Viral clip captures woman appearing to smile and wink at camera during Lindsay Clancy trial
A video captured inside the courtroom during the Monday trial proceedings of Lindsay Clancy appears to show spectator Brittany Romano smiling, posing, and winking toward the camera. The behavior drew swift criticism across social media, where users blasted the actions as inappropriate given the tragic nature of the proceedings involving the murder trial of three children. Romano later addressed the backlash on social media, defending her actions and claiming her expressions were meant for family watching the broadcast.
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The woman at the center of a viral video who was seen winking and smiling at a camera during the Lindsay Clancy trial this week has been dropped by the magazine she was credentialed to cover the trial for.
Journalist Brittany Romano was smiling and winking at a pool camera for the trial’s live feed on Monday, and the clip itself has generated millions of views across social media platforms and various news articles.
Why was Romano at the trial to begin with? Vanity Fair confirmed she was credentialed to cover the trial and her personal connection to Clancy.
A woman wearing a green dress appears to smile and wink during court proceedings of the Lindsay Clancy trial on Monday. (Court TV via Pool)
JOURNALIST GOES VIRAL FOR GRINNING, WINKING ON CAMERA DURING LINDSAY CLANCY COURTROOM PROCEEDINGS
In a statement sent to Fox News, Vanity Fair said, “We were interested in the prospect of a personal essay by Brittany Romano about her experience growing up with Lindsay Clancy. Yesterday, after clear conflicts with our editorial standards and processes, we informed Romano that we were not moving forward with her essay and informed the court that she is no longer credentialed by Vanity Fair.”
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Brittany Romano leaves Plymouth Superior Court in Plymouth, Mass., Monday, August 24, 2026. Romano was covering the Lindsay Clancy trial for Vanity Fair. (David McGlynn for Fox News Digital)
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In a lengthy statement posted to Instagram on Tuesday, Romano wrote in part:
“A smile is not a crime. Telling a woman to slit her wrists is.
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“For two years I have fought to cover the Lindsay Clancy case honestly, because at its center is a mother accused of killing her three children during postpartum psychosis, and because the conversation around her has spent that whole time swinging between calling her a monster and asking what actually broke inside her. Women’s mental health was never a side note in that coverage, it was the whole point.”
LINDSAY CLANCY’S FAMILY WAS ‘VERY CONCERNED’ ABOUT HER MENTAL HEALTH IN THE MONTHS BEFORE SHE KILLED HER KIDS
Brittany Romano leaves Plymouth Superior Court alongside Lindsay Clancy’s attorney, Kevin Reddington, in Plymouth, Mass., Monday, August 24, 2026. Romano was covering the Lindsay Clancy trial for Vanity Fair. (David McGlynn for Fox News Digital)
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She went on to say, “I smile through anxiety. I smile when I’m uncomfortable. That is not indifference, it is a nervous system managing strain the only way it knows how.”
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At the end of the post, Romano wrote, “I have been told, repeatedly, to take accountability and apologize, when I have nothing to apologize for. What I have actually received are messages telling me to slit my wrists, threats to kill me in my sleep, and a resource of ways to kill myself, sent by people who claim they are defending Lindsay’s mental health.
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“If you actually believed a woman’s mental health mattered, you would not hand another woman a method, you would not treat suicide as a punishment, and you would not claim to protect one woman’s humanity while stripping another woman of hers.”
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