Beauty “CoverBoy” James Charles speaks up for the first time since his 2021 grooming allegations

Content warning: the following contains discussion of grooming, self-harm, and some situations which might be triggering. Please read with care.

YouTuber James Charles has been at the centre of some of the online beauty community’s most cringe-worthy controversies. The influencer, who found fame when he was scooped up by CoverGirl to be their first "CoverBoy," has only been in the spotlight for a few short years, but in that time, he has been accused of making offensive remarks to different communities, faking his palette swatches, and gouging ticket buyers for his tours.

However, Charles faced the biggest scandal of his career in 2021 when he was accused of grooming underage fans and sending inappropriate messages to those younger than 16. Now, in a new interview with Cosmopolitan, Charles is speaking up about the scandal and has many words of attrition to share.

“I don’t want to sit here and f***ing mope and whine and cry, because nobody wants to hear it,” he tells the outlet at the outset of the interview. “I had to do a lot of thinking. Like, Okay, babe, this is your fault. No, you’re not a pedophile. No, you’re not a f***ing groomer. No, you’re not a predator. But you made a big mistake.”

In 2021, after the 16-year-old fan accused him of grooming and sending lewd photographs, Charles released a statement on social media, saying the grooming accusations were "completely false," but it wasn't long before more minors accused Charles of flirting with them. Some even shared their experiences and conversations with Charles on TikTok. Charles then addressed the allegations In a YouTube video titled "holding myself accountable," which has since been deleted. 

However, copies of the video still exist online, where he is seen saying, "[I] was told they were 18, believed them, engaged in a flirty conversation, and then later on, found out they were actually 16.”

"Upon finding out, I was immediately embarrassed and blocked both people." He acknowledged that the interactions "should've never happened, point-blank period," adding, "There is no excuse for it. There is no if, ands, or buts, and I take full responsibility for that." He apologized for his behaviour and admitted that it was "desperation" that got himself into this situation in the first place. 

Within the span of just a few days, Charles' reputation was called into question and he lost millions of followers. His major collaboration deal with makeup powerhouse brand Morphe went up in smoke, as they announced on Twitter that the company had severed ties from the influencer

Variety reported he would no longer be the host of YouTube TV series "Instant Influencer." Even The New York Times ran coverage deeming him "canceled."

Now, speaking about the inappropriate interactions with the child, Charles tells Cosmo, “I’ve never been more disgusted in my life than when I found out that that kid was 16 years old. I was mortified, absolutely mortified.” 

After news outlets published unverified screencaps of supposed messages exchanged between Charles and many other fans, it seemed to suggest a pattern of grooming, but Charles now says the journalists didn’t do their job. “The source of where the list came from was not doing any sort of research, no fact-checking.” While he admits to some of the convos, he says they were between adults, and brandishes the others “completely fake” and “never even happened.”

Of the entire scandal, Charles tells Cosmo, ““Oh, I absolutely did f**k up,” but denies grooming. “I feel like that word is a very popular buzzword right now, especially in politics and stuff. But the actual meaning of it has been so misconstrued.” 

“The conversation lasted one hour,” he said of the exchange between him and the child. “I don’t know this person; I’ve never met this person. Nothing happened between me and this actual person, so to use that word is so categorically incorrect.”

Cosmo notes that Charles has never been charged with a crime, and that some of the accusers either ignored Cosmo’s request for comment, asked for money, or recanted their story. Charles, however, is speaking up about the consequences he faced personally for being “canceled.”

“I can’t even begin to explain to you how bad that week of my life was,” he says of the time the allegations broke in April 2021. “I was crying myself to sleep every single night. I was sitting there in bed staring at my phone. I wanted to kill myself. I wasn’t talking to anybody.” 

“I think I’ve always been somebody who’s been able to cope,” he continues. “I’ve been able to turn my phone off, to go see my family, to have friends over. Go to an escape room, watch a fun movie, play Mario Kart, play Minecraft, build a Lego set. With this situation, it was really scary because my coping mechanisms weren’t coping. It was the first time where I was like, Oh, f**k. I actually don’t know what to do here.…I eventually got to a point where I was like, This is not healthy. This is not good. This is getting to a really f**king dark place.” 

Cosmo also notes that the timing of this interview is curious, as he also has a new beauty palette called PAINTED to promote.

You can read the entire interview on Cosmo here.