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With 2 million YouTu0be subscribers, Eugenia Cooney made waves on the platform for several years before suddenly disappearing. After January 28, 2019, Cooney stopped uploading content. Her Twitter feed and Instagram profile also went dormant. Several weeks later, she shared a quick update on Twitter to let fans know she was taking a break from social media, and that’s the last we heard from Eugenia Cooney until recently. In an hour-long video, Shane Dawson sat down with the 24-year-old to discuss life, YouTube, and eating disorders, bringing awareness to the very real struggle faced by those battling disordered eating. The video has been viewed over 16 million times since it was uploaded on July 19.

Who is Eugenia Cooney?

Eugenia Cooney is a content creator and beauty guru, who uploaded her first YouTube video in 2013. As a teen, fans were enamored with the punk-inspired style of Cooney, but as the years carried on, concern grew over her appearance.

The already slim creator grew thinner and thinner by the day, prompting concerns about her health and well-being. Viewers had long suspected she was suffering from an eating disorder, but Cooney was pretty tight-lipped about whether or not that was the case. In fact, she did not confirm the fact that she is suffering from anorexia until she collaborated with Shane Dawson on a video, nearly six months after she suddenly disappeared from social media.

Currently, Cooney has nearly 2 million YouTube subscribers. She also boasts 250,000 Twitter followers and over 700,000 followers on Instagram.

Internet petitions circulated to take her off YouTube

While the 24-year-old content creator rarely spoke about food issues, users became so distressed by her image, that they started petitions to have her removed from YouTube. The petitions suggested that the vlogger was so heavily entrenched in disordered eating behaviors that she was a bad influence on those who watched her videos, specifically young girls.

The most popular petition, which garnered around 5,000 signatures, begged YouTube to suspend the content creator until she received treatment for her eating disorder. The petition was launched in 2017, but Cooney didn’t disappear from the platform until early 2019. Her lack of uploads, however, was voluntary.

Speculation swirled that the beauty guru had died, entered treatment, or merely retreated from the internet after viewers continued to question her eating habits and body image. The reason for her disappearance, however, seems to have been for the best possible reason; she entered a treatment program and stepped away from social media to focus on recovery.

Eugenia Cooney’s stint in an eating disorder treatment program

Dawson’s video revealed that the young content creator is now willing to admit that she is battling an eating disorder; acknowledging the problem is a necessary step in the recovery process. She also took part in an intensive program designed to help those battling anorexia and bulimia develop healthy eating habits. While Cooney stopped short of mentioning what program she took part in, it’s likely that her treatment has also included mental health service as well as physical health assessments.

Cooney, for her part, has now returned to social media, but it’s unknown if she’ll resume the same filming schedule that she had previously kept. Heavy notes that, while Cooney is in no way healed yet, she’s on the road to recovery. Her appearance in the video is markedly different from the last time fans saw the gaunt creator, and that’s a sign of substantial progress.

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