On January 13 2020, YouTube star Nikkie de Jager — known to her fans as NikkieTutorials — revealed in a 17-minute video that she is transgender:
At the start of the clip, de Jager intimated that while she planned to disclose that information in time, undisclosed external factors influenced her decision to make the video and explain things to her fans after having hosted her popular channel for eleven years.
A few minutes into the video, de Jager said that while her mother was pregnant, she believed she was having a girl. Subsequently, de Jager explained that she began early transitioning around the age of seven, and had fully transitioned by 17.
From there, de Jager described feeling “trapped” during those years, due to the fact she felt forced to explain transitioning to adults as a child and young woman. Throughout the video, she references those years as a partial factor in her reluctance to discuss being transgender. However, she noted that many teachers and other adults were accepting and understanding of her period of transition as a young girl and young woman.
She then segued into discussion about her relationship with partner Dylan, noting that she did not plan to disclose much about that relationship in the future despite her decision to delve into highly personal matters. Calling her relationship a “private matter,” de Jager said that she initially did not discuss her transition with her partner, and she urged her fans in similar situations to have similar discussions with their partners.
Later on in the video, de Jager stated outright that she had been blackmailed by unidentified parties who planned to leak her personal information to the press. Of those threats, de Jager said she was frightened and unnerved by them before deciding to be candid with her millions of fans.
In under an hour on January 13 2020, NikkieTutorials/Nikkie de Jager’s video racked up nearly half a million views. She concluded the video with a common feature at the end of her clips, “Dutch word of the day.” For that clip, de Jager chose “vrouw,” or “woman.”