Makeup YouTuber Cassandra Bankson has come out as gay in a moving video, admitting that for years she felt unable to express her sexuality because of her growing public profile and pressure from being raised in a "strict environment".
"When I post online, people are watching me for who and what I am," Bankson says in the video, which is uploaded to her YouTube channel.
She continues: "I felt a lot of pressure to keep quiet, especially after my videos started to blow up. All of a sudden, people were calling me a hero; an inspiration for helping them with their acne. But insecure me didn't feel like an inspiration."
"Stress was a huge factor that contributed to my acne," she adds, explaining that, in a frustrating catch-22, staying in the closet was taking a toll on her skin.
"When you're dancing around pronouns and hiding half of your story, you become inauthentic. I stopped being honest in my vlog and sharing my day-to-day life, because I didn't want to say I was going on a date with a girl," she says, adding that she wasn't living in a way that made her happy.
"Then I started taking brand sponsorships that weren't authentic. I felt like I was living a double life. I grew up in a strict family, but eventually I realised that I would rather go to hell than live in this hell."
Bankson, who has close to 900,000 followers on YouTube, goes on to say that once she started coming out to her loved ones, her acne began to clear.
Still, she says, coming out publicly was a daunting prospect.
"I've wanted to share but I've been afraid of alienating people, because I do have followers from the Midwest, India, and Southern America who have more conservative ideals," she says.
She continues: "But I also have an obligation to be fully authentic. I struggled with self-harm growing up, and a lot of that stemmed from trying to mitigate my attraction to other women. I was destroying myself over something I can't change. Maybe this will be the wake up call to someone who is homophobic or hateful, to show that who I love doesn't change who I am."
Bankson's fans were quick to offer words of encouragement.
"Thank you for having the courage to openly share with this community," one viewer commented on the video. "I hope that the weight has been lifted off your shoulders and that you are met with nothing but love and support."
Another wrote: "I hope this announcement was freeing and liberating for you. Of course, first and foremost, you are a lovely, warm and kind human being. Your sexuality is a huge facet of who you are, but you are also intelligent and insightful and so many other things that are not defined by your sexuality."
You can watch her coming out video below:
