Keep shining! YouTube star Nikkie de Jager (a.k.a. NikkieTutorials) says she wants to “inspire” people after releasing her coming out video, where she revealed that she is transgender. The beauty vlogger sat down with Ellen DeGeneres to dish on what her experience has been like and what she hopes to achieve by taking control of her personal story.
“I want to take this opportunity to hopefully inspire a lot of transgender people out there,” the makeup guru, 25, explained to the show host, 61, during the January 22 episode.
In Nikkie’s January 13 video — which has amassed almost 32 million views — she acknowledged that she simply wants to live freely. “I wanted to be my own person. My own identity. My own human being without any rules, without any labels, without any restrictions. It is a brand new year. It is 2020,” she said.
Her message of acceptance goes out to everyone, no matter where they are in life. “Even when you’re starting later on in your journey … we need to accept that,” she added while on The Ellen DeGeneres Show. “And, it’s hard. I don’t know, it’s only been a week — I don’t know where this is going to go. I don’t know where I fit in in this magical world, but as long as I get to be myself, and inspiring little Nikkies to be [themselves], that’s all I can do.”
The comedian was equally inspired by the YouTuber. “And, you will. You will inspire a lot of people,” Ellen promised.
Nikkie confessed in her original video that the push to come out happened after someone tried to blackmail her because she was “lying.” Luckily, the vlogger took her story into her own hands. “I feel like his entire goal with this was to destroy my life. But, plot twist, that didn’t happen,” Nikkie admitted on the talk show. “I put it up … and people were like, ‘We love you. We accept you.’ And, I was so happy that it’s 2020 and the acceptance is real.”
She also gushed that her fiancé, Dylan, served as a huge support system. “He really pushed me to post it and he was like, ‘We’re going to get through this. You’re going to be OK. You’re going to do this.'”
We can’t wait to see what’s next for Nikkie!