Nigerian TikToker and content creator Elizabeth Amadou, popularly known as Jarvis, has opened up about her difficult childhood, revealing that she grew up without her father, battled the challenges of having a mother with bipolar disorder and experienced periods of hunger and financial hardship.

In a now-trending video, Jarvis shared her experience on Sunday while speaking alongside her husband, Peller, with Spark Nation founder, Pastor Tobi, during their Sunday service in the United Kingdom.

Reflecting on her childhood, Jarvis said growing up with her mother was challenging because of her mother’s bipolar disorder, which she said sometimes affected her behaviour towards the family.

“My grandpa was sick and I came into a family through a mother that has bipolar disorder. Growing up with her has been very stressful and depressing because sometimes the disorder is crazy. Today she is nice and good and next minute she is violent, insulting us, you this stupid child, your father is mad.”

She said living in such an environment was stressful and contributed to the challenges she experienced while growing up.

Jarvis also revealed that she did not grow up with her father, explaining that her mother had travelled out of the country before returning pregnant with her.

“I didn’t grow up with my father because my mother travelled out of the country and came back pregnant and gave birth to me. Growing up without a dad has not been good because my mum is not mentally okay.”

According to the content creator, her grandparents played a major role in raising her, providing discipline and guidance during her formative years.

“I grew up with my grandma and grandpa. They did their best to raise me up and they are very learned and strict. The strictness made me who I am today.”

Beyond her family circumstances, Jarvis said she also experienced financial difficulties while growing up, including periods when her family could not afford her school fees.

She said she was determined to remain in school and avoid being influenced into taking the wrong path to make money.

“When everything was going down and there was no school fees, I don’t want to drop out from school or go through the wrong way to make money. You know peer group influence.”

Jarvis said the financial hardship also meant that there were times when she and her sister went without food.

She recalled how they would watch cooking videos on TikTok, despite being unable to afford the food they saw on the platform.

“I and my sister used to watch cooking food videos on TikTok just to salivate and at the end of the day we pray that God help us, cry and sleep because there is hunger.”

According to Jarvis, the situation eventually led her and her sister to discover TikTok livestreaming as a possible source of income.

She said someone contacted her through TikTok and encouraged her to start going live, explaining that she could make money from the platform.

“Someone messaged me on TikTok app and told me if i start going live on the app I can make money. The first time I had 200 videos and i was like whoa.”

Although she was initially shy about appearing on social media, Jarvis said she and her sister decided to start livestreaming together.

She said their first earnings were modest but significant to them at the time because of the financial difficulties they were experiencing.

“So I started with my sister and we made like $5 at first and we were very happy because it was crazy. I was so shy but with my sister I did it. My family must not see us on social mdia because there will be problem. Along the line we started content.”

She said the experience gradually moved beyond livestreaming for money as she and her sister began creating content and building an audience online.

According to Jarvis, her motivation throughout the period was largely driven by her desire to support her sister and become financially independent.

“I wanted to take care of my sister. I want to be able to provide a living for ourselves,” she said.

What began as an attempt to earn enough money to survive eventually became a pathway into TikTok livestreaming and content creation for the social media personality.