Eugenia Cooney
Cooney in 2017
Born
Colleen Cooney

(1994-07-27) July 27, 1994
Boston, Massachusetts, U.S.
EducationConnections Academy
Occupations
Years active2011–present
YouTube information
Channel
Subscribers2.15 million[1]
Total views310.4 million[1]
100,000 subscribers2015
1,000,000 subscribers2016
Twitch information
Channel
Followers438,000
Last updated: November 11, 2023

Eugenia Sullivan Cooney (born Colleen Cooney;[2] July 27, 1994) is an American YouTuber and Internet personality. She was born in Massachusetts and is based in Greenwich, Connecticut, and Los Angeles, California. She initially began livestreaming on broadcasting service YouNow and eventually created a YouTube channel in 2011, which has more than 2 million subscribers. Known for her emo and gothic looks, as well as her eating disorder, Cooney's content mainly involves clothing hauls, beauty, cosplay, and vlogs of her daily life.

Life and career

Cooney was born Colleen Cooney on July 27, 1994, in Boston, Massachusetts.[3][4] Her first name was changed to Eugenia several months after her birth.[5] Throughout her childhood, Cooney didn't have many friends and was often the victim of bullying at school,[6][7] which caused her to switch schools multiple times and begin attending an online school after her first year of high school.[8][9] She transferred to Connections Academy and graduated in 2012.[10][11] Eugenia Cooney pursued modeling for a brief time in New York.[12][13] After being asked to remove her online presence and feeling overcontrolled, Cooney decided to instead focus on her online career.[14]

Cooney began her online presence in 2011 by livestreaming on broadcasting service YouNow, later creating her YouTube channel that same year.[15] In 2013, she uploaded a video titled "How to Ratchetly Twerk",[16] which went viral after being shared on WorldStarHipHop.[13][17] Her first three videos amassed over 7.5 million views. Cooney's YouTube content mainly consists of clothing hauls, vlogs about her daily life, cosplay outfits, and makeup tutorials.[15] She began livestreaming on Twitch in 2018,[18] where she has over 400,000 followers as of August 2022.[19] She is known for her emo style, characterized by her "extraordinarily long, dark hair, gothic lace dresses, and bold, multi-colored makeup looks."[20]

In November 2018, Cooney starred in the music video for Niki DeMar's song "Anthem for the Judged".[21] Cooney was nominated and a finalist for "YouTuber of the Year" for the 12th annual Shorty Awards in 2020.[22]

Cooney resides with her family in Greenwich, Connecticut,[23][24] and also had a residence in Los Angeles, California.[25]

Eating disorder

Cooney has an eating disorder,[26][27] presumably anorexia nervosa.[28][29] Critics argue that her content encourages eating disorders among viewers, raising concern about her influence on her young fans.[30][29][31] Cooney is a popular figure in online "pro-ana" communities, where her videos and images are used as "thinspiration".[note 1][33] Beginning in 2015, viewers began expressing concern around her weight loss, and since then several theories about her health, mental state, and home life have steadily grown. In 2016, a Change.org petition titled "Temporarily Ban Eugenia Cooney off of YouTube" went viral and received 18,000 signatures, although it was later removed for "violating community guidelines".[26][34] In response to the petition, Cooney denied having a problem and said that she did not intend to be a bad influence.[6]

In early 2019, Cooney's activity online became less frequent, raising concern among her fans that she might have died.[35][36] On February 10, Cooney announced on her Twitter account that she was taking a hiatus to work "on this with [her] doctor privately."[37][38] Cooney was assessed by medical professionals and placed under a 5150 hold requested by one of her friends[25][39] before entering into a month-long treatment program.[36][40][28] In July 2019, Cooney reappeared as the subject of Shane Dawson's hour-long YouTube video "The Return of Eugenia Cooney", in which she confirmed the decade-long speculation about her eating disorder and recovery process for the first time.[40][28] She described her experiences as "traumatizing" and said she was "doing better" than she was during treatment.[41]

Dawson's video on Cooney was viewed over 27 million times in a month.[27] She was initially praised when she came back to YouTube, with people commending her for her return and being honest about her health. As a result, Cooney was nominated for YouTuber of the Year at the 2020 Shorty Awards.[42] The reaction to "The Return of Eugenia Cooney" video was mixed, with some viewers and mental health experts raising concerns about the future of her treatment, as well as the possible impact on Dawson's mostly young, female audience.[27]

Following the publication of Dawson's documentary, Cooney returned to posting videos.[40] Despite being initially praised for opening up about her struggle with an eating disorder, Cooney was soon criticized again for appearing to relapse.[28] Further, allegations of grooming and predatory behavior toward young people by older men on Cooney's Discord server surfaced in 2020, prompting her to delete it in September.[30]

In early 2021, another petition was started on Change.org to age-restrict, or entirely remove, Cooney's YouTube channel and social media accounts, claiming that she promotes eating disorders through her emaciated appearance.[43]

Awards and nominations

Year Award Show Category Result Ref.
2020 Shorty Awards YouTuber of the Year Nominated

See also

Footnotes

  1. ↑ In online pro-eating disorder communities, "thinspiration or "thinspo" are images of underweight women used as an incentive to lose weight.[32]

References

  1. 1 2 "About Eugenia Cooney". YouTube.
  2. ↑ Cooney, Eugenia [@Eugenia_Cooney] (September 10, 2014). "how many of you know my name was originally colleen and then it got changed a few weeks later now you all know congrats" (Tweet). Archived from the original on November 21, 2021. Retrieved November 23, 2021 – via Twitter.
  3. ↑ "Eugenia Cooney Draw My Life". YouTube.
  4. ↑ Where was Eugenia Cooney Born?. lilg54g. May 24, 2022. Retrieved December 2, 2022 – via YouTube.
  5. ↑ Eugenia Cooney Tells 48 Facts About Herself | YouTube July 26, 2013. Love Eugenia Cooney. December 17, 2020. Archived from the original on November 21, 2022. Retrieved December 2, 2022 – via YouTube.
  6. 1 2 I'm Sorry. Eugenia Cooney. October 14, 2016. Retrieved December 2, 2022 – via YouTube.
  7. ↑ How To Deal With Bullies. Eugenia Cooney. August 31, 2017. Archived from the original on March 16, 2022. Retrieved December 2, 2022 – via YouTube.
  8. ↑ My Bullying Story. Eugenia Cooney. September 11, 2019. Archived from the original on September 26, 2022. Retrieved December 2, 2022 – via YouTube.
  9. ↑ Getting Bullied... Eugenia Cooney. August 31, 2015. Archived from the original on November 28, 2021. Retrieved December 2, 2022 – via YouTube.
  10. ↑ What school did Eugenia Cooney go to?. lilg54g. May 24, 2022. Archived from the original on May 24, 2022. Retrieved December 2, 2022 – via YouTube.
  11. ↑ "Eugenia Cooney on Linkedin".
  12. ↑ REACTING TO MY OLD MODELING PICTURES. Eugenia Cooney. September 16, 2017. Archived from the original on August 7, 2022. Retrieved December 2, 2022 – via YouTube.
  13. 1 2 🗃️ Eugenia Cooney' Life: Deleted Video ( ARCHIVED ). LIVE ARCHIVE. April 30, 2019. Retrieved December 2, 2022 – via YouTube.
  14. ↑ Eugenia Cooney On Photographer Who Wanted To Push Her Beyond Her Limits | Twitch August 7, 2021. Love Eugenia Cooney. August 8, 2021. Retrieved December 2, 2022 – via YouTube.
  15. 1 2 Dodgson, Lindsay (February 6, 2021). "YouTubers are campaigning to deplatform an influencer over eating disorder concerns. Experts say that won't fix the problem". Insider. Insider Inc. Retrieved September 1, 2021.
  16. ↑ The Twerking Instructional Video That Should've Never Been, 2013-06-03, retrieved 2021-11-28
  17. ↑ "Disturbing: Skinny Girl Teaching How To Twerk! | Video". WORLDSTARHIPHOP. 30 May 2013. Retrieved 2021-11-28.
  18. ↑ First Hour Of Eugenia Cooney's VERY FIRST Twitch Stream | Twitch March 2, 2018. Love Eugenia Cooney. November 21, 2020. Archived from the original on November 21, 2022. Retrieved December 2, 2022 – via YouTube.
  19. ↑ eugeniacooney - Twitch, retrieved 2022-08-01
  20. ↑ "The 10-year journey that led YouTube star Eugenia Cooney become one of the most polarizing figures on the internet". Times News Express. 2021-07-17. Retrieved 2021-11-28.
  21. ↑ Anthem for the Judged- Niki DeMar [Official Music Video]. NIKI DEMAR. November 16, 2018. Archived from the original on June 5, 2022. Retrieved December 2, 2022 – via YouTube.
  22. ↑ "Eugenia Cooney - The Shorty Awards". shortyawards.com. Retrieved 2022-06-05.
  23. ↑ Dellinger, Hannah; Marchant, Robert (February 11, 2019). "Greenwich therapists: Social media contributes to eating disorders, body dysmorphia". GreenwichTime. Hearst. Archived from the original on September 1, 2021. Retrieved September 1, 2021.
  24. ↑ "Eugeniacooney • Instagram". www.instagram.com. Archived from the original on 2021-12-24. Retrieved 2021-11-28.
  25. 1 2 5150 - Eugenia Cooney's Story. Kati Morton. January 6, 2020. Archived from the original on August 7, 2022. Retrieved December 2, 2022 – via YouTube.
  26. 1 2 Tait, Amelia (February 20, 2019). "The story of Eugenia Cooney, the emaciated YouTuber the internet thought was dead". New Statesman. Retrieved August 21, 2021.
  27. 1 2 3 Tenbarge, Kat (August 3, 2019). "One of YouTube's biggest stars made a viral 'documentary' about another YouTuber's eating disorder. Experts say it could be harmful for its subject and audience". Insider. Insider Inc. Retrieved August 25, 2021.
  28. 1 2 3 4 Estévez, María (April 2, 2021). "Eugenia Cooney, la 'influencer' que promueve la anorexia". ABC (in Spanish). Retrieved August 21, 2021.
  29. 1 2 Montoya García, Jonathan (January 19, 2018). "Youtubers que hacen locuras por likes". El Colombiano (in Spanish). Archived from the original on February 18, 2019. Retrieved September 2, 2021.
  30. 1 2 Dodgson, Lindsay (March 25, 2021). "Sexual predators target pro-eating-disorder communities to find young people to groom". Insider. Insider Inc. Retrieved August 21, 2021.
  31. ↑ Henríquez, Azucena (November 2, 2017). "Seguidores piden cerrar canal de famosa Youtober por inducir a anorexia". El Mundo (in Spanish). El Salvador. Archived from the original on February 9, 2019. Retrieved September 2, 2021.
  32. ↑ Heffernan, Virginia (May 25, 2008). "Narrow Minded". New York Times. Retrieved September 1, 2021.
  33. ↑ Dodgson, Lindsay (May 15, 2019). "An extremely thin YouTube star disappeared from the internet, but people with eating disorders are still getting 'thinspiration' from her videos". Insider. Insider Inc. Retrieved September 1, 2021.
  34. ↑ Gupta, Sonal (November 2, 2016). "This US Fashion Vlogger Was Slammed For Being 'Too Thin'". The Quint. Archived from the original on September 28, 2017. Retrieved August 21, 2021.
  35. ↑ Katzowitz, Josh (June 3, 2019). "After health scare, YouTube star Eugenia Cooney's newest photo gives fans hope". The Daily Dot. Retrieved September 2, 2021.
  36. 1 2 Pearce, Tilly (February 11, 2019). "YouTuber Eugenia Cooney takes social media break to seek medical help". Metro. Retrieved August 25, 2021.
  37. ↑ Cooney, Eugenia [@Eugenia_Cooney] (February 10, 2019). "Hi guys! I appreciate the concern. I'm taking a break from social media and voluntarily working on this with my doctor privately. Please respect that. https://t.co/Wyqjo16xdH" (Tweet). Archived from the original on September 3, 2022. Retrieved December 2, 2022 – via Twitter.
  38. ↑ Pearce, Tilly (2019-02-11). "YouTuber Eugenia Cooney takes social media break amid health concerns". Metro. Retrieved 2022-06-22.
  39. ↑ Dodgson, Lindsay. "A YouTuber opened up about her friends forcing her into psychiatric hospital because of her eating disorder". Insider. Retrieved 2022-06-22.
  40. 1 2 3 Song, Sandra (August 20, 2019). "Eugenia Cooney on Cyberbullying, Recovery and Her Return". Paper. Retrieved August 21, 2021.
  41. ↑ Eugenia Cooney Says Her Experience In Rehab Was Traumatizing | June 14, 2022. EC Stream Archives. June 16, 2022. Archived from the original on June 22, 2022. Retrieved December 2, 2022 – via YouTube.
  42. 1 2 "Eugenia Cooney - YouTuber". Shorty Awards. 2020. Archived from the original on October 28, 2020. Retrieved August 25, 2021.
  43. ↑ "Who is Eugenia Cooney? Petition to 'cancel' YouTube-Twitch streamer who looks 'emaciated' crosses 45K signatures | MEAWW". meaww.com. Retrieved 2022-06-22.
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