A model has revealed her male fans are going wild for sexy versions of the cartoon mums they grew up watching – from Marge Simpson to Lois Griffin.
Juliette Michele, 28, has transformed herself into more than 300 fictional characters, but says famous animated mothers are among the looks her male fans obsess over most.
The Dallas-based creator has recreated everyone from Mrs Incredible and Dexter’s mum to the matriarchs of The Simpsons and Family Guy.
Juliette says her followers are so taken with the saucy makeovers that they regularly beg her to bring their favourites back.
The cosplayer, who has more than three million followers on Instagram (@thejuliettemichele), believes she knows exactly why the unlikely fantasy is such a hit.
She puts it down to a mix of childhood nostalgia, curves and the thrill of seeing a familiar character in a completely different light.
“I’ve always had a big mummy fetish – I love older women,”
“I’m bisexual, so I’m very into older, sexy women and cougars.
“The whole mummy thing is personally so hot to me.
“A lot of these are cartoons that I grew up watching and that a lot of the guys who follow me grew up watching too.
“I thought, ‘I’m going to cosplay these mums and make them really hot.’
“I’ve done Mrs Incredible, Dexter’s mum, Marge Simpson, Lois Griffin – pretty much any cartoon mum you can think of.
“I’ve even done really obscure ones, I think I only have a few left.”
Juliette believes part of the appeal comes from fans having known the characters for years – often without ever thinking of them as sexy.
She also thinks the stereotypical curvy “mum” figure plays into the fantasy for some of her followers.
She said: “Maybe they grew up with these cartoons and never really thought about the mums in that way.
“Or maybe they’re into older women.
“I think a lot of it is that they like curvy women too.
“When I think of the stereotypical vision of a mum, I think curvy – bigger hips and boobs.
“I think that visual look is part of it.”
Juliette particularly enjoys transforming characters who were never designed to be obvious sex symbols.
She says taking someone as familiar as Family Guy’s Lois Griffin and presenting an exaggerated, glamorous version gives fans the chance to see the character through completely different eyes.
She said: “Sometimes people see Lois Griffin and think she’s just not super sexy.
“But then you see a super-sexy version of her and suddenly you’re looking at that character differently.
“I think it’s so fun bringing that to life and showing a sexy side to being a mummy.”
Juliette’s cartoon mum makeovers have become such a hit that followers now suggest increasingly obscure characters for her to tackle next.
One even asked her to recreate Ariel’s rarely-seen mother from The Little Mermaid.
It is one transformation she would love to attempt – but only when she can do it properly.
She said: “Someone really wanted me to be Ariel’s mum.
“I thought that was actually really cool.
“I’d love to get the mermaid tail and everything, but I want to make it perfect.
“I want to be near an ocean when I do it.
“That’s the only reason I haven’t done her yet.”
But while some followers hunt for increasingly niche suggestions, others just want Juliette to keep bringing back the classics.
Mrs Incredible and Dexter’s mum are among the characters she says fans request again and again.
She said: “A lot of people always want me to bring back Mrs Incredible.
“Dexter’s mum is a big one too.
“I think they like the characters with the big butts too. Mrs Incredible is always a really popular one and Dexter’s mum is a big one too.”
Juliette’s love of transforming herself into fictional characters began long before it became her career.
She started cosplaying at around aged 11 after developing a love of anime, video games and comic books.
By the age of 15, she was creating her own costumes after being taught to sew by her grandmother.
She said: “I was a big anime nerd and I loved video games, so I was really into all these little subcultures of nerdy things. Then I got really into comic books.
“When I was about 14 or 15, that’s when I really started dressing up and trying to make my own costumes. My grandma had taught me how to sew and I fell so deeply in love with it because I just thought it was the coolest thing ever.
“I started going to conventions when I was around 16 and then, when I turned 18, I started thinking maybe I could make it into some sort of business.”
After making her Instagram public, Juliette began selling prints before launching a Patreon aged around 19.
She said: “I started getting a lot of followers and people were saying, ‘I’d love to buy photo prints,’ so I started selling them.
“When I was about 19, I made a Patreon, which was kind of like OnlyFans before OnlyFans, and it did so well on the first day that I ended up quitting my job.
“That was when I decided I was going to make this a career and take it really seriously.”
Juliette has since completed more than 300 different cosplays, with some of her most intricate transformations taking hours to create.
She said: “I’ve done so many characters. I’ve done Princess Peach and Bowser from Super Mario and I have this big Bowser suit that’s to scale, which is really cool.
“I also do a lot of body paint looks and they can take hours. If it’s something pretty basic it can take about two hours, but something really intricate with lots of details can take four to six hours.”
But fictional mums remain a firm favourite with her fans.
Juliette added: “I love doing customs and I love exploring the fetish and kink communities. There are so many things people are into that you wouldn’t necessarily even think of.
“I know a lot of haters will say, ‘It’s not a real job,’ but I think it is a real job and I do put in work.
“However, it’s such a fun job that sometimes it really doesn’t feel like I’m working. It feels almost like a hobby because I’m having such a good time, and I’m very lucky and grateful for that.”
—
