Cheer is back on Netflix for season two this week, exploring the post-fame world of our beloved teens at Navarro College. After the global success of season one, the series revisits the lives of the cheer stars, as well as diving deeper into rival college Trinity Valley and quite hauntingly, the criminal charges against former treasure Jerry Harris.
One of the show's new breakout stars is Maddy Brum, who joins Navarro as a rookie in 2020 only to lose the chance at competing at Daytona due to the pandemic cancelling sports events that summer. She returns for the 2020/21 season a veteran, one of the team’s best all-round athletes with skills as a flyer, tumbler and dancer.
Who is Maddy Brum?
Massachusetts-born Maddy is the focus of episode three of the show, where we get to know more about what led her to cheerleading. As has become typical with the show, details of her upbringing reveal a difficult life for the young star.
‘[My father] didn’t want me to come here because he didn’t get to see me a lot of my life,’ Maddy says. ‘But at the end of the day, it’s kinda his fault.’ Later explaining that her father spent time in prison, Maddy says he’s no longer allowed to leave the state of Massachusetts. ‘He has a lot to make up for at the end of the day too,’ she adds.
Now, ‘Maddy Brum dad’ and ‘Maddy Brum father’ are breakout search terms for the show, according to Google Trends. It appears viewers want to know what Maddy’s father did to end up in prison.
Who is Maddy Brum’s father and why did he go to jail?
According to Facebook, Maddy Brum’s dad is Barry Brodeur, residing in Lowell, Massachusetts. In episode seven of Cheer, Maddy states that her dad went to prison for rape. A court document shows that he was 'convicted on three counts of aggravated felonious sexual assault, and one count of misdemeanor sexual assault.'
Maddy also admits that her mother, Nicole Ostis, was once arrested outside her school for attempting to steal a license plate from another person’s car.
Appearing on the show, Nicole explained that she struggled to raise Maddy after her partner went to jail.
‘When Maddy was young, her dad went into prison,’ she says. ‘We lived literally pay check to pay check just to eat and have a roof over our heads so when she started wanting to go to the all-star gym, there was just no reasonable way it would be okay because I couldn’t provide that. But ECE [all-star gym] saw in her this athlete that didn’t deserve to have an opportunity held back by funds.’
‘Maddy didn’t have a lot of parental supervision or care,’ added Cassie Bienveue, ECE gym co-owner. ‘She needed some.’
Now at Navarro and with Maddy’s father out of prison, Maddy explains that while her dad wanted to be in her life more, she moved to Navarro College to prioritise her own life and career.
It’s a compelling, heart-breaking story and one of the reasons Maddy is fast developing a big fan base online. Now, as a major star of the show, it seems her decision to do something just for her paid off.
Read More:
How Netflix's Cheer Gets The Dark Side Of Cheerleading Right
5 Joyful Beauty Lessons We've Learnt From Netflix' Navarro College Cheer Squad