Docuseries Watch: LuLa Rich

The Rise And Fall Of The Controversial MLM Scheme

Amazon Prime has entered the original docuseries game with an intriguing look at controversial clothing-based MLM LuLaRoe. This documentary really has everything. It is far from perfect but the two owners of the company who inexplicably gave an interview for the documentary make it compelling. Their interview, supplemented by some other former (and current) high-level ‘trainers’ at the company, forms the basis for the docuseries that chronicles the rise and fall of the company.

DeAnne and Mark Stidham made themselves very rich with their clothing brand that initially gained popularity for both its quality and the community of women selling and buying it. These were mostly stay-at-home moms. The Washington State Attorney General ultimately deemed the structure of the company a pyramid scheme. It wrecked the lives of almost everyone - at least everyone who was included in the filming.

Personally, I found DeAnne to be one of the most insincere, vapid, cliche-spouting morons in documentary history. If she thinks anyone is buying her innocent act, she is completely fooling herself. Some of the footage from her deposition could have had a laugh track paired with it and it wouldn’t have looked out of place in a sitcom.

And the husband is no better. He appears to be your typical skeevy salesperson. The pair are thoroughly unlikeable and it’s hard to believe that anyone found them to be competent business owners at any point in time.

The documentary serves us so many troubling stories: from bankruptcies to divorce and financial ruin.

Deanne and Mark’s ability to deflect blame and plead ignorance is second to none. It has to be seen to be believed. And even though the company is not riding the same heights as it did in its heyday, it still exists - and the owners don’t seem to have suffered too much at all.

The incredible story of the company and the heights it rose to under these two bumbling idiots is incredible. The third episode adds in a bit of filler that is never really followed up, but that’s all I can criticize it for structurally. See it for yourself - for nothing else, as a warning that there are people like Mark and DeAnne Stidham out there.

Check it out, but don't cancel your dinner plans to binge it.