Meet the Real FouseyTUBE: YouTuber Shares Journey from Depression to Conquering the Internet
Yousef Erakat, a.k.a "FouseyTUBE" tells of his YouTube journey for People Magazine's latest issue
Many people only know him by the name FouseyTUBE, which is the title he used when he started his YouTube channel back in 2011. But recently, the man behind the channel that now boasts of over 8.6 million subscribers shared his humbling story.
In an interview with People, Yousef Saleh Erakat shared how everything started and how he was able to touch the hearts of social media users through his videos. At first, he wanted his page to be mainly a "source of entertainment" for people who followed his prank and impersonation clips.
However, a change in his purpose also created a great change in the heart of social media. In 2015, he put up his vlog channel DOSEofFOUSEY, where he started discussing his mental and emotional issues that many of his fans initially weren't aware of.
"I wanted to show my audience that even though I go through depression and everything else, look at me now. I still struggle, but I'm proof that nothing can stop you," he said. On the same year of his vlog channel's launch, the 26-year-old stepped out into the open during the Streamy Awards and revealed that he has been diagnosed with depression and bipolar disorder.
He is now one of YouTube's most followed stars, and this fall, he will be seen playing a role written by none other than the great Tyler Perry for the feature movie "Boo! A Madea Halloween."
Erakat's fame doesn't end on YouTube as he has over two million people digging through his posts on Facebook, he has more than one million Instagram followers and over 630,000 Twitter fans.
Late last year, Fousey, as he is called by many social media fans, did the impossible and informed his millions of loyal fans that he will be taking a break. Though many other prominent YouTubers, including himself, would just get off the computer and take a week or a month off their usual schedules whenever they needed to get away from the life of a video blogger, he decided that a formal message to his fans would be the best way to show his gratitude to the people who have showed his channel support.
According to TubeFilter, Erakat explained in a video that he needed to get a break but will definitely return to the computer screens in no time.
The Pakistani-born YouTube personality will be on a world tour soon with Roman Atwood, another famous YouTuber who also has over eight million subscribers.