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“Nickole Atkinson was Shan’ann’s Best Friend”

You tend to know a person through their friendships with other people. Besides the Thrive Kool-Aid crowd, who were Shan’ann’s friends? Who did she hang out with for fun and leisure? Who did she barbecue with and shoot the breeze? Did she know anyone, did she have any friends that weren’t part of her promotional team?

If so, who were they?

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Her Facebook page doesn’t appear to show anyone standing up for her, or looking for her when she disappeared, that wasn’t part of the Thrive cabal. Right now, her biggest supporter is her father and to some extent her younger brother. Any friends in Colorado raised their voices in support of Shan’ann [besides her work colleagues]?

https://www.instagram.com/p/BgUyjpHgP17/?hl=en&taken-by=shanannwatts

Nickole and Shan’ann became friends not because of shared interests, but because of shared greed. They both wanted to make as much as they could out of their shared interest in MLM. The one was using the other and vice versa. That’s how MLM works.

Whoah! Isn’t that a little harsh?

Is it?

When Nickole was interviewed by ABC she made use of that opportunity to promote Thrive. Notice the sticker strategically sticking out under her shirt?

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This was Atkinson’s moment to talk about her “friend” and bear witness to her. A human being telling America about another human being that has been lost to the world.

In typical Thrive fashion, Atkinson saw this as a crucial opportunity to peddle product on national television. Using a murder investigation of her “friend” to sell patches.

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Does that say more about a genuine friendship or desperation?

20 Comments

  1. Pauline

    The Thrivers haven’t made the connection that their blind obedience to the plastic God called LeVel may have contributed to the breakdown and destruction of the Watts family. And they won’t, unless they quit and do some soul searching which can take years and years, depending on how long they’ve been in.

    • piktor

      I wouldn’t blame the “company” / sales pyramid / whatever.

      The Watts family went bankrupt before whatitsname pill/powder/patch made its prominent entrance and sorta engulfed a family in its promise of triumph over insolvency. And the magical powder tasted good to boot, so they said.

      Shanann wanted to believe she could lead Chris on a perpetual spending binge, living above their station, spend, spend, spend and keep up with what Shanann knows is good. Until they strangled their finances and threw themselves to the mercy of bankruptcy court.

      Shanann was fighting the good fight. Mr. Watts, her enabler, went along for the hell of it- until something gave. All went dark.

      • Nick

        Interesting. So the MLM is irrelevant.

        On that basis the Watts family is like any other. So why don’t all families in debt murder each other?

      • Ralph Oscar

        So the fact that the Thrive MLM was the *seventh* MLM Shan’Ann had been involved in doesn’t strike you as concerning? Not in the slightest??

        Amway, ItWorks!, Origami Owl, Thirty One, Younique, LulaRoe, Thrive.

        Reads like a bad joke, doesn’t it? But that was the reality of Shan’Ann’s MLM addiction. If any *one* of them had worked, do you think she’d have quit it? How dumb does someone have to be to not realize there’s a pattern here? Unless it’s addiction…

        • nickvdl

          I’d love to know how much Thrive product was stashed in all those containers in the basement.

          • Ralph Oscar

            Me, too. However, TBQH, I think that if there *were* huge amounts, they’d be stacked in the boxes they arrived in and I didn’t see any such “wall of boxes”, even if it hadn’t been marked “THRIVE” or anything. I was surprised that the basement was as uncluttered as it was, frankly. Could they have been in the garage? I know we say Chris pass through the garage, but I didn’t *see* anything out of the ordinary in there. Did they have an attic where things could have been hidden or a crawlspace? THAT’s where I’d imagine she’d have hidden things, some place Chris *didn’t* go on the regular. Since he was spending lots of time in the basement, that would not have been the go-to hiding spot.

            Perhaps her family carted it all away? They certainly wouldn’t tell.

          • nickvdl

            I don’t think so. Every time a box arrive Shan’ann made a big deal of opening them up on camera. I also don’t think she was the type just to leave things in original packaging. Her kitchen cupboard was filled with labelled containers.

  2. Meagan

    One of Travis Alexander’s friends Dave Hall was on a commercial last year and you could see he tried to wear his Legal Shield shirt and it was purposely blurred during the commercial. 😂

    I didn’t even notice the patch on Shanann’s friend here during the interview . Very interesting.

  3. Karen Welch

    Now that hln is taking Bancroft off it’ll be difficult to keep up with what’s going on with the case.

  4. BAMS13

    This woman put a post up on FB last week saying she had “A KILLER deal” for Thrive and asking who wanted some?? Unsurprisingly she was called out for it being insensitive and inappropriate. Guess who replied saying “me, me, me, me!” ? – none other than SW Mom. Hhmmmm.

    • nickvdl

      Wow. Would you mind taking a screengrab of that and sending it to me?

      • BAMS13

        Sure. I’ll try and get it now.

      • BAMS13

        Ok I have the screen shots. How do I send them to you? I was hoping I could attach them here.

    • Karen

      I have no words.

    • Paul

      Are you seriously taking the word “KILLER” literally? Do you really think her own mother would reply to the post if she thought it was in any way insensitive to the memory of her daughter? This is your proof of what exactly…?

  5. Catherine

    Has anyone considered that Shanann’s mother was simply being snarky?

    She’s not saying “Me! I want it!”

    She’s saying “ME, me me me me”

    In other words Nikole, it’s ALL about YOU! and Shanann’s mother picked up on that as we have. She’s merely making it hard for Nikole to decipher what she truly meant under those words.

  6. Catherine

    Shanann’s mother no doubt wants to keep Thrive going because her daughter was so passionate about it and the work. It’s what keeps her going , I find that so sad.

  7. Alicia Toler

    If she suspected Chris had done something all along why was she telling Shanann in emails it will be all right he loves you. She keeps on making her feel good about the relationship rather than tell her why she doesn’t like him or tell her that maybe you need to find someone better. If I had a friend with issues in a relationship like this I would have told her. I know raising three kids is hard on your own but you got friends, and family to help you. Maybe Chris is not the right person for you if you are not happy with him, and feeling miserable in the relationship.

  8. Betta B

    I was in a severely abusive relationship with a two faced man much like Watts. I was terrified
    if I left he would harm our son “accidentally on purpose.” Many of my female friends encouraged
    me to keep trying to work things out and see my part in it. Therapists did same. Later on as it
    became clear that the situation was untenable the advice was to just up and leave. Also terrible
    advice, leaving abusive relationships is often the most dangerous time.

    Although these types of people can be dangerous, glib advice to work things out unfortunately is quite
    standard. At least amongst well meaning family and friends. People are worried that if they
    say something damaging and the couple stays together, the comments will not be forgiven.
    Hindsight is always 20/20

    • nickvdl

      I wouldn’t say Shan’ann was in an abusive relationship, not in the way you mean. I wouldn’t associate the word abusive with murder either, although it is relevant in some cases, for example OJ and Nicole Brown Simpson. You seem to be projecting your situation – which I have sympathy for – onto the Watts case. It’s not the same. Abuse is about fear and control, and Watts was definitely not the source of the fear and control throughout their marriage.

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