Looking to the future. Throughout his time in the spotlight, James Charles has been involved in various scandals and feuds. Years after being accused of messaging underage boys via social media, he’s speaking out.
“I don’t want to sit here and f–king mope and whine and cry, because nobody wants to hear it,” he told Cosmopolitan in July 2023, reflecting on his past controversies. “I had to do a lot of thinking. Like, ‘OK, babe, this is your fault. No, you’re not a pedophile. No, you’re not a f–king groomer. No, you’re not a predator. But you made a big mistake.'”
His involvement in the now-infamous Dramageddon and past social media comments were nothing compared to the 2021 accusations he faced. In April of that year, James posted a 14-minute video titled, “Holding Myself Accountable,” where he addressed that “two different people, both under the age of 18, have recently come forward saying that they had inappropriate messages from me on social media. One of them being from last year and one of them being more recent.”
On both occasions, James claimed that he was lead to believe they were both of age.
“I realized the receipts and screenshots and specific details of the interaction really don’t matter because I f–ked up,” James added in the video. “I need to take accountability for my actions and most importantly apologize to the people who were hurt by them.”
The internet personality looked back and recalled being “disgusted” after finding out their real age, he shared during the Cosmopolitan interview. “I was mortified, absolutely mortified,” James added, noting that as more accusations started to appear online, some were “completely fake” and “never even happened.” However, he acknowledged that he “absolutely did f–k up” overall, noting that he hasn’t spoken to his younger brother in over two years because of the situation.
“I can’t even begin to explain to you how bad that week of my life was,” James told Cosmopolitan. “I was crying myself to sleep every single night. I was sitting there in bed staring at my phone. I wanted to kill myself. I wasn’t talking to anybody.”
After years of reflection, he’s working on the next steps of his life and career.
“I see a lot of people saying, ‘Oh my god, nothing even happened to him, he got away from this scot-free with no sort of repercussions,’” James shared. “That is so far from the truth. It certainly wasn’t an overnight thing where now I’m slaying again.”
Scroll through our gallery for a breakdown of James’ scandals over the years.
If you or someone you know is in emotional distress or considering suicide, call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 1-800-273-TALK (8255).
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