On Monday afternoon, YouTuber NikkieTutorials released a video titled "I'm Coming Out," where she tells her over 12 million subscribers for the first time that she is trans.
"Filming this video scary, but it's so liberating and freeing," said NikkieTutorials, whose real name is Nikkie De Jager. "I've been wanting to share this side of myself to all of you for so long but I could never figure out the timing."
"Yes I am transgender," De Jager said, "But at the end of the day I am me."
De Jager went on in the 17-minute video to praise her mother and explain more about her childhood and her transition. She explained that in the 11 years she'd had her channel — and grew to one of the most subscribed beauty gurus on the platform — she had wanted to express this side of herself. She had not because she said she wanted the channel to be about her art.
"I wanted the art to do the speaking for me," she said. De Jager expressed that her channel will remain the same, but she did not want to hold back or have secrets. She continued, "From today on, you get me," and assured that she will be more open to her subscribers than ever.
De Jager started the video by saying she did not expect to tell her subscribers this today. Later in the video, she explained she did this because she was blackmailed. Apparently, the people blackmailing her told her that she was scared — and to that, she gave them the middle finger.
"I am free, and today I get to be me," she said.
Minutes after the video was posted it already had topped 300,000 views.
Topics LGBTQ
