Okay, I've finally caught up on the shitstorm, and all I can say is... wow. Fucking wow.
It's weird, because this sort of fandom culture of having "families" with mothers and fathers and children would be something I'd see a lot, all the way up until early Tumblr. I never really thought much of it because I assumed these were all teenagers with, perhaps, a few developmentally delayed young adults; the kinds of adults that their teenage years really don't feel like they were that long ago, and they're still kind of stuck in that mindset. Steph definitely strikes me as being that exact kind of person, and add to that the feeling of there being something very off with Steph mentally, and you have a recipe for clumsily overstepping boundaries.
But then Steph completely pole-vaults over said boundaries by convincing not, say, 17 or 16 year olds, but 12-14 year olds, that she's the ghost of Michael Jackson, and she seemingly gets drunk off of the adoration that brings. Most people who attract a swarm of adolescent fans usually have some sort of talent within the fandom, whether it be art, writing, cosplay, or whatever. Steph didn't really have any of this. So, kind of like Vade and her crowd of flunkies, she just assumes the identity of the thing they love, and because kids are stupid and suggestible, they fucking believe her, and it just goes straight to her head.
I still don't think Steph is attracted to children technically; rather, I think she's attracted to very gullible people who are intellectually below her but about as emotionally mature as she is. It just so happens almost everyone that falls into that category is either underage or severely mentally ill. Steph's not smart or charming enough to manipulate the average adult. She's 30 years old but she might as well be 16 mentally, given her behavior and her views on everything from religion to social issues. I think, if given the opportunity, Steph absolutely would rather go after the hot, older guys with the strong jawline that she fawns over, but none of them would even give her a second glance, and she has absolutely nothing to offer them. So she has to make do with what she can get.
All of this to say that Steph is an opportunist above all else, which, in a way, is even slimier than her being an outright pedo. She just wants power over someone. That's why she casts spells and convinces herself she has magic powers. It's why most of her lovers are dead, so that she can be in complete control of them and how they behave. It's why she tries to make herself more important by bragging about people she knows. But unfortunately, actual grown-ups don't buy into her shtick. But children do.
Ain't that some shit?