Sex, cigarettes and sneaking out all colored Kristen White’s adolescence in the late 1990s.
Scolds from older sister Noelle didn’t inspire the then-high school sophomore to fix up her act. Pleas from her cancer-stricken mother, Toni, fell on deaf ears.
A wayward White — who behaved badly sans fear of retribution due to her mom’s failing health — even once threatened her family with a knife.
But a 1999 appearance on the “Maury” show finally scared the then-16-year-old New Jerseyan straight.
“I got booed by the audience, drill sergeants screamed in my face, and I then was taken away to boot camp,” White, now 40, told The Post.
“It was a scary experience,” she continued. “But it gave me the wake-up call I needed.”
And 25 years later, the televised intervention continues to have an indelible impact on White’s life — as well as on social media.
As the Y2K renaissance roars on, seeing Gen Zs and Gen Alphas rediscover 2000s fashions and fads, snippets of shows from the early aughts are also enjoying a second act online.
Freshly exhumed footage of Tyra Banks reprimanding “America’s Next Top Model” contestants. Hot takes on Ross and Rachel’s will-they-won’t-they “Friends” romance. Questionable clips from family dramas like “Touched by an Angel” and “7th Heaven.” Each has recently resurfaced to viral acclaim.
And throwback moments from “Maury” are top-trending, too.
Helmed by host Maury Povich, 85 — and filmed in Midtown during its first 18 seasons — the daytime talk show dazzled audiences for 31 seasons from 1991 until the Emmy winner’s retirement in 2022.
It was a must-see, mid-morning show that millennials and up faithfully watched during sick days home from school or work.
Jaws dropped at episodes featuring unruly teens, like White, wantonly defying their parents. Waves of shock hit viewers when Povich famously declared “You are not the father” to maybe-dads seeking DNA paternity tests.
In its heyday, the real-life stories of show guests served as an amuse-bouche for the reality TV blowout that would erupt in the 2010s.
“I am so proud of what the ‘Maury’ show has done in turning people’s lives around,” Povich recently told The Post.
“The reason we did the out-of-control teen segments was an effort to change these young people’s lives — many times the shows were successful.
“The same can be said for the DNA segments,” added the legend. “Many of the fathers, who at first denied the child, entered those children’s lives after a positive result.”
However, Casie Greer, a Texas mother of triplets, didn’t have such luck.
She appeared on “Maury” in 2008 after her ex-boyfriend, Casey, denied siring their then-2-year-old trio comprised of two daughters and one son.
And despite Povich’s “You are the gather” proclamation, Greer claims her ex hasn’t contributed much to the rearing of their tribe, now age 17.
“My baby daddy is an avid freaking child support runner,” the blond explained to over 1.1 million TikTok viewers in a post just last month, alleging that Casey is more than $84,000 in childcare arrears. Greer did not immediately respond to The Post’s request for comment.
Still, she says Povich made her brief stint on the small screen worthwhile.
“Maury took care of us,” Greer recalled about the experience in a separate video. “He put us up in our own [hotel] room, fed us, gave us diapers — all expenses paid.”
White had a similarly white-glove venture through daytime TV land, too — until they hauled her butt off to a correctional facility in the Midwest, that is.
“Maury’s team picked my mother, sister and me up from our home in a limo and drove us into the city,” White, from Marlton, New Jersey, told The Post. “I came out on stage screaming and cursing.
“But Maury was very kind.“
With her mom’s blessing, Povich sent White to Kansas for 48 hours of intense workouts, grueling chores and harsh reality checks under the supervision of military officers.
“They made us dig our own graves,” said White, adding, however, that the whistle-blowing tyrants enforced the grim task out of love. “They told us we’d end up here if we didn’t change our ways. I could tell they really cared.”
Following the ordeal, White quit hanging with the wrong crowd, avoided trouble and reconciled with her mother — who tragically died from ovarian cancer a few years after appearing on the program.
White, now a mom of two and cosmetologist living in Florida, is grateful to the “Maury” show for changing her life.
“It was a blessing,” she said. “My mom was so sick at the time, and if I hadn’t been on ‘Maury,’ maybe we wouldn’t have the best friendship we formed after I stopped misbehaving.”
White is still grateful that her mother witnessed at least some of her post-“Maury” positive change.
“Mom got to see me change before she left this world,” White chimed. “She was there when I had my first baby, she was there for my wedding.
“And now, I can re-watch that ‘Maury’ clip and hear her voice — telling me she loves me.”
