Bodybuilding influencer Lee Markham, also known as Malibu Fit Maxx recently shocked his followers after admitting to fabricating a story about surviving an IED blast during his military service.

Markham had previously mentioned that he suffered facial injuries due to an IED blast while being on active duty. But on February 27, he uploaded a video on his Instagram and apologized to his followers for lying about the injury.

The influencer said, "I’ve always got comments about my face and appearance. Some of them were harsh. And to be honest, I didn’t handle it well. I was new to being in the public eye, and I didn’t know how to handle the criticism. Instead of facing that right away, I made a bad decision and put ‘IED Survivor’ in my bio. That was not true, and it was wrong."

Markham had gained a substantial Instagram following of 1.2 million people. Because of his content, he became popular among the fitness and the military community.

His lie was caught by John Dorsey, also known on the internet as Goob. Dorsey is famous for exposing other influencers and photoshops circulating online.

What made Goob suspicious was Markham's not discussing his injury during a lecture in 2010. It was the year he claimed he was injured. He also got hold of the records, which also showed he was not listed among the injured soldiers in the 293rd Military Police Company.

However, Goob didn't stop there. He went deeper into the matter to bring out even more facts about Fit Maxx's lie.

Goob Dug Up the Real Reason Behind Malibu Fit Maxx's Facial Injury

US Army soldiers are presented with the Purple Heart in case they get injured or killed in combat. But the fact that Markham never received a Purple Heart also strengthened Goob's doubts about his IED story being a lie, which he later proved.

However, he even managed to find out the real reason behind Fit Maxx's facial injury. According to Goob, Fit Maxx sustained the injury after experiencing a fall near his barrack in some way.

Well, the apology video worked in Markham's favor, as his followers were seen flooding his comments with positive messages and encouragement.

And one comment stood out, it was from an ex-Parachute Regiment and Special Forces Support Group member, Dave Radband. He gave Malibu some advice for the future, stating, “The world can be a nasty place, dude. Keep that head up and learn from the mistake.”

However, regardless of all this, what is your take on Fit Maxx first lying and then apologizing, when he got caught?

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Written by

Ruwa Javed

Edited by

Souvik Roy