Jeffree Star (born Jeffrey Lynn Steininger Jr., November 15, 1985) is an American YouTuber, makeup artist, and former singer-songwriter. He is the founder and owner of

Jeffree Star Cosmetics Jeffree Star Cosmetics is an American cosmetics company founded by internet personality Jeffree Star. Star claims to have invested his life savings to start the company's makeup line in 2014 with an initial three liquid lipstick colors. The c ...

. In 2009, Star released a studio album, '' Beauty Killer'', which included songs such as " Lollipop Luxury" featuring Nicki Minaj. He embarked on several world tours to promote his music. In 2010, he signed to Konvict Muzik but abruptly left the music industry by 2013 citing legal issues the label’s owner faced between 2007 and 2010. In November 2014, Star founded the company Jeffree Star Cosmetics. In 2018, '' Forbes'' revealed that he had earned $18 million from his YouTube endeavors alone, making him the fifth-highest-paid YouTuber that year.

Early life

Jeffree Lynn Steininger Jr. was born in

Los Angeles County, California Los Angeles County, officially the County of Los Angeles, and sometimes abbreviated as L.A. County, is the List of the most populous counties in the United States, most populous county in the United States and in the U.S. state of California, ...

, on November 15, 1985 and grew up in Orange County, California. He says that he began experimenting with his mother's makeup as a child, and convinced her to let him wear it to school when he was in junior high. Star attended Pacifica High School in

Garden Grove, California Garden Grove is a city in northern Orange County, California, United States, located just southwest of Disneyland (located in Anaheim, CA). The population was 171,949 at the 2020 census. State Route 22, also known as the Garden Grove Freeway, ...

, where he graduated in 2002. After high school, he legally changed his name to Jeffree Star and relocated to Los Angeles where he supported himself with various makeup, modeling, and music jobs. He recalls his early years, spending his weekends using a fake ID to attend

Hollywood Hollywood usually refers to: * Hollywood, Los Angeles, a neighborhood in California * Hollywood, a metonym for the cinema of the United States Hollywood may also refer to: Places United States * Hollywood District (disambiguation) * Hollywood, ...

clubs, which is where celebrities would hire him as a personal makeup artist. (Interview transcript; original source uncredited)

Career

MySpace

Star used MySpace to further both his music as well as fashion design career. Using MySpace like a blog, Star shared his personal life, while also providing social commentary on "self-image and confidence", fame and beauty. Due to his use of several websites, Star already had a built-up fan base who signed up to join him on MySpace, giving his profile a large number of friends from its inception. His MySpace photoshoots would frequently gain over 50,000 comments. He also gained fame as one of the most popular independent artists, with the daily rankings placing him in the top tier on MySpace.

Music career

Star's career as an

electronica Electronica is both a broad group of electronic-based music styles intended for listening rather than strictly for dancing and a music scene that started in the early 1990s in the United Kingdom. In the United States, the term is mostly used to r ...

and

pop Pop or POP may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Music * Pop music, a musical genre Artists * POP, a Japanese idol group now known as Gang Parade * Pop!, a UK pop group * Pop! featuring Angie Hart, an Australian band Albums * ''Pop'' (G ...

vocalist began when he befriended Peaches' drummer Samantha Maloney, who encouraged him to make music. During the summer of 2007, he was advertised as a part of the True Colors Tour 2007, which traveled through 15 cities in the United States and Canada. The tour, sponsored by the LGBT Logo channel, began on June 8, 2007, to coincide with Pride month. Star released his first and only studio album '' Beauty Killer'' in 2009, which peaked at number seven on the US ''

Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertise ...

'' Top Electronic Albums chart. The album included songs such as " Lollipop Luxury" featuring Nicki Minaj. He embarked on several world tours to promote his music. In 2010, he signed to Konvict Muzik—whose founder Akon described Star as "the next Lady Gaga"—with plans to release a second album. However, it was never released and Star abruptly left the music industry in 2013 under unclear circumstances. He later described signing to Akon's record label as "the biggest mistake I've ever made." He appeared in the second version of

Kesha Kesha Rose Sebert (; born March 1, 1987), formerly stylized as Ke$ha, is an American singer and songwriter. In 2005, at age 18, Kesha was signed to Kemosabe Records. Her first major success came in early 2009 after she was featured on America ...

's music video for her single " Take It Off" in 2010. Star has worked with several other musical performers, including Blood on the Dance Floor,

Deuce Deuce, Deuces, or The Deuce may refer to: Arts and entertainment Fictional characters * Deuce, in the '' Danger Girl'' comic book series * Deuce, a character in ''Shake It Up'' * Deuce, in the '' Wild Cards'' science fiction universe * Deuce Bi ...

, Millionaires, and Larry Tee.

Conflicts with other media personalities

Star's quarrels with other media personalities include conversations with tattoo artist Kat Von D, who accused Star of "drug use, racism, and bullying"; Tati Westbrook, who accused Star and Shane Dawson of forcing her to upload a video attacking fellow beauty YouTuber

James Charles James Charles Dickinson (born May 23, 1999) is an American beauty YouTuber and makeup artist. While working as a local makeup artist in his hometown of Bethlehem, New York, Charles started a YouTube channel, where he posts makeup tutorials. I ...

, whose brother, Ian Jeffrey, was also bullied by Star on Twitter;

Kylie Jenner Kylie Kristen Jenner (born August 10, 1997) is an American media personality, socialite, and businesswoman. She starred in the E! reality television series ''Keeping Up with the Kardashians'' from 2007 to 2021 and is the founder and owner of ...

, whose products were criticized by Star; Kim Kardashian; and Jerrod Blandino, co-founder of Too Faced Cosmetics. In 2010, Star called Blood on the Dance Floor member

Dahvie Vanity Blood on the Dance Floor was an American electronic music group from Orlando, Florida, formed in 2006. The group's longest standing lineup, from 2009 to 2016, consisted of Jesus David Torres also known as Dahvie Vanity (born 1984) and Jayy Von ...

, who was arrested in 2009 on sexual assault charges, a " child fucker", tweeting that he saw Vanity "bring underage girls to his hotel room ..100% ILLEGAL". Star had said he had witnessed Vanity's actions in 2012. Other tweets show Star telling people to "get over the negativity" against Vanity, and promoting a Blood on the Dance Floor album. He was accused of associating with Vanity despite knowing about sexual assault allegations to profit off Vanity's continued success. Following a '' HuffPost'' report detailing sexual assault – before and after 2010 – against 21 individuals (many of whom were minors), Chris Hansen of '' To Catch a Predator'' started covering the story. Speaking to Hansen on YouTube, Star said he had no knowledge of any inappropriate activity between Vanity and underage girls while they worked together, and that his tweets were based on hearsay.

Jeffree Star Cosmetics

In 2014, Star founded his e-commerce makeup brand, Jeffree Star Cosmetics. In a five-part docuseries by Shane Dawson, Star stated that the end of his music career had left him essentially bankrupt, and that he had used his remaining savings to start his makeup brand. Star began promoting the brand through videos published on YouTube, leading to the success of his YouTube channel, with 17.4 million subscribers and over 2.4 billion views as of October 2020. '' Bustle'' magazine described Star as "a musician and onetime MySpace celeb that reinvented himself in the YouTube makeup tutorial space." His first cosmetics release was a collection of velour liquid lipsticks, which were followed by highlighter palettes, lip scrubs, eyeshadow palettes, clothing, and accessories, such as mirrors and make up bags. The first East Coast location to carry the cosmetics line was a

Morphe Cosmetics Morphe Cosmetics, also known as Morphe Brushes, legally known as Morphe Holdings (stylized as MORPHE), is a Los Angeles cosmetics and beauty manufacturer founded in 2008. The company specializes in the digital retail direct-to-consumer distribut ...

store at the Westfield Garden State Plaza in Paramus, New Jersey on August 11, 2018. Star has since launched several successful collections, such as the "Blue Blood" eyeshadow palette.

Personal life

Star was in a relationship with Nathan Schwandt from 2015 to January 2020. Star claims to abstain from alcohol, despite previously tweeting about drinking vodka on multiple occasions. He also says that he avoids cigarettes and hard drugs, although he does smoke cannabis, which is legal in California, where Star used to live. In Wyoming, however, the state has some of the strictest cannabis laws in the United States. As of December 2020, Star currently resides in

Casper, Wyoming Casper is a city in, and the county seat of, Natrona County, Wyoming, United States. Casper is the second-largest city in the state, with the population at 59,038 as of the 2020 census. Only Cheyenne, the state capital, is larger. Casper is nic ...

. Following a car accident in Wyoming on April 16, 2021, Star and his friend were both hospitalized. He broke his back and had several fractures on his spine.

Controversies

Star was accused of racism due to derogatory remarks about minorities. He later apologized for the remarks. A satirical skit between Star and a drag queen was posted on MySpace, in which Star allegedly states he wants to throw battery acid on a black woman to lighten her skin so it will match her foundation. In June 2020, Star apologized after images and an archive of his former website Lipstick Nazi resurfaced. The website featured swastikas alongside photos of Star engaging in

self-harm Self-harm is intentional behavior that is considered harmful to oneself. This is most commonly regarded as direct injury of one's own skin tissues usually without a suicidal intention. Other terms such as cutting, self-injury and self-mutilatio ...

. In an October 2020 report by journalist

Kat Tenbarge Kat Tenbarge is an American journalist, who is currently working as a tech and culture reporter for NBC News after previously working as a senior reporter at Business Insider, Insider. She specializes in reporting on internet culture and Internet ...

, Star was accused of multiple instances of

sexual assault Sexual assault is an act in which one intentionally sexually touches another person without that person's consent, or coerces or physically forces a person to engage in a sexual act against their will. It is a form of sexual violence, which ...

assault An assault is the act of committing physical harm or unwanted physical contact upon a person or, in some specific legal definitions, a threat or attempt to commit such an action. It is both a crime and a tort and, therefore, may result in crim ...

, and paying $10,000 in hush money to accusers. An attorney for Star denied all the allegations. Leaked documents later appeared to show one of Star's accusers being paid $45,000 by a Jeffree Star Cosmetics executive.

Filmography

Discography

Studio albums

Extended plays

Singles

Awards

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Star, Jeffree 1985 births Living people 21st-century American singers American YouTubers American bloggers American electronic musicians American fashion designers American make-up artists American male bloggers American male singer-songwriters American performance artists American male pop singers American synth-pop musicians Beauty and makeup YouTubers LGBT YouTubers LGBT fashion designers LGBT people from California LGBT rights activists from the United States LGBT singers from the United States LGBT songwriters American male YouTubers Male models from California Singer-songwriters from California Warner Music Group artists American cosmetics businesspeople YouTube vloggers YouTube controversies 20th-century LGBT people 21st-century LGBT people