Whatever you do, don’t call YouTuber Emma Chamberlain an “influencer”!
Speaking to Cosmopolitan in a cover interview for the mag’s February 2020 issue, the budding internet sensation opened up about her complicated relationship with the term “influencer,” being that she is one herself and, at the same time, finds it “kind of disgusting.”
The 18-year-old California native, who has a cool 8.5 million followers and counting on Instagram, explained:
“If someone is calling me an influencer, they’re saying that my job is to influence, and I don’t think that’s true. I prefer to entertain and be a friend. I don’t want to influence.”
Umm… if your entertainment and friendship has an effect on people, then you are, by definition, influencing them, gurl.
But let’s not get hung up on semantics!
Related: YouTuber Lia Marie Johnson Raises Concerns After Unsettling Live Streams
The influ… ahem, *internet exhibitionist* went on to discuss the importance about not taking herself too seriously. She explained:
“I mean, I make fun of YouTubers and I am one. I think of it as, Why not play into it? If you can’t beat them, join them?”
That’s the spirit!
Chamberlain has had quite the wide ride to internet superstardom: she uploaded her first video to her YouTube channel in 2017 and, in the years since, has garnered over 8 million subscribers and nearly 1 billion total views.
But, of course, she’s also had to deal with her personal struggles, like mental health and body image issues.
She said of the toxic, body-obsessed culture of El Lay, where she creates content:
“It’s a bloodbath. Living in L.A., if you’re at an unhealthy weight, that’s normal. That’s really, really, really a mindf**k, for sure.”
That’s why she’s setting herself apart from other influencers by refusing to advertise weight-loss products or anything of the sort.
Chamberlain explained:
“Like, your grind is your grind, and I’m not going to get in the way of that. I just think that growing up on social media gave me eating issues as a kid. I literally have struggled with that my whole life. Almost every person I’ve met has had some form of an eating disorder. I mean, I’ve had… I don’t want to trigger anyone, but so many.”
The social star also recalled her issues with body dysmorphia and the negative effects of face-editing apps like Facetune, explaining:
“I’ve been fully not at a healthy weight and I thought I was obese multiple times. It’s awful. My whole family was telling me I looked terrible. They were like, ‘You look like you’re dying.’ I was like, ‘I think I look great.'”
Thankfully, the teen has since given up using “photo manipulation software,” because her fans don’t “need to think I look like that. I look the way I look.”
If you ask us, she looks pretty stunning on the cover of Cosmo (below)!
Would U consider her an influencer, Perezcious readers?
[Image via Instagram]
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