Making amends. Jeffree Star is speaking out after beauty bloggers James Charles and Tati Westbrook continued their public feud.
The makeup mogul, 34, broke his silence on the accusations made against him and friend Shane Dawson in a 40-minute video shared by Westbrook, 38, in June. At the time, Westbrook alleged that Star and Dawson, 32, worked together to manipulate her into slamming Charles, 21, in her since-deleted YouTube tell-all, “Bye Sister,” in May 2019.
“I’ve been silent for a very long time, and I know that’s very rare for me,” Star began in his 10-minute apology on Saturday, July 18. “I’ve taken a lot of time to do a lot of self-reflection. Now in the past, I have been guilty of speaking out of anger, out of frustration, out of my emotions. I’m so quick to grab my phone and just say whatever’s on my mind in that moment, without ever really thinking the ramifications of my words, my actions.”
Star later noted that he was “really reflecting on my behavior” after going dark on social media in the weeks since Westbrook’s bombshell video. “I’ve come to a lot of realizations and it’s been really important to actually understand everything I was a part of, what I did wrong and really start a new chapter for myself,” he said. “I never tried to take anyone down. I’m not a villain in a movie. This isn’t a Netflix series with a crazy story line. This is my real life, and a lot of things that are happening and being said are false.”
The Jeffree Star Cosmetics founder went on to address his drama with Charles directly. Shortly after Westbrook came forward with her claims about Charles last year, Star made a number of statements about his fellow makeup vlogger’s alleged predatory behavior. (Charles denied the allegations in a 41-minute video titled “No More Lies” in May 2019.)
“I would personally like to apologize to James Charles for the words that I’ve said and for my actions,” Star continued. “If I was really close with someone, I should have had the ability to simply call them and ask and say, ‘Hey, these are the things that are being said to me.’ Instead, I didn’t. I let people really gas me up and get me going behind the scenes and I really fell for a lot of things and I got really caught up in the hype. … It’s disgusting, it’s awful, and none of it should have happened. So James, I am truly sorry for my actions and my behavior.”
After issuing his public apology, Star defended Dawson, who recently faced backlash for resurfaced videos in which he used the N-word and made inappropriate sexual jokes.
“He is genuine, selfless, and he is one of the most kind people that I have ever met in the entire world,” Star said of his friend. “I know that Shane would put his family and friends before himself in a flash. Now, did Shane and I get caught up in the drama and do some dumb s–t? Of course we did, but that is my best friend, and I was actually truly shocked that people thought that I was going to distance myself from him or that my silence was anything but support.”
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