What You Don't Know About Jaclyn Hill
Who was it that taught you how to apply makeup? Your mom? Your big sister? Or, perhaps, it was Jaclyn Hill, one of the most successful beauty vloggers on YouTube. The self-taught 27-year-old makeup artist has encouraged millions to achieve the perfect smoky eye and give contouring a chance. In doing so, her videos quickly catapulted her into fame, which Hill has used to help build her own brand — her own ridiculously successful brand.
In 2016, Glamour reported that "everything Jaclyn Hill touches sells out instantly." It's true. Hill partnered with Morphe to create the Jaclyn Hill Favorite Palette and, after opening pre-sales at midnight on New Years Eve 2016, effectively crashed the site before coming back online and completely selling out in just 45 minutes. Hill then went on to collaborate with Becca to create a new highlighter hue, Champagne Pop. In a matter of 20 minutes, sephora.com sold a whopping 25,000 compacts.
Jaclyn Hill, the brand, is certainly slaying, but what about Jaclyn Hill, the person? Here are some things you don't know about the legendary beauty guru.
Her "first love" wasn't makeup
When Jaclyn Hill started uploading makeup tutorials to YouTube in 2012, it was obvious that she had a love, and talent, for doing makeup. Without that winning combination, it's likely she wouldn't be where she is today. However, makeup wasn't exactly Hill's first career choice.
In an interview with Women's Wear Daily, Hill divulged that she wanted to be a fashion designer when she was young. "My first love was fashion," she explained to the magazine, adding, "Along with of course wanting to be Britney Spears." Naturally. Hill even started cutting up her own clothes in her early attempts at fashion designing. Over time, Hill moved on to photography and videography. From there, she moved on to makeup. "I had a little shoe box under my bed that was filled with products I would accumulate from my mom and my sister — their hand-me-down products," she told WWD.
Hill was then able to fuse her love of video and makeup together to create the wildly lucrative YouTube videos we've all come to know and love.
Her first YouTube tutorial is gone forever
In June 2018, Hill published a video of herself reacting to her first YouTube tutorial. Obviously, a lot has changed since she first started her channel. "I have lip filler and nose filler so for me to see my nose and lips ... who is that? It's so weird!" Hill said as she watched her former self. The differences in six years were more than just cosmetic changes, though. In the video, Hill imitated a Kim Kardashian look. Fast-forward to 2017 and Hill is on camera teaching Kim Kardashian some tricks of the trade. A surreal experience for Hill, for sure.
Although Hill dubs the video as her "first YouTube video," in reality, it is her second. "My first tutorial was Jan. 12, 2012," Hill admitted to Women's Wear Daily. Feeling that it wasn't any good, Hill made the decision to delete it. "My second video is the one I kept up, and I refer to that one as my first," she explained. That video is also her first to go viral and is responsible for many of her subscribers.
She was "born and raised on a pig farm"
Hill lives in the sunny state of Florida, but that wasn't always the case. In one of her earlier videos, Hill revealed to her curious fans some facts about herself. "I was born and raised on a pig farm in Illinois," she said quickly and candidly. Woah. And if not for a tragic change in circumstances, the now-Tampa-based makeup guru could very well still be there. "My dad was in a horrible car accident when I was seven years old, it was devastating, Hill told her subscribers, "and that is why we moved across the country and left all of our aunts and uncles and grandparents in Illinois."
Hill has also lived in New England. When she first began uploading videos to YouTube, Hill was living in Boston with her boyfriend and eventual husband, Jon Hill, as well as with his father. "We were so broke, we couldn't even support ourselves," the makeup artist admitted. Thankfully, Hill had accepted a transfer to the MAC Cosmetics in Natick, Massachusetts where her clients would eventually request her to put makeup tutorials on YouTube. And the rest, as they say, is history.
She's worried she'll become a nobody "a year from now"
Despite her overwhelming — and continuing — success, Hill is nervous that she'll one day become irrelevant. "I'm terrified," Hill admitted to Women's Wear Daily, "I'm like, "This is my moment, I'm having my moment, and a year from now no one's going to know my name.'"
With over five million subscribers, it seems like Hill is firmly cemented in pop culture or, at least, YouTube culture. But, that's not to say her worries aren't legit. YouTube sensations have been known to come and go or decrease in popularity and there's not much that can be done about that. Hill is not ignorant to this fact. "At the end of the day, there's always something new, there's always something fresh, there's the new generation and the up-and-comers, so who knows," she told the magazine.
She further explained that's why everyone should go after their dreams. "Waste no time, "she advised. You can't fault that advice.
She was bullied as a child
Hill is not unique in being worried about future success and, as it so happens, worrying about success can actually make a person successful. So, well done, Jaclyn! Staying open and honest with her fanbase, Hill shared a video on Snapchat (via YouTube), saying, "I wasn't guaranteed success. Everyone thought that I was gonna fail." Fail, though, she did not.
Hill also shared some truths about her childhood, explaining that she was homeschooled and "very badly bullied" — both "physically and emotionally" — when she moved from Illinois to Florida at 7 years old. For Hill, makeup was a form of escapism. As someone who was often grounded, for months at a time, she would take out her hand-me-down cosmetics and start experimenting with different looks. Hill said she would do this "every single day," which she accredits to helping her land an eventual job at MAC and, of course, YouTube tutorials.
She suffers from anxiety and depression
Bullying has serious and long-lasting effects. Andre Sourander, a doctor and professor of child psychiatry at the University of Turku in Finland, reported to Healthline that children who are bullied early on in childhood have an "increased risk of depressive disorders and need psychiatric treatment later in life." Hill, who admitted she was routinely bullied, also opened up to her fans about her mental health.
"I dealt with terrible anxiety ... panic attacks, depression. So bad," she said in a Snapchat video (via YouTube). Her anxiety persisted as she became a teenager. In a separate video, Hill told subscribers she experienced another bout of "major anxiety and depression" when she first started her YouTube channel. "I was driving the struggle bus," she explained.
Hill continues to be outspoken about mental health. In June 2018, she came to beauty blogger Manny MUA's defense on Twitter, writing, in part, "Depression & anxiety is not a choice. It doesn't matter how 'perfect' your life is... you can still be miserable due to it." She called for others to educate themselves about mental health. Major kudos.
She keeps her greatest fears private
While Hill confessed that she is terrified of becoming a has-been, she apparently has much bigger fears. However, we will likely never know what they entail. As it turns out, Hill's greatest fears are not up for discussion — even if you ask her about them. In 2014, a fan did just that, prompting Hill to explain why she doesn't discuss the things she's afraid of. "I don't even want to put them out in the open and let them go into your minds," she said in a YouTube video.
Hill further explained that she doesn't even like having fears, let alone talking about them. "I try very hard to overcome my fears as much as I can so, I'm not gonna talk about my fears." Whether Hill just wants to stay positive or is a bit superstitious, believing that talking about her fears could will them into existence, it's her right to plead the fifth either way.
She got married very young
In 2015, musician Jon Hill posted a video of his and Jaclyn Hill's wedding to — you guessed it — YouTube. Hill's hubby wrote in the caption: "Jaclyn and I got married August 29th 2009. It was one of the best days I have ever had and will ever have." Aww. As some viewers pointed out, Hill looked much different with her hair dyed blonde. Of course, she also looked different because the couple's wedding took place nearly two and a half years prior to Hill becoming a vlogging superstar.
What may not be immediately obvious, though, is just how young Hill was when she said "I do." Born on July 20, 1990, Hill is 27 years old as of this writing. That means she was just a teenager — 19 to be exact — when she walked down the aisle, repeated her vows, and married the man she loved.
Divorced and moving on?
"After nearly nine years of marriage, we have made the difficult decision to divorce," read a statement released by Jon Hill on Instagram in May 2018, which he has since taken down, but can be read on Babe. In an attempt to explain why the couple was parting way, Hill's husband wrote, "We were very young and have since both changed and grown apart." Nevertheless, he admitted that the couple still loved one another. Through tears, the beauty guru herself confirmed the heartbreaking news on her YouTube channel.
The following month, Hill's ex-husband made the questionable decision to share an Instagram video of himself getting awfully cozy with a mystery woman. To make matters worse, Jon's choice of adding a heart halo filter certainly didn't help keep Jaclyn's fans calm. The post has since been deleted, but we all know you can't really ever delete anything from the internet. The beauty vlogger's fans swarmed the post with comments, coming to her defense, but Jon clapped back at the commenters, writing, "You guys Jaclyn & I were not happy." According to him, they are still good friends and she's happy for him and his newfound happiness. Well, whatever the situation, we hope Jaclyn Hill is also finding her happiness.