Fans feel a special connection to their favorite YouTube celebrities, because many of them put their real life on display in their hit videos, which makes it even harder to take when their favorite vlogger falls on hard times. Many YouTubers are in their teens and twenties, but some have still tragically passed away far too young in recent years. Some dealt with an illness that they shared publicly with their fans, while others suffered quick deaths that shocked the online community. Let's take a look at a few of the YouTube stars that you might not have realized passed away.
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00:00There's something about the intimate relationship between a YouTuber and their audience that
00:04always makes their deaths a shock.
00:06Many YouTubers, both young and old, are taken too soon.
00:09Here are a few YouTube stars you may not have realized are gone.
00:13Will Norton
00:14In May 2011, a devastating tornado swept through the city of Joplin, Missouri, reducing homes
00:19to rubble and taking the lives of 158 people, including popular YouTuber Will Norton.
00:25The witty 18-year-old was in the middle of his high school graduation when the weather
00:28outside started to turn, and after accepting his diploma, he and his father Mark headed
00:33home as fast as they could.
00:34Sadly, they couldn't get there quick enough.
00:36The powerful winds flipped the vehicle onto its side, breaking Will's seatbelt and leaving
00:40him dangerously exposed.
00:42Despite his father's attempts to hold onto him, Will was sucked through the sunroof of
00:46his vehicle.
00:47His body was later discovered in a nearby pond, concealed by debris.
00:50His aunt Tracy Pressler later said at a press conference,
00:53At least we know that he wasn't out there suffering.
00:55Knowing that he was gone right away was really a blessing for us.
00:59Sophie Anderson
01:00British YouTuber Sophie Anderson, aka Sophie Emma Rose to her subscribers, ran her channel
01:06from the sunny beaches of Phuket, southern Thailand, giving parenting advice that sometimes
01:10proved controversial.
01:11The 41-year-old was six months pregnant when the scooter she was on collided with an 18-wheeler
01:16truck, killing her and her unborn child.
01:1829-year-old boyfriend Danny Glass said in a 2017 Facebook post,
01:22"...I am in total shock as I've lost the most precious person I had ever connected with.
01:26My brain keeps going into denial.
01:28I am distraught.
01:29She was also pregnant, so I lost my child too."
01:32Tamisha Ridge
01:34YouTube DIY fashion icon Tamisha Ridge was attracting millions of viewers to her DIY
01:39Misha channel when she was murdered by a bitter ex-boyfriend with a history of violence.
01:43In May 2014, the 31-year-old mother was found in her home with a fatal gunshot wound to
01:48the head, inflicted by a man with five previous convictions for domestic abuse against multiple
01:52women dating back to 2002.
01:54A stint behind bars did nothing to break his pattern of violence toward women, as he would
01:58later murder Ridge, a bubbly fashionista and mother of three.
02:02Caleb LeBlanc
02:04Described by The Guardian as an online, middle-class version of the Kardashians, the LeBlanc family,
02:09who use the name Bratayley online, has over 4.9 million subscribers, and their vlogs used
02:14to focus on the three Bratayley children, Annie, Hailey, and Caleb.
02:18That all changed on October 1st, 2015, when his parents revealed a family tragedy on their
02:23Instagram, saying,
02:24"'Yesterday at 7.08 p.m., Caleb Logan Bratayley passed away of natural causes.
02:29This has come as a shock to all of us.
02:31Words cannot describe how much we will miss him.
02:33His incredibly funny, loving, and wonderful spirit made us all fall in love with him as
02:37a YouTuber, friend, brother, and son."
02:40The following day, the last video Caleb recorded was posted, entitled,
02:43"'Dear Future Self.'"
02:45As the 13-year-old's fans began the grieving process, conspiracy theorists started to spread
02:49stories of foul play.
02:51In the end, local police were forced to release a statement confirming that there were no
02:54suspicious factors in Caleb's death, and that no criminal investigations were underway.
03:00Connie Kin
03:01The haul videos that Connie Kin did for the What's Up Moms page made her famous among
03:05mothers on the internet.
03:06The parenting channel has over 1.7 million subscribers, but it lost one of its most popular
03:11contributors back in 2013, when Kin passed away after giving birth to her second child,
03:15Ella.
03:16According to her husband, Andrew, the bubbly vlogger was taken by an infection as a complication
03:21from childbirth.
03:22He continued,
03:23"'I treasure all of these videos and comments, because I know Nathan and Ella will always
03:26be just a click away from seeing their moms smiling and caring about them, and a click
03:30away from understanding all the people she touched.'"
03:33Tamika Moore
03:35Known to YouTube as Michimonro, Tamika Moore's channel featured hairstyle tips and tutorials.
03:40She started out in the fall of 2010, and by early 2014, she was attracting viewers in
03:45the millions.
03:46But her life and online career were turned upside down later that year.
03:49Shortly before her 29th birthday, Moore began to notice one side of her face was drooping,
03:54and she was having trouble with her speech.
03:56The doctors had bad news.
03:57She had suffered three strokes.
03:59After performing some exploratory surgery, they diagnosed her with an extremely rare
04:03form of brain cancer, and knowing the treatment would make her hair fall out, she voluntarily
04:07shaved her head and donated it to Locks of Love.
04:11Moore told People,
04:12"'I cried.
04:13It was very difficult because my hair was so much a part of my personality.
04:16I was calm but worried.
04:18These thoughts kept going through my head.
04:19Will I make it?
04:20I have to keep faith.'"
04:21The Chicago-based vlogger bravely fought cancer before finally succumbing to it in June 2017,
04:27aged just 32.
04:29Justin Carmichael
04:31Gamer Justin Carmichael was part of the first generation of YouTube gamers, well-known for
04:35his enthusiastic You Can Play This series, in which he would import video games from
04:39Japan and teach people how to play them without knowing the language.
04:42Off-camera, he was having suicidal thoughts, and he acted on them in January 2014.
04:47His wife Jenny wrote on Facebook,
04:48"'It is with a very sad heart that I must confirm my husband, Justin Carmichael, died
04:53on Thursday, January 23rd.
04:55You all made him so happy.
04:56Every time he was recognized from his videos, it made him giddy with joy.'"
05:00Peter Oakley
05:01Affectionately known to his subscribers as the Granddad of the Internet, Peter Oakley
05:05made his first contribution to YouTube back in 2006, when he posted a fuzzy video entitled
05:10First Try.
05:11The British vlogger asked the YouTube community for help and advice in shaping his channel.
05:15Geriatric 1927, and word of the chatty pensioner soon spread, with more than 3 million people
05:21watching his debut video.
05:23After feedback, Oakley decided to use the video-sharing platform to tell his story,
05:26taking his viewers on journeys into his childhood and wartime Britain.
05:30But people also tuned in to hear his gripes about the modern world.
05:32He told The Independent,
05:33"'There are millions of people without grandparents who find small comfort in old, simple stories.
05:38I have had my 15 minutes of fame, and enjoyed every minute of it.'"
05:42In 2014, a notice appeared on Oakley's website, confirming what his subscribers had feared
05:46when they hadn't heard from him in a while, which read,
05:48"'Peter has just been transferred to a nursing care facility.
05:51He has cancer, which is apparently too far advanced for treatment, and he is not expected
05:55to pull through.'
05:56Oakley signed off his final video with some typically British stiff upper lip.
05:59"'Sort of in conclusion, I would say my possibly final goodbye, so, goodbye.'"