What Danielle Kirby From Toddlers & Tiaras Is Doing Now

Danielle Kirby was one of the pint-sized pageant queens introduced to viewers on "Toddlers & Tiaras," the TLC series that launched the reality TV career of Honey Boo Boo. While the girls featured on the show flashed the biggest of smiles after getting all glammed up and snapping those flippers on over their teeth, it wasn't uncommon for the young competitors to flip out if they didn't get the top titles that they had their hearts set on. Kirby was one of the beauty queens whose tears were filmed for the sake of entertainment.

In one episode, Kirby, who was 8 years old at the time, cried after complaining about a baby winning the grand supreme title. "I think it's really not fair that a baby won a thousand dollars and it can't even sing or dance or do nothing but poop and pee," she said in a confessional. She was also filmed hitting a little boy and getting annoyed with a competitor who was hamming it up for the TLC cameras. "She's taking my spotlight," Kirby complained to her mom.

Kirby was confident in her ability to charm the judges — appearance-wise, at least. When her mom suggested that she needed to get her beauty sleep ahead of a pageant, she scoffed, "I don't believe in that 'cause I'm always beautiful." Kirby's confidence remained intact when she grew up and scored her dream job, and she would go on to reveal that all was not as it seemed behind the scenes.

Danielle Kirby was 18 when she and her mom, Tedi Kirby, appeared on the 2021 TLC special "Toddlers & Tiaras: Where Are They Now?" Danielle was preparing for the Miss Las Vegas Teen USA pageant at the time, and viewers also learned that she was considering becoming a cosmetologist like her mother. [39:10] However, on her blog, Danielle revealed that she instead ended up landing a job she absolutely adored: working as a personal assistant for the founder of the Beauty Kitchen skincare company.

Danielle's self-confidence hadn't diminished a bit. "I love myself; I love my body; I love everything about me," she said. "Everybody should be blessed with a big ego." However, when she appeared on the "Spirituality and Self-Love in the Modern World" podcast in 2021, she admitted to being hurt by the negative feedback she received for her "Toddlers & Tiaras" appearance. "I felt like the world hated me," she said. 

According to Danielle, editing was to blame for making her look brattier than she actually was. The little boy she was filmed hitting was her younger brother, who had been trying to pull rhinestones off her pageant dress. And when she threatened to trash her hotel room if she didn't win, she revealed that this idea was suggested to her by producers after they spent 45 minutes interviewing her. Danielle explained that she was just sarcastically repeating the line back to them. "They forced that out of me," she said.

On the "Spirituality and Self-Love in the Modern World" podcast, Danielle Kirby opened up about how she discovered that she had bipolar disorder. She first experienced symptoms when her family made a big move and she started high school. "Getting bullied my freshman year ... and then going through puberty and becoming a woman and being in high school, that just triggered it," she said. She was already aware of the mental health condition, which is characterized by extreme fluctuations in mood because her father has it as well.

Kirby decided to start sharing her experiences with bipolar disorder on the Guide Through Bipolar website, and she also founded a mental health awareness organization called Be Bigger. "I created this page to help people, like me, love themselves and feel empowered!" she writes. "Every single person deserves to feel loved and like they are supported."

When People checked in with Kirby in 2023, her mental health journey had inspired her to pursue a psychology degree at Post University — and she still possessed the same positive self-image that helped her endure years of reading hateful comments from adults attacking a sassy, outgoing little girl. "I was definitely arrogant. I will say, though, I was a beautiful child, but I shouldn't have expressed it the way I did," she said. "Now I am a strong, independent, incredible woman. I know that may sound a little conceited, but it's true!"