Stefanie Heidebrink said her daughter was nervous and didn't know how much to drink, so she chugged the whole thing.
Stefanie Heidebrink was excited about her daughter's first communion and wanted to take a video of it. What she didn't expect was for her 7-year-old daughter to chug wine from the chalice. The video of the same went viral on TikTok, garnering more than 28 million views and 4.7 million likes. Heidebrink and her family were attending her daughter Brynley's first communion on April 23, at the Risen Savior Catholic Church in Brandon, South Dakota, when the incident happened. The priest was presenting consecrated wine, representing the blood of Christ, to children when the 7-year-old stepped up for her turn. She confidently took the chalice from the priest and started taking a sip. The priest waited for her to finish but the sip turned into a gulp and then into a full-blown chug. The priest had a laugh as he wondered if he should interrupt her first communion, reported USA Today.
Brynley was unperturbed as others started laughing. She confidently chugged all the wine in the chalice and handed it back to the priest who was laughing along with those in the church. The 7-year-old then walked back to her mother, who was filming the whole thing. Brynley had a swagger about her and closed her hands together nonchalantly. The video was posted twice on her mother's account where it went viral. "My daughter slamming her 1st communion wine," she wrote in one video, and in the other, she captioned it: "When your 7-year-old chugs the wine at her 1st Communion instead of taking a sip." Heidebrink can be heard laughing at the end of the video after watching her daughter chug the wine. "Next thing I know, I'm watching her just keep on going with the chalice," said Heidebrink. "I was laughing and you can hear me in the video. I'm saying like, 'Oh my God. Stop drinking.'"
Stefanie Heidebrink later revealed that her daughter was nervous about her first communion and asked how much she should drink. "I said, 'Just let it touch your lips, just tip it back,'" said Stefanie Heidebrink. "You don't even have to take a sip." Brynley certainly took more than a sip. When Heidebrink asked why she drank the whole thing, she responded, "I don't know." She added that she didn't like the taste. After many speculated it was grape juice, Heidebrink confirmed it was wine. The 7-year-old became an overnight celebrity with even one of her teachers telling her that they saw her on national television. When asked if her daughter felt any different, Heidebrink said,"A little bit more talkative than normal, but she obviously ate her spaghetti and she slept really good that night." One user added, "She is a legend in the making."
TikTok users couldn't get enough of the video. "She probably thought you had to drink it all 😂😂," wrote one person. "She’s going to think about this exact moment for the rest of her life," commented another. "Father was getting concerned there lol," joked another user. "The way she walked back is SENDING ME," wrote another user. "The way she walked back all sloshed 💀," commented one person. "The priest’s face 😳 “oh Lord, we’re going to be seeing this one in Confession a lot…” bwahahaha," joked another. Heidebrink herself joked that she got it from seeing her. "