It has come to my attention that some of you are not aware of who Serena Kerrigan's mom is. Obviously, we know that a lot of the Siesta Key cast come from wealthy and privileged backgrounds (looking at Sam Logan's private jets right now) and Serena Kerr – excuse me, Serena Fucking Kerrigan – is no exception, except that there is something exceptional about her mom. She works for MTV.

Serena, who went viral in early quarantine for her Instagram Story series "Let's Fucking Date," hasn't been shy about her origin story and how she got on the show... to an extent.

Is Serena from Siesta Key, Florida? No. Is she from anywhere in Florida? Also no. She lives in New York City, where she was born and raised, and her mother is Lily Neumeyer, an executive vice president at MTV. More specifically, Lily is the Head of Development of the MTV Entertainment Group at Viacom CBS, according to her LinkedIn.

Lily (do I call her Ms. Neumeyer?) was promoted in 2019 and according to an article in Variety about her promotion, Lily oversees "the unscripted development slate and strategy for MTV, VH1, CMT, Logo and MTV Studios, reporting to president of entertainment Nina Diaz."

In a statement to Variety, Lily's boss Diaz said: “Lily is a creative force of nature and an inspirational mentor who’s played an enormous role in driving our success,” said Diaz in a statement. “Whether it was taking on the epic challenge of reinventing MTV’s seminal The Real World in three different countries for Facebook Watch, developing ‘the best new show of 2019’ with Double Shot of Love, re-imagining an iconic franchise for a new generation with The Hills: New Beginnings, or cultivating Siesta Key into a bona fide sensation [emphasis, ours] Lily has an uncanny ability to create hit after hit.”

On IMDb, Lily's credits include "executive producer" of 12 episodes of Siesta Key, and in a 2003 interview with the NY Daily News, Lily, who's described as producer at MTV, talks about Serena's love of American Girl dolls.

Which is to say, it's very well-documented, dating back close to 20 years, that Lily works at the network and is Serena's mom.

Plus, Serena posted this Instagram Reel, above, on July 28, that praises her mother's hard work, and illustrates her rise to the top at the network. According to the IG Reel, Lily immigrated from Argentina, started as an intern at MTV and clearly, is now a very powerful executive. Shout out to her photos with the Wahlbergs and Justin Bobby.

In 2018, Serena mentioned her MTV-producer mom in an article about Latinx representation in media. And for funsies, here's a cooking video Serena did with her mom, back when Serena was working at Refinery29:

All of that makes it abundantly evident that:

a) Lily is a high-ranking executive at MTV, has worked there for over 20 years, and has overseen some or all of the development of Siesta Key
b) Lily is Serena's mom
c) Serena hasn't hid the fact that her mom works at MTV

Yet...

When people ask Serena how she got on the show, she says that she's friends with the cast. She hasn't mentioned that her mom works at the network.

In a May, 2021 interview with Nicki Swift, Serena said that she "met Juliette during Fashion Week in NYC years ago and we instantly became friends."

In an interview with CheatSheet from August, Serena explained that she joined the show because she's, again, friends with Juliette. "Juliette, the lead, is a good friend of mine, so as we got closer, it only felt more and more natural to be on Siesta Key as her friend, mentor, and confidence coach,” she said.

In an interview with BarStool, also from May 2021, when asked how she knows the cast, Serena said:

"I worked at Refinery as a host, basically, and when they were promoting their show, I'd say, like three years ago, Juliette and Kelsey came to the studio. I had this like, entertainment live show, and you know, we're really close in age, so we just stayed friends. And I always joked like, haha, what if I came on a season? And then they were like, no, we actually do want you to, because basically, because of COVID, it was actually very difficult to film in Florida, so they went to this private island for a month, so I was like, wait. A private island? Yeah, I'm down."

She goes on to say that she has always wanted to be on reality TV, and "manifested the shit" out of her role on Siesta Key. Manifested? Hmm. She does not mention Lily.

Serena also admits in that interview that she's in Siesta Key Facebook Groups and thinks that fans who notice and talk about which cast members follow and unfollow each other "need to take up knitting," which Serena feels is "good and creative and beneficial for society, rather than looking at who's following who."

Pretty sure if we decided to knit instead of watch and care about Siesta Key, her monetization strategy would suffer, but OK.

Listen, Serena was great on the show and did a good job of trying to help Juliette take some accountability for her actions.

But are they really friends?

According to Juliette's on-again-off-again boyfriend Sam Logan, they're not.

Sam claimed in an Instagram Story that he's only spoken to Serena three times, and that she has no relationship with the cast. He wrote, "It's funny when 'friends' that none of us ever speak to 'reveal rumors.'" He's talking about the interview Serena gave to The Sun, in which she talked about his break up with Juliette.

Now, I'm not hating on Serena and her hustle. I support her work ethic and I salute her for even attempting to be on this rollercoaster of a reality show. But I do wish she’d be a little more real with how she got cast, because her being “friends” with Juliette is just not a strong storyline at all, regardless of whether or not it's true. Plus, that’s Hannah Starr's storyline already.

We already know Serena's on Season 4B; she filmed already and is probably going to a few more times. She told The Sun that she went to the island to be with Juliette, "and I made all these other friends and I became really close with them," she said. Apparently, she's already filmed scenes with Madisson Hausburg.

The thing is, Serena Fucking Kerrigan promotes a brand about living out loud. She promotes living your truth, and she's a confidence coach. Her website says that "The SFK mission has always been to inspire strength and courage in others, but we understand that confidence can’t always be one size fits all."

Serena certainly hasn't hid the fact that her mother is a leader at MTV. But on the other hand, when she's been asked about how she got on the show, she's never mentioned her connection.

For someone as confident and self-assured, wouldn't it make sense for her to mention, when asked about how she got on the show, that, sure, she's friends with Juliette, but that also, her mom is a big deal at the network?

Wouldn't it be so easy for her to say something like, "Oh, how did I get on the show, you ask? So, I'm friends with the cast now, but I wanna mention that my mom oversees production of Siesta Key, so I had an in. I want to be upfront about that, because authenticity is my brand! But I'm friends with the cast outside of that connection now, and people can say what they want, but I'm thrilled to be a part of such a compelling show with dynamic young men and women just like me."

Just two months ago, Serena told CheetSheat: "Don’t be afraid to be your authentic self and openly voice your insecurities. Once the pressures and artifice of societal expectations fall away, your true self will be the driver of your success.”

Maybe it's time she took her own advice. But what do I know. I don't knit. I'm not a confidence coach. I'm not on TV. I just keep track of who follows who.

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