YouTube Stars You Didn't Realize Passed Away

Feelings Drama

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00:01There's something about the intimate relationship between a YouTuber and their audience that

00:04always makes their deaths a shock.

00:06Many YouTubers, both young and old, are taken too soon.

00:09Here are a few YouTube stars you may not have realized are gone.

00:13Will Norton

00:15In May 2011, a devastating tornado swept through the city of Joplin, Missouri, reducing homes

00:19to rubble and taking the lives of 158 people, including popular YouTuber Will Norton.

00:25The witty 18-year-old was in the middle of his high school graduation when the weather

00:28outside started to turn, and after accepting his diploma, he and his father Mark headed

00:33home as fast as they could.

00:34Sadly, they couldn't get there quick enough.

00:36The powerful winds flipped the vehicle onto its side, breaking Will's seatbelt and leaving

00:40him dangerously exposed.

00:42Despite his father's attempts to hold onto him, Will was sucked through the sunroof of

00:46his vehicle.

00:47His body was later discovered in a nearby pond, concealed by debris.

00:50His aunt Tracy Pressler later said at a press conference,

00:53At least we know that he wasn't out there suffering.

00:55Knowing that he was gone right away was really a blessing for us.

00:58Sophie Anderson

01:00British YouTuber Sophie Anderson, aka Sophie Emma Rose to her subscribers, ran her channel

01:06from the sunny beaches of Phuket, southern Thailand, giving parenting advice that sometimes

01:10proved controversial.

01:11The 41-year-old was six months pregnant when the scooter she was on collided with an 18-wheeler

01:15truck, killing her and her unborn child.

01:1829-year-old boyfriend Danny Glass said in a 2017 Facebook post,

01:22"'I am in total shock, as I've lost the most precious person I had ever connected with.

01:26My brain keeps going into denial.

01:28I am distraught.

01:29She was also pregnant, so I lost my child, too.'"

01:32Tamisha Ridge

01:33YouTube DIY fashion icon Tamisha Ridge was attracting millions of viewers to her DIY Misha

01:39channel when she was murdered by a bitter ex-boyfriend with a history of violence.

01:43In May 2014, the 31-year-old mother was found in her home with a fatal gunshot wound to the

01:48head, inflicted by a man with five previous convictions for domestic abuse against multiple

01:52women dating back to 2002.

01:54A stint behind bars did nothing to break his pattern of violence toward women, as he would

01:58later murder Ridge, a bubbly fashionista and mother of three.

02:02Caleb LeBlanc

02:03Described by The Guardian as an online, middle-class version of the Kardashians, the LeBlanc family,

02:09who used the name Brataley online, has over 4.9 million subscribers, and their vlogs used

02:14to focus on the three Brataley children, Annie, Hailey, and Caleb.

02:18That all changed on October 1, 2015, when his parents revealed a family tragedy on their

02:23Instagram, saying,

02:24"'Yesterday at 7.08 p.m., Caleb Logan Brataley passed away of natural causes.

02:29This has come as a shock to all of us.

02:31Parents cannot describe how much we will miss him.

02:33His incredibly funny, loving, and wonderful spirit made us all fall in love with him as

02:37a YouTuber, friend, brother, and son."

02:40The following day, the last video Caleb recorded was posted, entitled, Dear Future Self.

02:45As the 13-year-old's fans began the grieving process, conspiracy theorists started to spread

02:49stories of foul play.

02:51In the end, local police were forced to release a statement confirming that there were no suspicious

02:55factors in Caleb's death, and that no criminal investigations were underway.

03:00Connie Kin

03:01The haul videos that Connie Kin did for the What's Up Mom's page made her famous among

03:05mothers on the internet.

03:06The parenting channel has over 1.7 million subscribers, but it lost one of its most popular

03:11contributors back in 2013, when Kin passed away after giving birth to her second child,

03:15Ella.

03:16According to her husband Andrew, the bubbly vlogger was taken by an infection as a complication

03:21from childbirth.

03:22He continued,

03:23I can't measure all of these videos and comments, because I know Nathan and Ella will always

03:26be just a click away from seeing their mom smiling and caring about them, and a click

03:30away from understanding all the people she touched.

03:33Tamika Moore

03:34Known to YouTube as Michi Monroe, Tamika Moore's channel featured hairstyle tips and tutorials.

03:40She started out in the fall of 2010, and by early 2014, she was attracting viewers in

03:45the millions.

03:46But her life and online career were turned upside down later that year.

03:49Shortly before her 29th birthday, Moore began to notice one side of her face was drooping,

03:54and she was having trouble with her speech.

03:56The doctors had bad news.

03:57She had suffered three strokes.

03:59After performing some exploratory surgery, they diagnosed her with an extremely rare form

04:04of brain cancer, and knowing the treatment would make her hair fall out, she voluntarily

04:08shaved her head and donated it to Locks of Love.

04:11Moore told People,

04:12I cried.

04:13It was very difficult because my hair was so much a part of my personality.

04:16I was calm, but worried.

04:18These thoughts kept going through my head.

04:19Will I make it?

04:20I have to keep faith.

04:21The Chicago-based vlogger bravely fought cancer, before finally succumbing to it, in June 2017,

04:27aged just 32.

04:29Justin Carmichael

04:31Gamer Justin Carmichael was part of the first generation of YouTube gamers, well-known for

04:35his enthusiastic You Can Play This series, in which he would import video games from Japan

04:39and teach people how to play them without knowing the language.

04:42Off-camera, he was having suicidal thoughts, and he acted on them in January 2014.

04:47His wife Jenny wrote on Facebook,

04:48It is with a very sad heart that I must confirm my husband, Justin Carmichael, died on Thursday,

04:53January 23rd.

04:55You all made him so happy.

04:56Every time he was recognized from his videos, it made him giddy with joy.

05:00Peter Oakley

05:01Affectionately known to his subscribers as the granddad of the internet, Peter Oakley

05:05made his first contribution to YouTube back in 2006, when he posted a fuzzy video entitled

05:10First Try.

05:11The British vlogger asked the YouTube community for help and advice in shaping his channel,

05:15Geriatric1927, and word of the chatty pensioner soon spread, with more than 3 million people

05:21watching his debut video.

05:22After feedback, Oakley decided to use the video-sharing platform to tell his story, taking his viewers

05:27on journeys into his childhood in wartime Britain, but people also tuned in to hear his gripes

05:31about the modern world.

05:32He told The Independent,

05:33There are millions of people without grandparents who find small comfort in old, simple stories.

05:38I have had my 15 minutes of fame, and enjoyed every minute of it.

05:42In 2014, a notice appeared on Oakley's website, confirming what his subscribers had feared when

05:46they hadn't heard from him in a while, which read,

05:48Peter has just been transferred to a nursing care facility, he has cancer, which is apparently

05:52too far advanced for treatment, and he is not expected to pull through.

05:56He signed off his final video with some typically British stiff upper lip.

05:59Sort of in conclusion, I would say my possibly final goodbye, so, goodbye.

06:18Thank you very much.

06:19Love the

06:22you

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