YouTuber NikkieTutorials speaks about being blackmailed before coming out as transgender

‘I’m not thankful to the person who did this, but I am thankful that it happened now,’ make-up artist says

YouTuber Nikkie de Jager, otherwise known as NikkieTutorials, has spoken to Ellen DeGeneres about how she was blackmailed before coming out as transgender.

Earlier this month, the make-up artist shared a video on YouTube announcing that she was transgender, having been “born in the wrong body”.

The beauty vlogger stated that while she had wanted to share her news under her “own circumstances”, a blackmail threat meant her chance was “taken away” from her.

On Wednesday 22 January, de Jager appeared on The Ellen DeGeneres Show, where she spoke at greater length about the circumstances that led to her coming out.

The 25-year-old, who has around 13.1m YouTube subscribers, explained that she received messages from a “certain person” who wished to “expose” her identity.

“A couple of weeks ago I got emails from a certain person, who was not OK with the fact that I was ‘lying’ and wanted to expose that,” de Jager said.

“He had a very pressuring tone of voice, and he was like, ‘If I don’t get an answer by tomorrow, it’s out’.”

The Dutch make-up artist said she believed the blackmailer’s “entire goal” was to “destroy” her life.

“Plot twist, that didn’t happen!” she added.

When asked by DeGeneres whether she would have come out had she not been blackmailed, de Jager said that she had always wanted to reveal she is transgender, but hadn’t been sure when to make her announcement.

“I always wanted to come out with it, but it’s such a delicate thing, and there’s never the perfect time,” she said.

“In a a way, I’m not thankful to the person who did this, but I am thankful that it happened now and I get to be free.”

De Jager stated that she hopes her announcement will “inspire a lot of transgender people out there”, having described how “confused” she felt about her gender identity throughout her childhood.

After releasing her coming out video, the beauty vlogger received numerous messages of support from fans.

“Congratulations to Nikkie for coming out, I’m so deeply proud of her for being able to take her own narrative back for herself and be free, what a beautiful legend,” one person tweeted.

“Whoever blackmailed Nikkie made the fatal error of underestimating the power of a fearless, proud, unapologetic female,” another stated. “Can’t prey on shame if it doesn’t exist.”

It was recently reported that Too Faced Cosmetics co-founder Jerrod Blandino had cut ties with his sister after she made transphobic remarks about de Jager.

Following the release of de Jager’s coming out video, Blandino’s sister allegedly changed her Instagram bio to read: “Transgender huh? That’s not the only thing she’s been LYING about.”

Too Faced Cosmetics later shared a statement on social media from Blandino condemning the transphobic comments, outlining that his sister was “no longer an employee of Too Faced”.