KING of the CUTIES!
Meet the adorable Dorset dumpling with more global fans than Kim Kardashian’s tot – and it’s set to make 15-month-old Harlen a million-dollar baby
WITH his chubby cheeks, piercing blue eyes and angelic smile he is taking the internet by storm. At just 15 months old, gorgeous Harlen Bodhi White from Poole in Dorset has amassed nearly 200,000 followers on social media site Instagram, a world record for a child his age – beating starlets such as five-year-old Harper Beckham (86,000), Beyonce’s fiveyear-old daughter Blue Ivy (97,000) and Kim Kardashian’s three-yearold daughter North West (180,000).
And while his devoted fans around the world coo over every cute new photo posted by Harlen’s proud mother Chelsea White, a former child model turned professional photographer, the mini social media sensation is raking in the cash.
‘We are swamped with gifts from companies wanting Harlen to show off their clothes’, says Chelsea, who has just returned from a free holiday to the celebrity playground of Aspen, Colorado, where Harlen’s fame earned the family a stay at the £1,000-a-night Little Nell Hotel – a favourite of Catherine Zeta Jones and Michael Douglas.
Experts say Harlen could become the first million dollar tot. Patrick Martin, a Los Angelesbased partner at the British digital marketing company 3D SEO said: ‘With the market base Harlen’s got, he’s already well on the way. There are so many ways he is being monetised, from free goods and services to advertising, sponsorship and licensing deals.
‘Harlen’s followers are mostly new mothers and that’s a highly desirable and very lucrative demographic. He can also generate income from the internet through everything from his number of likes and video views to click-throughs to a brand’s site.’
Chelsea, a striking blonde who runs a successful baby photography business from her terrace house in Poole, said she simply ‘went with the flow’ when Harlen became an unexpected overnight sensation.
‘When I had my daughter Harlow five years ago I started taking pictures, like any proud new mum. Rather than put them on my professional photography website I started an Instagram page for her.’
Harlow’s site led to a booming business photographing pregnant women and newborns.
After Harlen’s arrival in Novem- ber 2015 the business really took off and Chelsea even painted the inside of her home all-white ‘so it looks like a studio’. Chelsea set up Harlen’s Instagram account days before his birth and posted her first photos of him from inside the hospital.
‘I realised I’d missed so much with Harlow. I didn’t want to miss a thing with my son,’ she said.
Two weeks after he was born she took him to a London baby spa and filmed him ‘swimming’ supported by a purple flotation device. The images went viral, appearing on TV shows as far away as Australia and attracting millions of hits on social media sites. Chelsea recalled: ‘He was two weeks old and it went viral. Companies started sending him gifts. Now I get sent tons of free clothes, toys, prams. I choose what I like him to wear, take pictures and put them on Instagram. I’ll put a link to the company and they get more followers. It’s a win-win.’
Chelsea insists Harlen enjoys all the attention. ‘He’s a chilled baby. He’s placid and laid back. He lets me get on with it.’
She prefers social media to the traditional child modelling world. ‘Baby models earn around £70 an hour which isn’t worth it because you don’t get travel covered. With Instagram I can do it in my own time and I can control what goes out there.’
Chelsea declines to name Harlen and Harlow’s father, a professional footballer whom she separated from after Harlen’s birth. ‘Their dad is supportive,’ she insisted.
She says the secret to a perfect baby shot is a happy baby. ‘If he’s under the weather or teething forget about it. He has to be well-rested and then I feed him and then we take photos. I like to dress him like Prince George. I love the classic traditional look. And I use natural light 90 per cent of the time because it is kinder on a baby’s skin.’
So far Chelsea has taken Harlen on working holidays to Dubai, Mykonos and the Bahamas. She fiercely denies she is exploiting Harlen by putting him online. ‘It generates money but I don’t want to talk figures because then it looks like I’m using my child for business,’ she said. ‘But it’s not like that. I’d be photographing him for free.’
‘Companies send him tons of free gifts such as clothes, toys and prams’