James Charles asks fans to stop showing up at his house
Frazer Harrison/Getty
Openly gay make-up artist, model and YouTuber James Charles has asked fans to stop turning up at his house looking for autographs and photos.
The star made the plea in a tweet on Sunday, saying: “I will not hug you, I will not take a photo with you, and I absolutely will not sign your palette.
“It is extremely disrespectful & makes me feel very unsafe in my own home. Respect people’s privacy, it’s really not that hard.”
The tweet has been liked or retweeted over 300,000 times.
James Charles is a 19 year old make-up artist, model and internet personality, and is known for being the first male CoverGirl spokesperson as well as for his YouTube videos.
After launching his YouTube channel in 2015, he quickly amassed a huge following online. His YouTube channel now has over 11 million subscribers.
He also has more than 11 million followers on Instagram and has 2.34 million followers on Twitter.
James Charles’ coming out story
Charles shared his coming out story in a YouTube video last May, and told fans that he came out to his parents when he was just 12.
He explained: “When I was younger, I think in around sixth grade, I was 12 years old at the time, I was hormonal. I had just gone through puberty, and just like every other boy I was going through that stage of life.
“Clearly at this point, in my own head, I had figured out that I was not exactly interested in the sisters, and I was definitely down for the brothers.”
He went on to explain that he started using a webcam chatroom to talk with bloggers he admired online, but soon realised that many were using it for sexual purposes.
Makeup artist and model James Charles asks fans to stop showing up at his house (Frazer Harrison/Getty)
Charles also explained that he never showed himself on webcam, and that one night, his father walked in on him on the website.
“All of a sudden, in the middle of doing my business, tickling the pickle, my door slams open and there is my father in the doorway looking very concerned, and there is me standing right in front of my computer which is in the same line of view as my door, butt naked, with the screen lit up right in front of me.
“There it was. The closet door was flung open and outran me. Unintentionally.”
— James Charles
“All he said was, ‘You need to turn that off and go to bed right now.’ So I said, ‘Got it sir, goodnight, love you the most,’ and I ran my little naked butt into my bed and shut my eyes and cried myself to sleep.”
The next day, his parents asked to see his internet history, which led to the revelation that he was gay.
“There it was. The closet door was flung open and outran me. Unintentionally,” he said.
Charles finished the video by telling his followers that he never used the webcam chatroom again after his parents asked him not to.
James Charles on the Ellen DeGeneres Show
After he became the first male CoverGirl in 2016, James Charles appeared on The Ellen DeGeneres Show.
“I’ve been posting on my Instagram account for about a year now, posting makeup pictures every day,” Charles told Ellen.
“After my pictures went viral, I guess CoverGirl saw them and here we are.”
— James Charles
“After my pictures went viral, I guess CoverGirl saw them and here we are,” he explained.
“When I first told my parents I wanted to do makeup as well, that was a big thing. They were like, ‘Oh, you know we love you no matter what, if you’re trans you can tell us.’ And I was like, ‘It’s okay, I’m not.’
“It took a lot of explaining and a lot of understanding because men in makeup is obviously a new concept that has not been widely accepted in the past so it’s just a learning process. My parents understood what I wanted to do as a career and that I was expressing myself.”
