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I think it’s safe to say that as one of most popular kid’s shows of all time the Rugrats cartoon was a big part of many people’s childhood.
The adventures that the Rugrats babies got into, usually at the instigation of Angelica the bully, was played every day on Nickelodeon and people loved it.
But I gotta admit that I never thought about what the story behind the Rugrats could be until I got an email the other day from a reader named Jessica G. who asked:
Do you know whether the story about the Truth Behind The Rugrats is true or not?
I’ve read a few stories but they’re pretty much the same. I don’t want to believe that it’s true because I loved the Rugrats as I was growing up. Please enlighten me.
What story could this be? I hadn’t heard anything so I set out to do some research, what I found out was pretty shocking…
THE RUGRATS THEORY
It turns out that there’s a huge story that’s been going around about the real kids behind the Rugrats. Or actually, the story 
says only one child, Angelica, is real and the other kids are figments of her tormented imagination.
The story is called The Rugrats Theory:
The Rugrats were really a figment of Angelica’s imagination.
Chuckie died a long time ago along with his mother, that’s why Chaz is such a nervous wreck all the time.
Tommy was stillborn and his dad Stu is in constant denial about it. So that’s why Stu is always in the basement making toys for the son who never had a chance to live.
The DeVilles had an abortion. Angelica couldn’t figure out whether it would have been a boy or a girl so she just made them twins named Phil and Lil.
The Rugrats Theory goes on like that, explaining things like how Angelica made her doll Cynthia look and act like her real mother, who one day just up and left the family and eventually got replaced by a very busy stepmother.
And how as she grew up she couldn’t handle all the tragedies that were happening around her so she fell deeper and deeper into her imaginary world as a way of not losing her mind. But it was already too late and she developed full blown multiple-personality disorder.
The Rugrats Theory is a pretty intense story and has become huge on Tumblr and Facebook, usually causing people who read the story to say “You’ve just ruined my childhood!” and that kind of thing.
I looked into it though and I’m happy to report that the story is an urban legend. Well…except for one thing, Angelica actually was a real girl.
THE REAL ANGELICA
Turns out that as a kid the real Angelica used to bully a guy named Paul Germain, the person who came up with the idea for the Rugrats.
She bullied him so much that he never forgot about her and when the Rugrats show needed a character to mix things up he put her in as the villain.
Some of the other people who worked on the show weren’t happy with Angelica being so real though, they thought that she should be nicer on the show and not say things like “You dumb babies!” all the time or do stuff like throw Tommy’s ball over the backyard fence.
But the guy who was bullied by the real Angelica fought hard to keep her character on the show more realistic. He thought that kids would understand what a real bully was like and benefit from seeing the reasons behind why she might be acting like that (like her parents being too busy to pay attention to her and spoiling 
her with toys instead).
Personally I think it’s kind of ironic that the guy who was bullied by Angelica in real life ended up fighting for her to be in the show. But I’m glad he did.
Even though she was a bully her actions were often the fuel for the the show and kept the other kids working together in their adventures. The Rugrats wouldn’t have been the same without her, don’t you think?
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Thank you so much for doing this research. : ) This makes a lot more sense than the “Rugrats Theory” lol. And I did learn from the rugrats that it wasn’t good to bully people. In all honesty I am thankful for Angelica’s characters because it taught me how not to behave.
Hi Jessica,
No problem, I’m glad you wrote me about The Rugrats Theory as it turned out to be a really interesting story that I’d never heard before. Interesting but twisted of course lol.
I’m happy that it was only an urban legend though, otherwise what a sad life Angelica would have had if it were anything like The Rugrats Theory!
It would be interesting to hear what the real Angelica’s life was like, to find out the reasons why she was such a bully to Paul Germain and if she changed her ways later on. Come to think of it, I wonder if she even knows that she was the inspiration for Angelica Pickles on the Rugrats…
Wowww!!! It was one of the cartoons I used to watch when kid too!! I loved it! what an interesting story!
Hi Nairim,
Glad you liked the story. Also that’s awesome I didn’t know that they even showed Rugrats in Venezuela. Rugrats is popular the world over apparently :).
Oh my goodness! I remember hearing the “Rugrat Theory” years and years ago. That was amazingly disturbing! I am so glad it’s not true.
Hi Lisa,
Yeah while I was doing research for this blog post I watched a few YouTube videos of people talking about their reaction to The Rugrats Theory…one girl was even crying it upset her that much. I wonder how old The Rugrats Theory is and who came up with it in the first place. Someone really creative but really twisted at the same time I bet.
This is the first time I heard about the Rugrats theory, OMG its disturbing, I also loved the rugrats growing up and overcame being bullied by standing by standing up for myself, I’m so glad that was just and Urban Legend.
Hi Melanie,
I agree The Rugrats Theory is pretty disturbing especially considering it was supposed to be the background story for a kids show. Urban legends seem to always have a strange or disturbing aspect to it, reminds me of the old show Tales From The Darkside or the Twilight Zone or something.
Glad that you were able to stand up to the bullying when you were younger, not an easy thing to do that’s for sure!
Criminy. I’m too old for this to have really been a part of my childhood, but it would’ve been ruined if any of the first parts had been true.
Angelica having been real is much, much easier to take than the earlier stuff.
Hi StumbleBum,
Yeah from what I saw the #1 comment by far on the postings out there of The Rugrats Theory is “You ruined my childhood!” Wish I could tell all those people that the story isn’t true.