Gabbie Hanna has seemingly quit social media.
The controversial Viner-turned-YouTube star announced she would be going “entirely offline” in the description box of her new video titled ‘Sorry… I’m Late‘ in which Gabbie sings an original song in a bubble bath. The video opens with the words “somewhere between hypomanic and suicidal” written on the screen and ends with a plug for her album drop later this year.
Though not totally unusual for Gabbie who has been posting increasingly troubling content as of late, the description box details her decision to leave social media.
She starts by explaining her absence over the last couple of weeks. “I felt my mental health being compromised so I took a step back to be a person, touch some grass, pet my cats, see my friends, write some music… paint, mostly,” she writes. “I knew coming into this that it would be difficult, but I wasn’t able to handle it the way I thought I was. This series is and always has been about healing, so if it gets to a place where it’s no longer serving that purpose, I’m not going to push myself in a direction that’s hurting more than it’s helping. This series is *NOT* about drama, it’s about my life & processing trauma. Unfortunately, a lot of that does involve people who consistently wrap me up in drama online. Trust me… I hate it, too.”
The series Gabbie refers to is her recent episodic video series, STORYTIME: Confessions of a WashedUp YouTube HasBeen, throughout which the creator attempted to share her perspective on several of her scandals and controversies over the years. The series was not well received by fans, who felt Gabbie used it as an opportunity to victimise herself, deflect blame, and rehash past trauma. Backlash over the series came to a head following her latest installment in which Gabbie addressed her former friendship with YouTuber Jessica Vasquez AKA Jessi Smiles.
ICYMI, Gabbie and Jessi had a public falling out when Gabbie continued to spend time with and collaborate with the man who raped Jessi in 2013, Curtis Lepore. Their issues were drugged up again this year after Gabbie was profiled by Buzzfeed and spoke on Jessi’s sexual assault, claiming she was nothing but a good friend to Jessi and wants an apology for the public labelling her as a rape apologist. This led Jessi to release a 3-hour recorded phone call during which Gabbie can be heard contradicting many of the claims she made on Twitter and to Buzzfeed.
Despite Jessi’s pleads to stop publicly speaking about her sexual assault, Gabbie made a video addressing the phone call on July 1st and was highly criticised by fans for twisting the narrative and attempting to profit off of Jessi’s trauma. Days later, Jessi uploaded a video debunking Gabbie’s claims and sharing stories of lies Gabbie allegedly perpetuated over the years, including spreading a false rumour that YouTuber Jen Dent allegedly sexually assaulted a young girl.
“This series is simply a documentation of a life not many people experience or see,” Gabbie continues in her description box. “It was also meant to be a commentary on the constant, targeted harassment and exploitation of women in media. It’s meant to serve as a tool in shedding light on the very trivialized and misunderstood mental disability, ADHD.”
Gabbie goes on to say that as she started the series she was also starting treatment and she can now recognise how her ADHD “exacerbated otherwise trivial situations” over the years. She reveals that she started taking medication for her ADHD shortly after she wrapped filming the series before noting that ADHD presents differently in different people.
“A lot of people with opinions on my series haven’t watched it, they watched videos talking about me without asking the time to listen to me. It sucks, but it’s life. This series is my art. It’s meant to be consumed in its entirety, not in bits and pieces,” she continues. “I created it so I could stop obsessing, and for all intents and purposes, it worked. I feel myself healing and moving on. I wanted to tell my side and never speak of it again, and I failed at the beginning by engaging online. SURPRISE! I’m impulsive & defensive. I’m also a human. I found myself wanting to explain myself again & wanting to combat every new lie. Then I took a step back into the real world where I’m a pretty happy and chill person. Online, I’m a version of me that I really can’t stand.”
Gabbie finishes, “From here on out, I’m offline entirely.”
Though she mentions there are videos in the series yet to come, it seems Gabbie is taking a step back from social media indefinitely.
Her Instagram and Twitter accounts are still active at the time of publication.