Nikkie de Jager, better known as beauty guruNikkieTutorials, just gave her first on-air interview sincecoming out transgenderin aYouTubevideo earlier this month.
On Wednesday, the social media star — who has 13.1 million subscribers onYouTubeand 13.6 million followers onInstagram— appeared onThe Ellen DeGeneresshow, where she reflected on why she decided to go public with her private battle and said she hopes her story will inspire others.
“No it did not,” the talk show host said. “So the response has been fantastic, I know… good for you.”
de Jager agreed, adding that the amount of support she’s from fans and followers has been “unreal.” And although she did not disclose her transgender identity at the beginning of their relationship, the YouTuber star said her fiancé Dylan was actually the person who encouraged her to post the video.
“He was like, ‘You can do it’,” de Jager said of her future husband, who proposed during a trip to Italy over the summer. “He was like, ‘We’re going to get through this, you’re going to be okay, you’re going to do this’.”
DeGeneres then asked de Jager when she fist realized she was “in the wrong body.” To which the beauty guru replied that she was “just always so confused,” adding that her mom was supportive and allowed her to express her female identity at a young age: “I’m really grateful because I know that’s not the case for everybody out there,” she said.
EllenTube
de Jager told DeGenres that she planned to share her truth eventually, but wasn’t sure if the right time to address such a “delicate” matter would come.
“In a way…I am thankful that it happened now,” she explained. “Now I get to be free.”
“I want to take this opportunity to hopefully inspire a lot of transgender people out there,” the YouTuber continued. “Even when you’re starting later on in your journey, we need to accept that…As long as I get to be myself and inspire little Nikkie’s to be [themselves], that’s all I can do.”
de Jager thanked DeGenres for allowing her to share her story. And at the end of the segment, the talk show host announced that Shutterfly made a $10,000 donation toThe Trevor Project(a non-profit that provides resources to LGBTQ+ youth) on de Jager’s behalf.
“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 at the beginning of the clip. “And it looks like that chance has been taken away from me. So today I am taking back my own power.”
Nikkie Tutorials/Instagram
“When I was younger, I was born in the wrong body which means that I am transgender. Now, so surreal saying this. Filming this video is scary but it feels so liberating and freeing,” de Jager said.
“I am NikkieTutorials and I am Nikkie,” she continued. “I am me. We don’t need labels. If we are going to put a label on it, yes, I am transgender. But at the end of the day, I am me. And at the end of the day, you are you.”
source: people.com
