World’s biggest YouTube star PewDiePie QUITS saying he’s ‘feeling very tired’
THE world’s biggest YouTube star PewDiePie has announced he is quitting the video platform because he is feeling “very tired”.
The hugely popular Swedish vlogger, real name Felix Arvid Ulf Kjellberg, broke the news to heartbroken fans in his latest PewNews video.
“I am taking a break from YouTube next year,” he revealed. “I wanted to say it in advance because I made up my mind.
“I’m tired. I’m feeling very tired. I don’t know if you can tell. Just so you know, early next year I’ll be a way for a little while.
“I’ll explain that later but I wanted to give a heads up,” he added.
In August, he hinted he could be stepping back from the platform soon, saying: “I do think it would be good for me to take a break at some point.
“It would be nice to not have YouTube in my brain for the first time in 10 years.”
Felix, who has 102m subscribers on YouTube alone, has amassed more than 24bn views on his channel since he launched it just nine years ago.
The video-maker – who rakes in millions of pounds a month – makes his fortune through a mix of merchandise sales and ad revenue on YouTube.
He also has over 18 million Twitter followers and almost 20 million Instagram followers.
The Scandinavian was even named one of “The World’s 100 Most Influential People” by Time magazine.
He was born in 1989 in Gothenburg, Sweden, and graduated from university with a degree in Industrial Economics and Technology Management.
However, by 2013 he already had the most subscribed YouTube channel.
And when the platform’s highest earners were revealed in August this year it was no big surprise that he topped the list with a whopping £6.5million a month.
In a video released in March he revealed to his legions of fans he now makes around $3,400 (£2,606) an hour.
PewDiePie revealed that he married long term girlfriend Marzia Bisognin in a stunning ceremony in London in August.
He and Italian fashion and the beauty vlogger live in Brighton with their two pugs, Maya and Edgar.
The internet personalities announced their union on Twitter with the YouTube superstar saying: “We are married!!! I’m the happiest I can be, I’m so lucky to share my life with this amazing woman.”
In September 2017 he was at the centre of a firestorm after using the racial slur “n*****” in one of his videos.
He had previously found himself at the centre of a racism row when he appeared to use the word “n*****” in a video watched by 2.7 million people.
The Swede sparked an anti-Smitism storm after he paid two men to unravel a banner bearing the message “Death to all Jews” in a video that has been watched by 6.6m people.
It resulted in him being dropped by Disney, and the shocking video also led to his reality show being cancelled by YouTube, who dropped him from its premium advertising channel.
PewDiePie has issued a passionate and emotional response to the claims of anti-Semitism, appearing to choke back tears as he spoke out against the backlash.
His fans have targeted the American journalist and hacked his Twitter account in revenge for the perceived attacks on the much loved YouTuber’s reputation.
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He courted controversy again in December 2018 after doing a shout-out to an anti-Semitic video channel.
During his Pew News segment he directed viewers to E;R, an essayist which slips anti-Semitic and misogynistic comments into videos about anime and films.
But the 29-year-old said he wasn’t familiar with the channel’s content and blasted what he called a “shame campaign”.