YouTuber Eugenia Cooney’s recent videos have fuelled growing concerns

Andréa Oldereide and Dominyka

One should never comment on another person’s body, but what happens when a person has seemingly spent years fading away for the whole world to see?

This is the dilemma concerned viewers and fans have had to deal with whilst watching YouTuber Eugenia Cooney, who has had an infamous history of sparking outrage due to her shockingly tiny frame.

Only now, it appears that the situation may have escalated to a new level of gravity.

The 29-year-old Massachusetts native initially began live streaming on the broadcasting service YouNow before creating a YouTube channel in 2011, which has since gone on to earn 2.1 million subscribers.

Eugenia is known for her emo and gothic looks but has especially risen to infamy in the past few years by exhibiting clothing hauls where her emaciated figure is purposely shown.

The content creator has been presumably suffering from anorexia nervosa, although this diagnosis has never been officially confirmed by Eugenia herself.

As a result of her revealing videos, people have long contended that her material has been promoting dangerous eating disorders in the audience, prompting worries about her impact on her adolescent supporters.

Eugenia’s viewers have been forming many theories about her health, mental state, and even home life with some suggesting that her mother, Deb, has been behind her deteriorating physical state, alleging she has kept Eugenia locked in their house, feeding her just enough to keep her alive.

In 2016, Eugenia’s viewers went as far as to create a Change.org petition titled “Temporarily Ban Eugenia Cooney off of YouTube” which received 18,000 signatures, but was later removed for “violating community guidelines”.

At the beginning of 2019, the controversial figure’s online presence dwindled, causing anxiety among her followers who believed she might have passed away.

Nevertheless, in February, Eugenia took to her Twitter account (now known as X) to inform her fans: “I appreciate the concern.

“I’m taking a break from social media and voluntarily working on this with my doctor privately. Please respect that.”

Eugenia reportedly went on to undergo medical evaluation and, at the request of a friend, she was put under a 5150 hold before embarking on a month-long rehabilitation program.

5150 is the number of the section of the American Welfare and Institutions Code, which allows an adult who is experiencing a mental health crisis to be involuntarily detained for a 72-hour psychiatric hospitalization when evaluated to be a danger to others, or to himself or herself, or gravely disabled.

The YouTuber returned later that year, in fellow content creator Shane Dawson’s hour-long YouTube video titled “Eugenia Cooney: The Comeback,” where she openly acknowledged the decade-long speculation about her eating disorder and the journey toward recovery for the first time.

After Shane’s documentary was released, Eugenia soon resumed her usual video uploads but appeared to slowly display signs of a relapse.

A new petition was subsequently created in 2021 on Change.org to age-restrict, or entirely remove, Eugenia’s YouTube channel.

The petition received 53,117 signatures and read: “In February 2019, Eugenia was assessed by medical professionals in regards to her low body weight and put on an involuntary treatment order or a 5150 – a 72-hour psychiatric hold – for assessment of her mental and physical health.”

It went on to mention The Return of Eugenia Cooney, and how Eugenia failed to divulge which eating disorder she suffers from, and how there has been a “steady decline in Eugenia’s physical appearance” since the documentary’s release.

“Eugenia has stated that she weighs 38.8kg/84lbs at a height of 170cm tall or 5’7,” the petition read, before explaining that her light weight meant a dangerously low body mass index.

It also explained that “Eugenia is a prominent Twitch streamer with 100,000 followers,” and that “from an outside perspective it seems that Eugenia spends anywhere between 4-6 hours per day live streaming to this audience.”

It continued: “During these live streams she does not eat, she does not drink and she vehemently denies any form of problem.

“When Eugenia is confronted about her eating disorder she refers to the people doing so as ‘haters’.”

The petition went on to demand the removal of Eugenia’s public platforms, specifically YouTube, Twitch, Twitter, and Instagram, “until Eugenia is willing to confront her eating disorder head-on, it is irresponsible and selfish to continue uploading and streaming to an audience of over 2 million viewers, most of whom are young and impressionable.

Several influencers online have spoken out about Eugenia and her questionable content, including TikTok dietician Abbey Sharp, who posted last month a video on TikTok telling her 723.8 thousand followers that people had “let this girl down”.

Abbey was referring to a video Eugenia had posted on her TikTok in August, where she was cosplaying the late Mexican singer Selena and was viewed 78 million times.

The dietician, who is known for commenting on celebrities’ nutritional regiments whilst giving professional tips, said that the online community has let Eugenia down by liking the video over two million times.

“This is not good for vulnerable viewers and it’s definitely not good for her,” Abbey said.

Abbey went on to relate to Eugenia’s content, as she had herself survived an eating disorder, and could therefore understand how viewers liking such videos only fueled Eugenia’s assumed health condition.

The dietician asked her viewers to report Eugenia’s videos in order to help her get better.

Things have now turned for the worse as local Greenwich Police Sergeant Brent Reeves recently told TMZ that calls and emails have been coming into his department about Eugenia from all over the world — even getting people calling from as far away as Egypt and New Zealand.

Brent said: “We’re told the callers are looking to make sure she’s doing okay and isn’t being forced by her mom to make content and keep up her appearance.”

The sergeant has known Eugenia for over a decade, and their relationship is reportedly strong as they even share a unique code, where the YouTuber would include a specific item in her videos to signal that everything is well.

If that object isn’t there, however, he’ll know to get her help, TMZ reported.

The police officer has reportedly mentioned that Eugenia has consistently maintained a slim physique, and they therefore “can’t force her to eat more if she’s content with her current size”.

He also emphasized that she is mentally sound and maintains a cheerful disposition during their conversations.

Other agencies have checked on her in the past, but the publication was told she has never met the criteria to force her to get any kind of help.

According to the National Association of Anorexia Nervosa and Associated Disorders (ANAD), eating disorders affect at least 9% of the population worldwide.

Moreover, less than 6% of people with eating disorders are medically diagnosed as “underweight” and eating disorders are among the deadliest mental illnesses, second only to opioid overdose.

10,200 deaths each year are the direct result of an eating disorder—that’s one death every 52 minutes.

Mayo Clinic describes anorexia nervosa as an eating disorder characterized by abnormally low body weight, an intense fear of gaining weight, and a distorted perception of weight.

People with anorexia place a high value on controlling their weight and shape, using extreme efforts that tend to significantly interfere with their lives.

The physical signs and symptoms of anorexia nervosa are related to starvation, whilst it includes emotional and behavioral issues involving an unrealistic perception of body weight and an extremely strong fear of gaining weight or becoming fat.

As a result of starvation, people who suffer from anorexia may also experience abnormal blood counts, fainting, bluish discoloration of the fingers, loss of hair, and eroded teeth.

(Sources : boredpanda.com)