One powerful documentary marked Eugenia Cooney and Shane Dawson’s return to YouTube. Shane, 31, uploaded a one-hour video called “The Return of Eugenia Clooney” after last updating his channel in Feb. 2019, and it has already surpassed 1.5 million views and moved Twitter on July 19. The emotional documentary began by recapping the speculation and cruel weight comments from YouTube viewers who accused Eugenia of having an eating disorder (there were many, as she boasts 1.6 million subscribers). The 24-year-old YouTuber had repeatedly denied the rumors before her honest conversation with Shane.
“I was in a rehab kind of program for it and [it] was really kind of a weird experience I guess,” Eugenia confessed to Shane, who visited her home sometime after she announced her break from YouTube in Feb. 2019. While seeking treatment at the facility, Eugenia admitted she was “honestly kind of surprised” after finding out how “low” her weight was compared to before, a realization that was “shocking” to her. Eugenia even revealed that doctors were “surprised” that she was “lucky” and didn’t experience a critical number of negative side effects from her low weight.
Eugenia had stayed hush about her health up until this vulnerable documentary, and so there was an immediate outpouring of supportive tweets. “Okay everyone let’s say it together, THANK YOU SHANE DAWSON FOR HELPING US FORM A NEW LOVE FOR THE AMAZING EUGENIA COONEY,” one fan tweeted, while an especially touched viewer posted, “@Eugenia_Cooney seeing how you respond to ppl even through all that tough shit (like the video call, just wow) is really inspiring and incredibly refreshing to see.The @shanedawson video almost had me in tears seeing how happy you looked to be able to share your recovery story.”
Seeing so much support is making me cry. 😭 Thank you guys so so much for being so kind and positive towards me. It's been a really difficult year and it's a hard journey, but if I can overcome my demons, know that you can too. Love you all ❤️❤️❤️
— Eugenia Cooney (@Eugenia_Cooney) July 19, 2019
@Eugenia_Cooney seeing how you respond to ppl even through all that tough shit (like the video call, just wow) is really inspiring and incredibly refreshing to see.The @shanedawson video almost had me in tears seeing how happy you looked to be able to share your recovery story
— Adam (he/him) (@Cyr_cryptid) July 19, 2019
The tears were mutual after Eugenia saw the positive response. “Seeing so much support is making me cry,” she tweeted on July 19. “Thank you guys so so much for being so kind and positive towards me. It’s been a really difficult year and it’s a hard journey, but if I can overcome my demons, know that you can too. Love you all.” Eugenia also uploaded her own video to her YouTube channel, simply titled, “I’m Back.”