Who Are Claire Fierman & Mallie Tucker, Natalee Holloway’s Friends?

Natalee Holloway’s friends Claire Fierman and Mallie Tucker are featured in the Reelz special “Natalee Holloway: Her Friends Speak,” airing on Sunday, May 31 at 9/8c.

Reelz’s official synopsis for the episode teases “Natalee Holloway mysteriously disappeared while on a school trip in Aruba back in 2005. How did this popular and responsible Alabama honors student completely vanish? Evidence points to the man Natalee was last seen with, Joran Van Der Sloot. What happened on Natalee’s last night on earth? How did Joran Van Der Sloot walk away from his crime? We hear from the people who knew Natalee to get their story.”

Here’s what you need to know about Claire Fierman and Mallie Tucker:

1. Claire & Mallie Met & Became Friends With Natalee in 8th Grade

When Glamour interviewed Claire and Mallie in 2010, they discussed their friendship with Natalee and how it all began. Claire said “Natalee moved to Mountain Brook in eighth grade, from tiny Clinton, Mississippi—and she kind of just fell into our group.”

The two revealed that the trio had come up with cute, playful nicknames for one another: Claire was “Party,” Mallie was “Tucka Mota,” and Natalee was “Hooty.”

2. Claire Was on the Aruba Trip With Natalee When She Disappeared

In an interview with Glamour, Fierman revealed that while Mallie was unable to attend the Aruba trip, she was there with Natalee. She said:

“Our hotel had a casino that we all went to the last night of the trip. We found out after Natalee disappeared that Joran was a regular gambler there. Then I left, and Natalee went to Carlos’n Charlie’s with some of the others. I was in the hotel lobby at 1:00 A.M., watching everyone come home. But I didn’t think, Where’s Natalee? The next morning, most of us, rushing to pack our toothbrushes, didn’t know Natalee hadn’t come home; we were focused on getting to the airport. But Natalee’s roommate and another friend sure did.”

3. Natalee Worked at Mallie’s Mom’s Grocery Store

According to the New York Post, Mallie Tucker’s mom Vivian hired Natalee to work at her grocery store.

In a blog post, Tucker explained that she and her friends were devastated when her mom wouldn’t let her go on the senior trip to Aruba. She wrote “I asked my Mom to give me one good reason why I couldn’t go. She told me she was afraid that I wouldn’t make it back home safely. My friends and I would laugh about her reasoning. They even tried to put together a fund to support my trip, but I lost the battle and was not able to go to Aruba.”

4. Claire Currently Works as a Licensed Therapist in Alabama

According to Claire Fierman’s Psychology Today profile, she is currently working as a licensed professional counselor based out of Birmingham, Alabama. In her profile, she writes “Hi! I’m Claire! I am a Licensed Professional Counselor located in Birmingham, Alabama, specializing in the treatment of trauma, anxiety, depression and substance abuse disorders. My clinical practice and expertise stems from my own personal therapeutic work. About 15 years ago, I decided to take a deep dive into my own darkness, and I have continued to do so over and over again. The more I can tell my truth and look at all my yuckiness, the better I feel. I decided to deal to heal. I’m here to help you do the same.”

While she does not explicitly reference Natalee, Natalee disappeared in 2005, suggesting that that event from her past is what she is referring when she talks about the deep dive she took into her “own darkness” 15 years ago.

5. Mallie Tucker Is a Recovering Addict & Works as the Alumni Director of Ascend Recovery

Per Tucker’s bio on the Ascend Recovery website, “Mallie joined the Ascend team in 2013, after packing her car and driving from Birmingham, AL. After years of struggle, pain, and multiple interventions, Mallie decided to give up on her battle with drugs and alcohol and realized how powerful and crippling addiction can be. She discovered Ascend a few years before when she met the Salter family in the mountains of Utah and, after hearing about the program, had an overwhelming feeling that she needed to be a part of the Ascend family.”

According to her Linkedin Profile, Tucker graduated from the University of Montevallo with a Bachelor of Arts degree in psychology.

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