How Did James Charles and Tati Westbrook Meet?
All friendships don’t last forever. But the end of most friendships don’t lead to the loss of one party’s livelihood. Unfortunately, that is what is happened with James Charles and Tati Westbrook.
The YouTubers, who once collaborated on videos and treated each other like family, are no longer friends. Their argument has rocked the internet, causing people to choose sides and #cancel Charles.
But the relationship wasn’t always so dark and full of drama. Let’s take it back a second to see how it all began.
How did Westbrook and Charles meet?
Westbrook had been in the beauty game for years before meeting Charles. She began posting on her YouTube channel, GlamLifeGuru, in 2010. In February of last year, she launched Halo Beauty, which is a supplement brand that sells multivitamins for hair, skin, and nails and multivitamins for clear skin.
Charles was a fan of Westbrook and contacted her through her DMs when he first got started in the YouTube and makeup world. The two quickly became close and Westbrook began to mentor Charles. Charles commonly referred to Westbrook as “mom” and even did her wedding makeup.
“She has been like a mother to me since my first days in the industry and has given me more love, support, resources, and advice than I could ever ask for,” Charles said of Westbrook in his Instagram story once they began feuding.
What happened between Charles and Westbrook?
All of the drama started in April when Charles posted a sponsored ad about Sugar Bear Hair. Sugar Bear Hair is a direct competitor of Westbrook’s Halo Beauty vitamins so obviously she was upset.
She took to her Instagram story to call Charles out.
“Everybody says what they need to say and uses who they need to use, and I have had about enough,” she said. “It’s not right.”
Charles then posted on his Instagram story, apologizing for hurting Westbrook and said that he only did the Sugar Bear Hair ad because they helped him get through the crowd at Coachella when things had gotten dangerous. He also claimed that he did not accept money for the ad.
Westbrook makes a video about Charles
Things really got ugly when YouTuber Gabriel Zamora made a video defending Charles.
“All these videos are being made where James is made out to be this horrible human being, and I’m just confused as to what happened,” he said. “Oh, it’s about ‘loyalty.’ It’s the ‘loyalty’ aspect of it. For me, it looks like someone posted IG Stories. And, someone cried,” he says in the video. “I’m, like, confused because what did James do?… Well, Sugar Bear Hair was around before her. Homeboy is exclusive to her?”
In response, Westbrook made a 43-minute video called “BYE SISTER,” in which she detailed why she was angry and said that she no longer wanted to be friends with Charles.
“We’ve had plenty of in-person conversations about other influencers doing the same deal and about him not liking Sugar Bear Hair and him dragging other people and being like ‘Tati, I’m on your side, you’ve got me. I will support you. You’ve got my loyalty,'” she said.
Charles, who has lost over 3 million subscribers since the feud began, has apologized for hurting Westbrook but it doesn’t seem like she’s ready to accept his apology.
