Influencer Fractures Spine After Attempting Nicki Minaj Stiletto Challenge

Influencer Mariana Barutkina is speaking out after suffering an injury while attempting the viral Nicki Minaj stiletto challenge.

In a video shared via Instagram on Monday, August 4, Barutkina, 32, attempted to balance on a jar of baby food placed on top of a saucepan while wearing stiletto heels. The influencer, who hails from Yekaterinburg, Russia, filmed the video eight weeks after giving birth.

“I decided to start a blog, my first content shoot — and here I am leaving the doctor’s with a diagnosis,” she wrote, translated by The Sun. “Irony? Karma? Or just life, which always tests our strength at the most unexpected moment.”

The influencer shared she suffered a compression flexion fracture to her spine. After the video went viral, users have criticized Barutkina for focusing on a viral challenge instead of prioritizing her newborn baby.

Courtesy of Mariana Barutkina/Instagram

“Because of one video, which was poorly filmed, I woke up as a popular person,” she said of the backlash. “People, thank you for the popularity, for your concerns and for your comments. I am doing great, I am following the recommendations and now I live in the status of a ‘star.’”

She continued, “For those who are worried about my child, I will also reassure you, he has two nannies and while I was filming, one of them was with him.”

The stiletto trend takes after the pose Minaj does in the music video for her 2013 track “High School,” where she balances in high heels by a pool. Minaj reenacted the pose in a Tuesday, August 5, Instagram clip.

“Dear Barbz, about that pose…. Ummm ,” she wrote. “this Chanel dress was just a tad shorter than I thought & the thongs definitely didn’t help. Didn’t want to make it explicit. Both feet on the ground tho. Ten toes. Ima put on a diff outfit that won’t show so much skin & do it again for you guys later. love .”

‘Dancing With the Stars’ Injuries Through the Years

Barutkina isn’t the only star to try their hand at the challenge. In a Saturday, August 2, TikTok video, The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives star Mikayla Matthews balanced on one high heel while holding her newborn baby and wearing a sleep mask. (Matthews and her husband, Jace Terry, welcomed their fourth child in July. The pair are parents to son Beckham and daughters Tommie in 2017, 2019 and 2021, respectively.)

“How it feels balancing postpartum + 4 kids and being the breadwinner,” she wrote over the video, adding in the caption, “2 weeks postpartum yesterday and we are TIRED lol .”