to have a meltdown and hit his head violently.

Photo posted by BrainTheLarsonist from the Daniel Larson World Discord

DMs with Daniel

On or around July 23, 2022, Daniel would message Tina multiple times about him dating Grace. The "Graces" in question were actually catfishes made up by trolls.

Daniel asked Tina to reply as soon as possible.

“ Please message me as soon as you can ”

She responded firmly the next morning, saying:

“ Stop saying my daughters name. Stop saying you are in a relationship with her. You are scaring her and our family. Everything you have said and done has been in your own mind. You need to access some mental health support and stop harassing my daughter. I have contacted the authorities and will continue to press the issue of you don't stop making disturbing videos. You followers have harassed my daughter long enough. STOP. ”

Daniel would respond idiotically, trying to make Tina feel bad for him, saying:

“ I understand

I'm ending my life tonight

Everyone has messed up everything.

I understand what you and your family-

”

The rest of his message is cut off. Daniel obviously did not stop talking about Grace after this.

Daniel would mention this comment in the first call during Jail Arc 2.

YouTube Comment

On August 13, 2022, the YouTube account "Waal Studio" left a comment on a live stream VOD titled "Daniel Larson Live Update / Grace Vanderwaal". The account only had a single video uploaded a year ago; however, user ThiccWalrus79 on Reddit was able to match objects in the room with Instagram posts made by Tina. Frustrated, she warns Daniel once again to stop mentioning Grace (and her family), stating that the other accounts under her name are trolls.

“ God Daniel….. do you think I’m watching your lives? whoever just contacted you claiming to be me was not me. I have no idea who Ox even is. I don’t want you to talk about Grace or our family anymore. I have only replied to you once when you DM’d me a couple of weeks ago - then I told you to stop saying Grace’s name but clearly you refuse to listen. Stop all of this. Everyone communicating with you are trolls trying to get you to do crazy things. Please STOP. ”

This comment also mentions the above incident where Tina replied to one of Daniel's texts.

Daniel replied to this comment 28 times over the course of a couple of hours, begging for forgiveness and help. Tina only responded once more, to Daniel's first reply, asking:

“ Ok I understand. I have a important question if you don't mind? ”

Tina's response is far from unpredictable.

“ I do mind. Stop everything to do with our family ESPECIALLY my daughter. You are making me reply publicly so you can’t censor what I’m actually saying to you. I’ve spoken to DDRC as well as the Denver police and Denver FBI. Do you really want to continue this? Again, just stop. Your reality is not real. ”

Later, Daniel would continue to reply dozens more times. They were ignored by Tina.

“ I understand I just want to say I'm sorry and I can explain everything and help. Everything got messed up because of my past friendships. I'm sorry miss understude. I fucked up! And I want to help in any way to show you who I really am. I really do have your entire family and your daughter in best interest. It hurts me too to see this like this. I just really care and I am a fighter and with no support I got confused

I am willing to keep trying but I would have to start new. I hope you understand

I am so sorry for everything

”

Contact with Fan

On December 5, 2022, a Reddit user reached out to Tina on Instagram asking if she was aware of Daniel and warning her that he is talking about Grace a lot, and having delusions that he will definitely meet her.

“ Are you aware of Daniel Larson? ”

Tina replied that evening.

“ Yes I am ”

The next day, the user warned her out of concern for the VanderWaal family due to his unhealthy obsession with Grace.

“ I'm sorry to reach out to you like this. It seems like it's getting out of hand. I'm very concerned with your safety as well as the rest of the family. This man posts every day how he wants to get in contact with you and a woman named Grace in the family. I watch him on YouTube and he is very convinced he is going to meet everyone. ”

Tina responded the next day, revealing that she did, in fact, contact the FBI about him.

“ There is nothing we can do. I have talked to the Denver Police and the Denver and local FBI. They say we have no recourse unless he makes actual threats. ”

The next morning, the user sent a screenshot with Daniel being VERY confident that he will date Grace and that she will regret it if she does not date him. Tina left the user on read, and did not reply to the comment.

Second YouTube Video

On March 26, 2023, 7 months after Tina's last response, Daniel Larson NYC posted a short titled "the vanderwaal's told me that I am safe from all legal trouble if I stay in contact with them." He says that Tina and Dave told him he was safe from the FBI and police if he stayed in contact with them. However, Tina, using the Waal Studio account, is clearly angry and scolds him to stop talking about the family once again with the threat of being arrested. It is also possible she was warned about Daniel making a trip to New York City in the coming weeks, for fear he would find Grace.

“ Great!!!! Stop talking about Grace and all of us.

Now you’re going to be safe…… I have talked to the FBI Daniel, this is truly not a joke and you are moving in the direction of being arrested for a very serious offense.

”

Daniel would reply 10 times, begging her for a second chance. These were ignored.

“ Please help I really really am trying. Please just understand this is serious and I just want you to understand what I am going through. Please give me a chance. I turned of my TikTok comments. I can't stop crying today ”

YouTube Community Tab Posts

First Interaction

On March 27, 2023, Daniel Larson NYC posted on his community tab to help donate, with a Cash App link. Tina, using the Waal Studio account from above, warned his followers that they are assisting in committing a crime, assuming the Cash App was to help him get to Grace:

“ Anyone that contributes to this cash app and helps Daniel get to my daughter is assisting in committing a crime. I hope you know that. It is a recorded record and you will be held accountable. This is serious. Stop thinking people’s lives are a joke. ”

Daniel would reply dozens of times, ignoring the severity of the situation. He would make similar posts later that day.

“ Thank you Tina I'm on your side. The fans don't listen to me at all and everything about me is not true I need your help. I don't know what to do I'm becoming very very upset. Tina how can I help right now this is extremely serious and is ruining everything in my life? I'm sorry too!!! The trolls are a very big problem and all I care about was talking to Tina in person to try to figure out how to stop the trolls are impersonators! I do care about this issue and everyone saying that I am just for grace is lying. It's not helping. I have called the FBI on the trolls and impersonators and I don't know how bad this is getting. All I want is a chance to be heard ”

However, after multiple comments, Daniel replied to another user saying he is sorry for Tina and her family. Tina replied, telling Daniel to take control of his life.

“ you can go back to Denver and live your life. Get a job and pay your bills without begging from trolls that only want to see you do things that will causes you harm. You need to get counseling and medication so you see reality. ”

Daniel protested, claiming he was misled by others, apologizing, and insisting he was only trying to help despite the seriousness of the situation.

“ Tina I am extremely sorry you are grace have to put up with this. I just called Bob my mentor and he sounds very confused. All I want to do is help. Waal Studio I don't think you understand. I've tried to contact you but Ivan told me that you were a troll. This is serious you don't even know anything about me yet. I am very serious about this Tina and I don't know what to do! Ivan forced me to block you last time I tried to contact you. I tried to explain and Ivan told me to block everyone and that he would tell my public defender. ”

Tina replied once again, trying to give him a reality check.

“ I know all I need to know Daniel. You don’t have fans, you’re not famous, you are struggling to get by in life, you have anger management problems, you are unstable and need help. These are facts that everyone sees but you. I know who you are Daniel. Stop this today. ”

Daniel replied multiple times, threatening suicide to make Tina feel bad for him.

“ My music sales are going down. I can't make a living and Ivan is threatening me over grace. I will jump off a bridge over this. I mean no harm at all. I never wanted to make things worse. I will end my career over this if I can't be heard. I hit Bob because he wasn't listening to me and everyone thought things were a joke. I have gone to far. I'm sorry Tina but I need you to believe me because I am serious I don't know what to do because I have people after me for no reason. I made the holes in the wall because I knew how to contact you all along but everyone was saying that I was wrong. I had to fight for me to be here today it could be a lot worse. What do I need to do to prove to you I care about this. ”

Tina ignored all these comments.

Second Interaction

On the same day, Daniel posted, "I gave Waal studios my phone number". Tina would respond, annoyed and in disbelief. This is also the last message Tina ever sent to Daniel before her death in October 2025.

“ No Daniel you didn’t. I’m never going to get through to you am I? It is mind boggling to me how you can rationalize anything and everything. ”

Daniel did not reply to her comment.

Despite Tina's warnings, Daniel never acknowledged them due to his delusions. He still continues to mention Tina and Grace frequently, and even talked about trying to get them to help him bail him out during the Jail Arc. However, the messages she sent to Daniel are very clear that Tina wanted absolutely nothing to do with him at all.