YouTube's OG beauty vlogger Tati Westbrook has returned to the spotlight after more than a year in the shadows.
The Tati Beauty co-founder uploaded her first video of 2021 on Thursday, June 17, announcing she's back to using her channel after a "terrible time in my life."
"Obviously, I was so super stressed out, but I'm going to stop right there. I don't want to talk about it," she said, alluding to her very public falling out with fellow YouTube stars James Charles, Jeffree Star and Shane Dawson. "That past event seems to want to follow me everywhere I go."
Out of transparency, however, Tati admitted she's ready to explain what really transpired during her time away. "When I pulled back I stopped communication with everyone in the beauty community," she shared. "I haven't talked to anyone in over a year. I really took a break and I needed to for my peace of mind."
Moreover, Tati stated she's not involved in any legal battles with James, Jeffree or Shane. In her last video shared in June 2020, the vlogger accused Jeffree and Shane of "defamatory" actions and warned that she was "still well within the statute of limitations for bringing a civil action to seek recovery for my damages."
Jeffree and Shane have not publicly responded to Tati's comments.
Though Tati decided not to move forward with a lawsuit against them, she acknowledged acknowledged her and husband James Westbrook's other legal battles.
In the fall of last year, Tati began preparing for her comeback because she wanted to spend her life doing what made her happy. But then, what she described as "the unthinkable" happened, and she and James were sued by their Halo Beauty partner Clark Swanson.
As E! News reported last October, Clark accused Tati and James of breach of contract, gross negligence and fraudulent inducement in connection to their vitamin line, Halo Beauty.
"This was just really mind-blowing to have happen," she explained, adding the ongoing litigation is the reason she did not resume her makeup reviews earlier. "It was not a great environment for me to come back to... There was just no way."
She further revealed she and James sold their home in Los Angeles, as well as her condo, and "downsized my life in a major way," so they can afford to pay for their attorneys.
Though it was a difficult process, she said, "Material items are not the most important thing, my integrity is more important and I'll leave it at that."
In addition, Tati said as all this was going on, she began receiving "explicit and detailed" death threats. She claimed, "There were things that were happening that were so appalling. And when you feel violated of your privacy, like you're being spied on and you're blackmailed and there are people harassing you in this really graphic nature and there's a barrage of detailed death threats—let me tell you, you lose sleep."
"It just felt like my world was coming to a halt, so that's what was going on in spring/summer of last year," Tati shared, "but I really felt that if I pulled back and just took a time out, that I could regroup and stand strong and come back."
The YouTuber admitted her mental health took a hit last year, sharing, "It came to a point where I almost, in a weird way, accepted—and this sounds really sad—but I was like, 'Well, if it's my time to die, then it's my time to die. I can't live in fear.'"
Then, in an effort to "take my power back" and share what's going on so "no one can hold it over" her, Tati disclosed that she and James nearly split. She explained, "During this very, very stressful time in my life, James and I almost got divorced. We could not be around each other; he got his own place, we were separated during the holidays. It was a sad time."
Now, they're back together and she's hoping to have her "happy ending," after it truly reached the point where she had "no hope" of a future together.
"I for real thought I had lost everything," Tati said. "I remember being alone and thinking, 'This is it for me.'"
She also addressed the rumor that she left YouTube to become a mom, a dream the vlogger previously spoke about in her videos. Tati shared, "I would love that but that was not my journey over the last year."
In her final message, Tati said people are allowed to have their "opinion" on her video, but asked tarot readers and psychics to "not be used in any way, shape or form in videos involving divination."
"Please do not. This is an intense request from my heart, I'm not meaning to shame you but I'm tapped out, done, goodbye, not for me," she explained. "It feels really violating to have someone read your future without your permission and speak words of death over your life... It only breeds negativity and anxiousness and it's not something I'm involved in anymore."
Numerous YouTubers and beauty vloggers celebrated Tati's return to the platform after her extended break. Vlogger Manny MUA wrote on Twitter, "genuinely very very happy for Tati, so happy she is finding peace and moving forward."