What You May Not Know About Jenna Marbles
We may receive a commission on purchases made from links.
Who doesn't know Jenna Marbles? If you've ever fallen down the rabbit hole that is YouTube (c'mon, we've all been bored on a Friday night), then you must have, at some point, spent some time laughing along with the hilarious Jenna Marbles.
To date, the comedian slash YouTube superstar has more than 18 million subscribers, relating to her fans with quirky, real-life advice on everything from how to trick people into thinking you're good looking, to what us ladies really do when we're alone in the car. Did we mention the girl's even got her own show on Sirius radio? No big deal, right?
But besides being our virtual BFF who we see every Wednesday (that's usually when she puts out new content), we have to wonder, who is Jenna Marbles, really? Here are some fun facts about one of the most famous vloggers on the Internet.
She started on YouTube in 2010
Back in February 2010, Jenna posted her first video to YouTube, titled "Charles Franklin Marbles Is a Sad, Sad Man," which has more than 1.9 million views at the time of this writing. Since then, Jenna has uploaded hundreds of videos on her channel. Most of her videos have over a million views, and she has dozens with over 15 million. Her most popular video — the viral hit that catapulted her into YouTube notoriety, "How to trick people into thinking you're good looking" — has racked up over 67 million hits since she posted it in July 2010.
She led a pretty normal life before she exploded on YouTube
You know her as Jenna Marbles, one of the most famous faces on YouTube, but this online celeb was born Jenna Mourey on September 15, 1986 in Rochester, New York. The day she published the video that changed her life, Jenna was living in Cambridge, Massachusetts, working multiple part-time gigs to scrounge together enough to pay her $800 rent. She earned enough bartending, go-go dancing, and working at a tanning salon, but she wasn't exactly fulfilled considering she had just earned a master's degree in sports psychology. "My life was a hot, hot, hot mess," she said in a New York Times interview.
She's been on TV and in movies
That's right, "YouTube star" isn't the only thing on Jenna Marbles' resume. According to her IMDb page, Marbles has 14 acting credits to her name — not too shabby! These include the 2014 TV series Smosh Babies and the 2015 mini-series HeyUSA. She's also appeared on the silver screen as herself twice, in Road Hard and Natural Born Pranksters.
She's been dubbed The Queen of YouTube
And with good reason! In 2013, The New York Times wrote a piece on Jenna, titled "The Woman With One Billion Clicks," which gave us major social media envy. Since that article was published, she has continued to grow tremendously. She has posted hundreds of videos, surpassing 2 billion views on all her videos combined. Almost all of her videos have over a million views each, and she has dozens over 15 million. With over 18 million subscribers, she is one of the most subscribed YouTube stars, and one of the most popular female YouTubers (not counting celebrity VEVO accounts).
Beyond YouTube, Jenna has proven she gives the people what they want on Facebook and Twitter as well. Her social presence is electric, and this has enabled her to grow her audience to more than 2 million likes on Facebook and 5 million followers on Twitter.
She has multiple college degrees
After graduating high school in her hometown of Rochester, New York, Jenna moved to Boston to attend Suffolk University, where she earned a B.S. in psychology. She then went on to Boston College, where she obtained a master's degree in sports psychology and counseling.
According to a 2013 interview with Variety, the Jenna Marbles we know and love was entirely different as a kid. She was in college when she found her wacky personality and let it shine. "I was relatively quiet," she said of growing up in Rochester. "I came out of my shell in college."
She's worth... a lot
So, we don't actually know exactly how much Jenna Marbles is worth because it's not public knowledge. In fact, we don't know exactly how much any YouTuber earns unless they reveal it themselves — though we can estimate. It's a complicated question to answer, but these Quora contributors tried to break it down.
Even though we can't know for sure how much Jenna earns from YouTube, here's what we do know: According to her 2013 interview with The New York Times, she was renting a house in Santa Monica at the time worth $1.1 million. She moved to the San Fernando Valley in October 2014 and posted a video tour, where she said within the first minute of the video, "I don't own this place, just like I didn't own my last place." She also said that her new house was "actually a lot cheaper," even though it's bigger. Regardless of how much she earns, she's one of the few people who somehow remains loveable and down-to-earth, even while giving a tour of her mansion.
Forbes analyzed data from StatSheep and came to the conclusion that, "By most estimates, her income is well into the six figures, and possibly as high as several million dollars."
She's got a soft spot for dogs
Jenna is the proud momma of three pups: a chihuahua named Mr. Marbles (who inspired her pseudonym) and two Italian greyhounds, Kermit and Peach. One or more of her dog babies tend to make an appearance in her videos and are celebrities in their own right. She's pretty obsessed with her pups and isn't ashamed to admit it, tweeting, "I see dog faces more than I see human faces. I'm not mad about it either." Jenna also started producing and selling her own brand of dog toys that look just like her own furry children called Kermie Worm & Mr. Marbles.
She's tackled the podcasting world too
Not content with being the most popular female YouTuber, as well as having millions of followers across her social media accounts, Jenna turned her attention to the world of podcasting. In 2014, she launched Jenna Julien with longtime partner Julien Solomita (a popular YouTuber in his own right). Their dedicated YouTube channel, also called Jenna Julien, has already racked up over 700,000 subscribers at the time of writing.
As noted by Study Breaks, the happy couple covers a broad variety of topics during their lengthy chats, including online culture, sports, and, of course, relationships. The biggest pull for long-term fans of Jenna, in particular, is her chemistry with Julien who she frequently features in her own videos (a particular highlight was when Jenna gifted him an Ariana Grande-esque high ponytail, to hilarious effect).
Podcasting clearly was the next logical step for a couple fans can't get enough of and whose easy rapport makes for easy listening on those long commutes.
She refuses to sell out
Given her online popularity and insane reach, it stands to reason Jenna would have bigger aspirations beyond YouTube. Although she's branched out, our girl will never be the one peddling miracle weight loss teas or any other such products for easy money. In a 2015 interview with the legendary Larry King, the YouTube superstar made it very clear that she won't be selling out any time soon.
She shared that she's turned down numerous lucrative endorsement deals over the years because keeping things real with her fans is her number one priority. "I think that with the internet, the most important thing that you have is that you're a genuine person and that people trust you. ... I think that working with brands and things can be great and a lot of people do it really well, but for me, it feels very much like stuffing my own pockets with money and taking advantage of the people that are there to see me," she explained to King.
She's been recreated in wax
In 2015, Jenna became had her likeness recreated in wax. Reacting to the news on Instagram, she wrote, "I'm so beyond honored and excited that @nycwax is making me into a wax figure!! In October at their Times Square location you can come take selfies with wax me and grope da butt all you want. The grope zoo will officially be open jk but seriously this is probably the coolest thing that has ever happened I'm just so completely floored by this and thank you so much @nycwax."
Jenna welcomed the wax model of herself — complete with a selfie-taking arm — in October, with proud BF Julien Solomita naturally standing by to shoot the event, sharing the grand reveal with fans on YouTube. However, she was later shocked to learn that the statue had been vandalized. Responding to a fan on Twitter, who revealed Wax Jenna had had her arm knocked off and her selfie arm broken, the real Jenna wrote, "Poor wax jenna has been through some s**t!"
She was involved in a serious car accident
In 2016, Jenna got hurt for real when she and Solomita were involved in a terrifying car accident while riding in a taxi after leaving the airport. Taking to Twitter, Jenna apologized for the lack of content that day, noting that the couple was fine and sustained no major injuries in the crash, but they had just returned home from the hospital and were resting accordingly.
Jenna further elaborated on the incident in a YouTube video, telling fans that wearing your seat belt is of the utmost importance. "Julien and I were both wearing our seat belts, and so the worst of the damage is for me on my knee ... because it was against the wall, and where the seat belts were," she said.
Later that month, Jenna provided another update (and some scary pics of her bruises) to Twitter fans, once again noting the importance of wearing your seat belt.
She still has no idea what she's doing
As hard as it might be to believe, hugely successful YouTube star Jenna Marbles is just as confused about life as everybody else. In a 2017 interview with Huffington Post, Jenna waxed lyrical about how little she understands her enormous reach, and she encouraged fans watching to follow in her footsteps because, as far as she's concerned, if she can do it, anybody can.
"I think I'm just sort of a genuinely quirky person. And the skill set that I have, I think consists mostly of being that, being authentically that, unapologetically that, and having a very clear voice, and being willing to share. I've always said that there's enough room on the internet for everyone. And what I do isn't necessarily special. I'm just out here doing it. Anyone can. There's space for everyone's voice on the internet," she opined.
As for what's next, Jenna just hopes to keep on keeping on, telling HuffPost, "It is my goal to live on the internet for as long as I can, because I think it's the place to be."
She makes YouTube dreams come true
Considering how modest Jenna is about her own fame, and how encouraging she is to those wishing to follow in her footsteps, it makes sense she'd want to help newcomers get a foothold in the industry — even unintentionally. As reported by the Washington Post in January 2018, a 12-year-old kid named Joey was hanging in a Los Angeles mall with his buddy the previous month when he spotted the couple known collectively on YouTube as Jenna Julien, with their dog Kermit, vlogging just a few feet away.
After chasing them down and having a quick fanboy moment, Joey continued on with his day, thinking the encounter was cool but nothing more. That very same night, Jenna featured his channel in a video, which also included a snippet of their conversation. Before he knew it, Joey's subscriber count shot right up. Less than a month later, his subs were at a massive 90,000 strong. The youngster was in disbelief, telling the Post, "It's just crazy. I still haven't processed it. Thinking about 90,000 people, wanting to subscribe to me."
She's moving on up
Although her net worth is still a mystery, there's little doubt Jenna is a millionaire by now. At the time of this writing, her estimated net worth is north of $4 million. In May 2018, as per high-end real estate site Yolanda's Little Black Book, Jenna bought a stunning Sherman Oaks starter house for about $3 million, alongside boyfriend Julien Solomita. The YouTube superstar posted a tour of the house on her channel. Yolanda's filled in the glitzy details, noting that it's situated on a quiet cul-de-sac, is around 5,093 square feet, and was spec-built back in 2016.
The property, which is Jenna's very first home purchase, is walled, gated, and surrounded by hedges, and it reportedly has been equipped with a tight security system, so that Jenna and Julien won't have to worry about any prying eyes. It's also located just minutes from the super-chic Ventura boulevard shopping district. The always-frank Jenna noted in her vlog that fans are free to feel however they want about her big-ticket purchase. "Hope you like it. And if you hate it, that's fine too," she quipped.
She was nominated for a decade of achievements
Unsurprisingly, given how she debuted on YouTube all the way back in 2010, Jenna Marbles was nominated for the 2018 Shorty Awards (basically the Oscars of online creators) alongside a number of her online peers. It wasn't just any old award nod either, as the YouTuber was tapped for Creator of the Decade. Not year, not month, but decade. That's quite an achievement by anyone's standards (though, sadly, she didn't win, losing out to fellow YouTuber MKBHD aka Marques Brownlee).
Writing about the nomination on Twitter, upon the initial announcement, Jenna was her typical modest self, noting, "This is quite the nomination wow thank you @shortyawards I'm honored." She also took a moment to acknowledge what the award really meant, both to her and to her fellow nominees, saying, "And congrats to the other nominees because I know this category is also 'people who have confused and worried their parents the longest.'"