Beauty guru NikkieTutorials comes out as transgender

Beauty guru Nikkie de Jager has just come out as transgender.

The Netherlands-based online star, better known as NikkieTutorials, dropped the bomb in her YouTube channel on Tuesday (Manila time).

In a 17-minute video simply titled "I'm Coming Out," Nikkie said this was something she always wanted to reveal at some point, but could never get the timing right.

"It is time to let go and be truly free. When I was younger, I was born in the wrong body. Which means that I am transgender," she said in a shaky voice.

"Now it's so surreal saying this. Filming this video is scary, but it feels so liberating and freeing," she added.

She revealed that she was blackmailed by people who wanted to leak her story to the press, so she decided to take back control of her life and came out instead.

Nikkie opened up about her childhood and said that her mother, when pregnant with her, was convinced that she was going to have a girl. She was surprised when the opposite turned out to be true.

Still, the makeup expert said she always thought she was a girl.

"Ever since I was born, I've always thought I was a girl. And I just couldn't understand why I had short hair, or why I had to wear trousers and T-shirts. Why couldn't I wear dresses? I played with dolls, I did everything with nail polish," she said.

"All of me was girly. My mom knew immediately that I either was going to be gay or a different type of story. It turned out to be a different type of story," she added.

At the age of six, she said she grew her hair out, and by age eight, she started wearing girls' clothes. She started taking hormones when she was 14, and was fully transitioned by the age of 19.

"I am still Nikkie. Nothing changes about that...The number one thing on my channel is my love for makeup," she said.

"The reason why the trans part of me never got to the light was because I wanted my channel to be about my art. I wanted my art to do the speaking for me," she added.

—JCB, GMA News