YouTube star Nikkie de Jager, better known to her YouTube and social media followers as NikkieTutorials, revealed she is transgender.
She revealed her transgender identity to her 12.5 million YouTube subscribers in an emotional 17-minute video, titled “I’m Coming Out.”
She posted the video to her YouTube channel on Monday.
The YouTube beauty vlogger, who also has 13 million followers on Instagram, told her fans she did not reveal her transgender identity earlier because she always wanted her YouTube channel to be about her art and not about herself.
But she decided to come out and tell her story after some people attempted to blackmail her by threatening to leak her secret.
“Today, I am here to share something with you that I’ve always wanted to share with you one day, but under my own circumstances,” she said. “And it looks like, that chance has been taken away from me. So today I am taking back my own power.”
Nikkie said she wanted to start 2020 with the truth.
“When I was younger, I was born in the wrong body, which means that I am transgender.”
Nikkie said that when her mom was pregnant with her she thought she was having a girl and was surprised when she eventually gave birth to a boy.
Nikkie said she had identified as a girl since she was a very young child. She had always been “girlie” and was interested in hobbies and other activities that people considered appropriate only for girls.
Nikkie said her mom was supportive and that her mom had believed she would either be gay or a “different type of story.” She thanked her mom for her love and support while she was growing up.
Her teachers were also supportive, but some of the kids at school did not understand. Despite the challenges, Nikkie started receiving hormones when she was 14 years old and she had fully transitioned by the time she was 19 years old.
She went on to express regret that she did not come out earlier to her fiance Dylan. But she assured her fans that they were resolving the issues privately and that Dylan was understanding. Dylan, as Nikkie’s fans know, recently proposed to her during a summer trip to Italy.
She also told her fans that she took the step to reveal the truth after she was blackmailed. She did not name her alleged blackmailers but she sent a message to them by raising a middle finger.