Nikkie de Jager, the Dutch beauty influencer known as NikkieTutorials, has revealed she transitioned during her teens in a personal video uploaded to her YouTube channel.
The 25-year-old said that she had decided to share the information publicly in an attempt to “take back her own power” after being blackmailed by people who wanted to leak her story to the press.
In the 17min video, titled I’m Coming Out, Jager explained: “It is time to let go and be truly free. When I was younger I was born in the wrong body, which means I am transgender.”
She continued: “Filming this video is scary but it feels so liberating and freeing. 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.
“There was always going to be the day where I would tell you. I did not expect that day to be today. But here we are. I am NikkieTutorials and I am Nikkie, I am me, we don’t need labels.”
De Jager explained she transitioned while ‘on YouTube’ and paid tribute to her mother, who she said had supported her throughout the process.
Followers react
Followers of NikkieTutorials expressed their support for the influencer on social media, but also their sadness that de Jager had been forced into coming out before she was ready.
Fuck the asshole that tried blackmailing Nikkie to come out when she wasn’t ready yet.
— Lilith Fury? (@lilith_fury) January 13, 2020
A lot of us already knew, or suspected, and didn’t give two shits.
A lot of us were also surprised, and.... still don’t give two shits. She is a beautiful woman. Period. #nikkietutorials
So proud of Nikkie coming out, especially with it being such a brave thing to do at this point in her career on top of everything else. I'm just saddened that someone felt the need to try to blackmail her as if any of this was anyone's buisness but her own ? #nikkietutorials https://t.co/QieKqz6k2K
— Emily Hinchey (@tired_penguins) January 13, 2020
De Jager explained at the end of the video that she had wanted to share her story in her own time but, she said: "It was frightening to know that there are some people out there that are so evil that they can't respect someone's true identity. It is vile, and it is gross. And I know that you are watching this.
"They said they wanted to leak it because I am lying or I don't want to tell my truth or because they feel like I'm too scared to tell people who I really am. I'm not scared."
She finished by raising her middle finger and added: "I hope you can sit nice on this".
Too Faced backlash
Despite the positive reception of de Jager's announcement, the sister of cosmetics brand Too Faced's co-founder Jerrod Balndino has come under fire for a comment she posted shortly afterwards.
Changing her Instagram bio, Blandino's sister, who uses the name Dani California @makupprincess, wrote: "Transgender huh? That's not the only thing she's been LYING about."
It is rumoured that the negativity stems from a past disagreement between de Jager and the brand, which reportedly underpaid the influencer for her work on a make-up palette collaboration.
The bio change was screenshotted by gossip Instagram feed hereforthetea2.