"Rugrats," a light-hearted Nickelodeon animated series focusing on the daily lives of a group of bubbly toddlers is a staple of many children's childhoods, and also happens to be the subject of an alarming conspiracy theory. The theory even expands into the "Rugrats" sequel show, "All Grown Up." To sum it up, all the rugrats in the show are dead and are simply the hallucinations of a paranoid schizophrenic Angelica.
In the show Angelica Pickles is spoiled by her parents, Drew and Charlotte Pickles, but the theory states that her real mother died of a heroin overdose just after Angelica was born. Drew remarried to Charlotte, who is a gold-digging prostitute idolized by Angelica because Angelica desperately wants to believe that Charlotte is her real mother. In addition, Angelica is attached to and obsessed with her doll Cynthia who is designed in the image of what Angelica remembers of her real mother - the doll wears a dirty orange dress and has unsightly hair. Because of her biological mother's heroin habit, Angelica is a "crack baby" and as a result was born a paranoid schizophrenic. Her mental illness and the trauma Angelica suffered gave way to a dire need to escape from a depressing reality, so Angelica creates friendly companions who let her forget about the real world. These companions are the other rugrats.
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Chuckie Finster is the son of Chas Finster, but in reality Chuckie died with his mother and as a result Chas developed several anxiety disorders. This is why Chas is constantly portrayed as being nervous and timid in the show. Angelica likely created Chuckie in the image of Chas, which is why the two physically resemble each other so much. In "Rugrats in Paris," Chas meets and marries Kira and together they have Kimi, Chuckie's stepsister. The theory states that Kira is actually a prostitute addicted to cocaine, and Kimi was taken by police due to Kira's addiction. The image of Kimi is created by Angelica from Kira's stories of her.
Phil and Lil DeVille are the boy-girl twins of Betty and Howard DeVille. In reality, Betty and Howard had an abortion so Angelica, unsure of what the gender of the baby was going to be, created a male and female version of the same child who look the same and have similar names.
Tommy Pickles is Angelica's cousin and is the son of Didi and Stu Pickles. Tommy was actually a stillborn. In his distress, Stu (a toy maker) began making toys for a son who never lived. Tommy's little brother Dil is the one rugrat who was actually real. Angelica could not discern that Dil wasn't one of her creations. When Dil did not obey Angelica's demands and disappear on command when Angelica became angry with him, Angelica hit him so hard it caused him a brain hemorrhage and a physical head deformity. Because of this, in "All Grown Up" Dil is ridiculed for being weird and mentally-challenged.
Susie is Angelica's friend from school and is also her understanding rival. She is more liked by the toddlers than Angelica, or at least that's how Angelica perceives it. Susie goes along with Angelica's hallucinations because Susie sees how the creations make Angelica happy. According to the theory, Susie later becomes a psychologist and teams with Nickelodeon to write the show.
In "All Grown Up," Angelica becomes hooked on drugs in her teenage years. This aggravates her schizophrenia causing the images of her creations to reappear as the same children, but older. The drug use was likely brought on by Angelica's traumatic childhood, mental illness and guilt over the incident with Dil. Angelica follows in her mother's footsteps and dies of a drug overdose at 13 when "All Grown Up" ends. Her last days were spent surrounded by the images of her creations - the vehicles for her desperate escape from a sad and dismal reality.
