James Charles explains why he needed to take a break from the internet

Beauty influencer James Charles has revealed why he’s now uploading less on YouTube, saying he had to take a step back from the internet to focus on himself.

James Charles is without a doubt one of the biggest beauty creators in the YouTube community. He started making videos in December 2015, and since then he has gone on to collab with plenty of famous faces and has racked up over 24 million subscribers.

However, although the influencer has a large following, he has also faced a number of controversies over the years.

Most recently he took a break from the internet as a whole after he was accused of “grooming” multiple underage boys, leading to an avalanche of backlash. He returned to posting on YouTube in July, but with a reduced upload schedule.

In a new video with Hollywood Fix, Charles has explained why he needed to take a step back from the internet, and why he’s decreased his number of weekly uploads over the years.

“I’m okay,” he said. “I took a break for a while but it was definitely much needed. We came back a couple of months ago and I’ve just been taking it really really slow.”

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He went on to add: “It’s been really nice. I used to post three videos a week a couple of years ago, then I went down to two, now I only do one. But it’s been really nice to just have a lot more time to just focus on myself and my makeup brand and all the products that I’m working on.

“Like I was literally at the point of overworking myself so much to the point of exhaustion. Which was fun, like I really had the mentality that that was the recipe for happiness and success. So I’m really glad that I’ve been focusing on more things that bring me happiness, and not so worried about all the work aspect and stuff.”

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When asked whether he thinks people were trying to “cancel” him, James replied that “that happens all the time on the internet,” and that he just needed to take a “step away.”

James has been back for several months now, with videos exploring not just beauty trends and challenges but also responding to some of his most viral moments.