Reuben de Maid

Reuben de Maid (born March 2005) is an Welsh teenage singer, beauty influencer, vlogger, and reality television personality from Llandaff, Wales.[1][2] He rose to international prominence after appearances on NBC’s Little Big Shots, and The Ellen DeGeneres Show.[3][4] His life and early career are featured in Quest Red's reality docuseries Being Reuben which aired in January 2020 in the U.K., then rebroadcast August 2020 in North America on The CW.[5][6] As of October 2019, he has 226,000 YouTube subscribers, and 315,000 Instagram followers.[7] Women's Wear Daily calls de Main “one of Gen Z’s most unconventional beauty influencers”.[8]

Early life and education

Reuben de Maid was born in Cardiff, Wales in March 2005 to parents Vicki, a salon owner, and father, Matthew, a lawyer.[1][9] Cardiff is a “conservative area”, but Reuben generally felt safe to pursue dressing up, and playing with makeup at home, as well as advancing a beauty career.[8] Reuben first got interested in makeup around the age of eight, during his primary school years, and started watching YouTube videos by “fabulous” people like Patrick Starrr.[10][1] De Main said, "I used to watch my phone for hours on end, learning from tutorials and blogs, seeing how to do it."[11] He practiced and then started his own YouTube channel and improved over time; he has been on social media since he was eight including Instagram.[10][8] He finds experimenting with makeup to be therapeutic.[12] It was years later he would realize that he was a part of breaking the gender stereotypes of the beauty industry.[10] His parents were supportive but his mother did warn him other people might troll or online bully him.[10] He started attending a drama school at night and was bullied both verbally and physically.[12] At first he kept the harassment secret from his family but found relief later by talking about the experiences.[12] He transferred to another school where the students were more accepting.[11] At around ten years old, his parents amicably spilt, his father lives about two miles away and is still in the family’s lives.[13]

Career

De Maid came to international attention in April 2017 when he appeared on The Ellen DeGeneres Show talking about, and displaying both his makeup and singing skills, and spoke of being bullied.[1] He sang “And I Am Telling You I'm Not Going” from the 1981 Dreamgirls musical; and was surprised by Kim Kardashian-West.[2][9] He was compared to the “flamboyant” Adam Lambert.[14] Host DeGeneres gifted him with “a laptop, make-up and lights so he could start his own make-up tutorial channel on YouTube”.[15] After Ellen he also appeared on the reality show Keeping Up With the Kardashians.[7] He later performed on the children's variety show Little Big Shots and his clip went viral.[10] Back in the U.K. he appeared on Good Morning Britain, and This Morning talking about the trolling and bullying he has survived.[16] He took part in a public service announcement for AntiBullyingPro, along with other celebrities.[14] Although he has been experimenting with makeup since he was eight, he has only focused on his beauty influencer career since 2018.[9] He practices a couple times a week after school and on weekends.[17] He films and edits himself taking up to three hours to film, and up to the same time to edit.[8] The BBC News noted that as of April 2017 “Men are making huge gains in the make-up industry. Brands including CoverGirl and Anastasia Beverly Hills now have male models to showcase their products. Earlier this year Manny Gutierrez was hired as Maybelline's first male face to represent their brand.”[15] Women's Wear Daily calls de Main “one of Gen Z’s most unconventional beauty influencers”.[8]

In 2019 a United Kingdom Ricochet Ltd.—a Warner Bros. International Television Production Company—and Krempelwood Ltd.-produced “observational docuseries”, Being Reuben, was secured by The CW American network for the summer 2020 schedule.[18][19] In an interview about his goals de Maid states, "I hope I give young boys and other young people the hope that they can do makeup if they love it, ... I just want to send the message across a bigger platform to fight the prejudice against boys in makeup and to equalize the fact that men and women are the same and makeup doesn't have an agenda."[10] The six-part series had previously aired on Quest Red in the U.K. and Ireland in 2019; it was filmed when de Main was fourteen.[20] According to Women's Wear Daily, he “represents a wave of Gen Z beauty influencers who are more diverse, gender-fluid and beauty-savvy than ever. Members of Gen Z are digital natives and have an inherent understanding of technology — especially social media, which for them, is often identity-driven.”[8] As of July 2019, Gen Z spends about $140 billion directly.[8]

As of January 2020, he has over 500,000 followers on Instagram and YouTube including Kim Kardashian-West.[12] The two filmed a makeup tutorial together which has 8.3 million views as of January 2020.[12] His Instagram followers are 85 percent female and mostly aged 18-24, from the U.S. and U.K.[8] He also has an eyelash range with London-based W7 cosmetics, his first product collaboration.[8][12] W7 put together a Here Come the Boys campaign, a group of boy beauty influencers is shown breaking stereotypes in the first episode of Being Reuben.[10] For the campaign de Main was the lead as W7's brand ambassador—de Main's first ambassadorship—of the group of ten “of the UK's leading male influencers and makeup artists” (MUA).[8][21] De Main has also created content for other brands including Kardashian's KKW Beauty which she had gifted se Main during his first Ellen appearance.[8]

Personal life

De Maid lives in Llandaff, Wales with his mother Vicki, and two younger siblings, a sister and brother.[2][22] As seen in Being Reuben, Vicki's father also helps take care of the three children.[23]

gollark: Maybe store the per-file metadata before each file *and* at the end?
gollark: Good point, hmmm.
gollark: Why the end?
gollark: The header is of course an SQLite database.
gollark: Just have a header at the start listing the offsets of all the files.

References
  1. Raphael, Shannon (August 8, 2020). "Reuben de Maid's "Amazing, Supportive Parents" Help Him Deal with Internet Bullying". Distractify. Retrieved August 8, 2020.
  2. "12-year-old boy who was punched for wearing make-up wows Ellen". PinkNews. April 20, 2017. Retrieved August 8, 2020.
  3. "'Being Reuben' looks at teen internet sensation". KOIN. August 7, 2020. Retrieved August 8, 2020.
  4. "Reuben de Maid's first makeup tutorial". The Ellen Show. June 13, 2017. Retrieved August 8, 2020.
  5. Stephens, Lydia (January 12, 2020). "The Cardiff teenager being followed everywhere by TV cameras". Wales Online. Retrieved August 10, 2020.
  6. "Being Rueben TV Show on The CW: Season One Viewer Votes". TV Series Finale. August 8, 2020. Retrieved August 8, 2020.
  7. Jahns, Erin (October 7, 2019). "This 13-Year-Old YouTube Star Gave Byrdie HQ a Summer-Perfect Makeover". Byrdie. Retrieved August 8, 2020.
  8. Tietjen, Alexa (July 19, 2019). "Influence Peddler: Reuben de Maid, the 14-Year-Old YouTuber Changing Beauty Norms". WWD. Retrieved August 8, 2020.
  9. Stephens, Lydia (January 11, 2020). "The Cardiff teenager being followed everywhere by TV cameras". Wales Online. Retrieved August 8, 2020.
  10. Bucksbaum, Sydney (August 5, 2020). "'Being Reuben' star wants to give the beauty industry a makeover: 'Makeup doesn't have an agenda'". Entertainment Weekly. Retrieved August 8, 2020.
  11. Mei, Gina (April 25, 2017). "Ellen Degeneres Helps a 12-Year-Old Makeup Artist Achieve His Dreams". Cosmopolitan. Retrieved August 8, 2020.
  12. Moss, Rachel (January 6, 2020). "The 14-year-old beauty vlogger says makeup is "therapeutic" – and parents shouldn't worry about their kids wearing it". Huffpost. Retrieved August 8, 2020.
  13. "New York, New York". Being Reuben. Season 1. Episode 4. August 14, 2020. The CW.
  14. Hudson, David (September 15, 2017). "12-year-old boy talks about being bullied for wearing make-up". Gay Star News. Retrieved August 8, 2020.
  15. "Boy in make-up beats bullies to sing on TV". BBC News. April 27, 2017. Retrieved August 8, 2020.
  16. Lawrence, Hannah (May 9, 2017). "12-year-old boy bravely speaks out about being bullied for wearing make-up". Metro. Retrieved August 8, 2020.
  17. Moore, Zoe (July 30, 2019). "This 14-year-old male beauty YouTuber is breaking boundaries". Good Morning America. Retrieved August 8, 2020.
  18. "The CW Network preps summer slate with unscripted series from UK, Canada". News Lagoon. July 11, 2020. Retrieved August 8, 2020.
  19. Porter, Rick (June 16, 2020). "The CW Bolsters Summer Schedule With 4 Acquired Shows". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved August 8, 2020.
  20. Darvill, Josh (June 26, 2019). "Being Reuben: Teen internet sensation Reuben de Maid lands own reality series". TellyMix. Retrieved August 8, 2020.
  21. Megarry, Daniel (August 8, 2019). "W7 Cosmetics launch new campaign celebrating men wearing makeup". Gay Times. Retrieved August 8, 2020.
  22. "The CW, Series Premiere | "Being Reuben"". WOAI. August 7, 2020. Retrieved August 8, 2020.
  23. "Four Go Camping". Being Reuben. Season 1. Episode 2. August 7, 2020. The CW.
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