The True Story behind Zola

The True Story Behind ZolaHello, Everybody! Today I will be talking about the anticipated release of the Sundance hit, Zola and the shocking story of the craziest Stripper Saga ever put on the internet. 

A woman named Aziah "Zola" Wells posted a 148-twitter thread about a trip that she took to Florida with a stripper named Jessica. The first tweet read "Y'all wanna hear a story about why me & this bitch here fell  out???????? It's kind of a long story." So, guys. Here's the shocking story behind Zola.

Working at Hooters as a Waitress in Detroit, Zola meets a stripper named Jessica Rae and they bonded over dancing because Zola used to work as a stripper back in the day and they later exchanged numbers. The next day, Jessica calls Zola and says "LETS GO TO FLORIDA"! At first, Zola was confused and then she later explained that she's going to dance in Florida. Zola couldn't pass that up because she LOVES Florida and then said that she's down to go. They stayed in a motel with Jessica's boyfriend, Jarrett Scott and her roommate who's referred to as Z in the tweets. They dropped off their stuff and Z drove them to the club where Zola was working. It was an early Friday night and according to her, it was pretty slow. After making 800 bucks, Zola was ready to go home and Jessica called Z to pick them up, she then explained that Z's taking of her, meaning that Z's actually Jessica's pimp without Jarret's knowledge.

With me, so far?

Z pulled up and Zola and Jessica said that they didn't make any money and Z asked if they wanted to "trap", which is a code for prostitution. Now, Jessica was totally on board for this while Zola didn't know how to react by not speaking, she then went OFF on Jessica and threatened to leave given the situation, but she decided to stay due to Jessica begging her to do so. She told Zola to let the clients in so that Zola won't have to trap. When the first client came in, Jessica and the man were screwing while Zola was on the bed next to her. YEESH. Jessica was only charging clients $100, now Zola thought that Jessica deserved more money, so she puts her out there on backpage with a price of $500 and Jessica's phone BLEW UP. Zola claimed that 20 shown up with only 3 being sent by Z and this was going on ALL night. At around 6:00 am, Jarret calls Jessica freaking out about her and Zola's whereabouts and Jessica had trouble coming up with a lie about where she was, he then cursed Zola out and hung up. A few hours later, Z showed up and asked how much they made and Jess says "5500" and explained that Zola made a backpage, so she gave him all of the money but still had to pay rent. Later, Zola, Z and Jessica went back to the hotel and saw Jarret talking with a man with dreadlocks. Z then yelled at Jarret for talking to him and feared what Jarret told the man, so he moved both Zola and Jessica to another hotel. Jarret saw the Jessica's backpage ad and then got into a heated argument, while they were in a screaming match, Zola went to the pool. I mean... She was in Florida for Christs sake! Who wouldn't want to sit by the hotel pool there? Zola then went back to the room and she and her got ready to go out and trap. Jarret wasn't having it so he self-harmed himself and threatened to commit suicide if she left him again when Jessica refused to stay, Jarret posted her ads on FACEBOOK. ON FACEBOOK!! She then got into a mental breakdown and later told Z about it and he and his fiancé stormed in held and him at gunpoint to delete the post. Afterwards, he forced Jarret to go down on Jessica while Zola watched. MY GOD!!! How humiliating, right??? He then ordered Jarret to drive Jess to her clients and gave him a gun in case things go south. He and Zola had a deep conversation and Jarret reveals that he has bipolar disorder. 

Now... Here's when things get crazier.

As Zola walked Jessica to her last clients, they snatched Jessica and Zola ran, while Jarret went to a gas station and Zola called Z and explained what happened. Z picks up both Zola and Jarret and they go where the kidnappers are. Z bangs on the door and who none other than the dreadlock guy on the other side of the door. Turns out he's Z's rival pimp and Jessica found tied up in a closet unconscious. While Zola waited outside, she heard a gun shot and made a run for it. Jarret and Z weren't far behind and they drove to Z's fiancé's condo. It was implied that Z shot the other pimp in the face. The next morning, Z booked Zola and Jessica a flight home but Jess refused to leave because she wanted to keep trapping. Jarret had another meltdown and attempted suicide by jumping off the the fourth floor balcony although he got stuck by his pants and Z pulled him up. Jessica told Zola that she hopes that they would both stay friends although the feeling wasn't mutual. Zola and Jarret returned to Detroit while Zola's boyfriend, Sean picked them up at the airport. A few days later, Jessica called Zola and said that she got arrested by Las Vegas police and that Z was wanted for kidnapping 15 underage girls and the murder of 6 people. Zola then heard that Jessica went back to Detroit and her mom. 

As for Z, he got sentenced to life in prison. His real name was an African name that I can't even pronounce, but I know that it's short for Rudy. 

After Zola's Twitter thread got media attention, David Kushner of Rolling Stone interviewed Zola about her experience. According to the article, most of the stuff in the thread were true, but some parts were left out like Jarret's outbursts, Rudy shooting the pimp and Rudy's fiancé holding Jarret at gunpoint. According to other sources, Zola was the one trapping, which she obviously denied. It was also revealed that Rudy forced three girls to trap and sexually assaulted one of them. 

This insane story got Hollywood's attention and A24 is now distributing the film. With successes like Ex Machina, Lady Bird, Moonlight, Good Time and The Disaster Artist, Zola will definitely be an Awards contender. It now sits with an 89% on Rotten Tomatoes with the consensus reading "Zola captures the stranger-than-fiction appeal of the viral Twitter thread that inspired it -- and announces Janicza Bravo as a filmmaker to watch." Talk about HIGH PRAISE. This definitely proves that social media can be crucial to filmmaking.

Thanks for reading and don't forget to share your thoughts below!😉