Nobody knew YouTuber Danielle Cohn's real age until her own father said she's only 13. Here's what you need to know about the teen star who tricked the internet into thinking she was pregnant. (2024)

  • YouTube star Danielle Cohn is a teen icon with 1.4 million subscribers and 3.7 million Instagram followers.
  • She has become a figure of controversy because of questions about her real age, and whether her suggestive posts and older boyfriends are actually appropriate.
  • These concerns came to a head when she was dating her now ex-boyfriend, influencer Mikey Tua, who was 17 at the time. Danielle insists she is 15, but apparent "evidence" has been leaking online over the past few months that seems to show her real age is actually 13.
  • Danielle's father Dustin recently posted a lengthy statement on Facebook stating that his daughter is in fact 13, and that he'd had enough of Danielle "being online in a way I didn't approve of." He suggested it was her mother, Jen, who was forcing her daughter to date older boys and post revealing photos. Jen declined to answer any questions when contacted by Insider.
  • However, Danielle responded to her father's post with a statement on Instagram, saying she was happy he wasn't in her life and she doesn't do anything she doesn't want to.
  • Insider was unable to reach Danielle, while Dustin did not respond to a request for comment.
  • Visit Insider's homepage for more stories.

Nobody knew YouTuber Danielle Cohn's real age until her own father said she's only 13. Here's what you need to know about the teen star who tricked the internet into thinking she was pregnant. (1)

Sign up to get the inside scoop on today’s biggest stories in markets, tech, and business — delivered daily. Read preview

Nobody knew YouTuber Danielle Cohn's real age until her own father said she's only 13. Here's what you need to know about the teen star who tricked the internet into thinking she was pregnant. (2)

Thanks for signing up! Go to newsletter preferences

Thanks for signing up!

Access your favorite topics in a personalized feed while you're on the go.

Nobody knew YouTuber Danielle Cohn's real age until her own father said she's only 13. Here's what you need to know about the teen star who tricked the internet into thinking she was pregnant. (3)

Advertisement

Danielle Cohn, a YouTuber with 1.4 million subscribers, may have been lying about her age.

Danielle describes herself on her channel as "a 15-year-old American actress, model, social media sensation." But her fans' obsession with finding out the truth about her age has grown over time thanks to internet sleuths and leaked information.

On September 16, Danielle's father Dustin Cohn may have revealed what's really going on. In a Facebook post, he claimed his daughter is actually just 13.

"I have decided to set things straight about my daughter Danielle Cohn," he wrote. "For years I have done the diplomatic thing while dealing with my daughter being online in a way I didn't approve of and trying to have it handled out of social media because I figured the system would work and keep my daughter safe."

Advertisement

He said he never liked that Danielle was on social media, especially at such a young age. But when he asked for it to stop, it didn't.

"We found Pinterest boards with her photos and I told her mom I worried about pedophiles," he wrote. "The pictures now have gotten worse and worse. I am finally saying something on social media because people need to be held accountable."

Danielle started her internet career on Musical.ly (now TikTok), and is now a YouTuber, influencer, and musician. She has repeatedly insisted she is 15 years old, so often that it's become a meme that she'll be that age forever.

In one video, "21 Truth's About Me," she used her belly button piercing as "proof" of her age.

Advertisement

"There is a big rule that you can not have your belly button pierced unless you are over the age of 13," she said. "My mom was actually filming me on a live stream when I got it done. And I recorded my mom signing the papers, showing my birth certificate. That's the truth ... I am now 15."

Insider was unable to reach Danielle for a statement, while Dustin did not respond to a request for further comment.

However, if her father is telling the truth and Danielle really is just 13, this is problematic in a number of ways.

Firstly, the pictures she posts on her Instagram page are suggestive at best, and inappropriately provocative at worst.

Second, her boyfriends are usually a fair bit older than her.

Can I be your baby girl 🥰 @fashionnova

A post shared by DANI🖤 (@daniellecohn) on Aug 31, 2019 at 1:24pm PDT

Here's everything that's gone down in the last few months to make Danielle one of the most talked about YouTubers on the platform, and all of the questions her content has raised.

Danielle dated 17-year-old Mikey Tua

Danielle was in a relationship with Mikey Tua, a 17-year-old influencer with 326,000 subscribers, for about a year until they broke up recently. He appeared in many of her videos, including "OUR FIRST TIME! *NOT CLICKBAIT*", "Breaking Up With My Boyfriend On Valentines Day **HE GOT SAD**", and "Protective Boyfriend Reacts To Halloween Costumes!"

The latter consists of Danielle trying on adult costumes, such as a Playboy bunny leotard and a short policewoman's dress. British YouTubers ImAllexx and JaackMaate described it as "creepy" and "weird."

Advertisement

In April, Danielle posted a series of videos where she and Mikey went to Vegas and apparently got married. The ceremony wasn't legal, Danielle's mother told Buzzfeed News, and was simply "clickbait."

You’re all mine and I ain’t sharing 💛💍

A post shared by DANI🖤 (@daniellecohn) on Apr 26, 2019 at 1:28pm PDT

But Danielle continued the narrative, tricking the internet into believing she might be pregnant. One tweet from Mikey, that has now been deleted, said "Expecting 08/14/19 #manibaby." He also uploaded a video to his YouTube channel titled "We Are Expecting..."

Danielle tweeted the "due date" herself and also uploaded a picture to Instagram of Tua kissing her stomach, which has also now been removed.

It was later revealed to be a prank, but not before Mikey's parents took notice and concerns about the young couple grew.

Advertisement

Nobody knew YouTuber Danielle Cohn's real age until her own father said she's only 13. Here's what you need to know about the teen star who tricked the internet into thinking she was pregnant. (4)

Danielle Cohn / Instagram

Mikey's parents got involved and took over his social media accounts

In July, a few months after the series of videos about the fake pregnancy, more questions about Danielle's real age came to light, and Mikey's parents took control of his Instagram account.

"After some sensitive information was brought to my attention about Danielle, we no longer support Mikey and Danielle's relationship," Mikey's mother Katie wrote via Mikey's Instagram stories. "Because Mikey is still a minor, we have taken away his social media. He will be able to get it back when we have worked through some legal stuff. Thank you!"

Mikey's father also posted a statement saying his son wanted to become emancipated from his parents.

"I understand that, but his emancipation can give him prison time," he wrote. "Dani is not 15."

Advertisement

Nobody knew YouTuber Danielle Cohn's real age until her own father said she's only 13. Here's what you need to know about the teen star who tricked the internet into thinking she was pregnant. (5)

Danielle and Mikey broke up soon afterwards

Danielle initially claimed in a video that she and Mikey were still together despite his parents' disapproval.

"I still talk to him on a daily, still talk to him every day on the phone," she said. "We'll tell each other we love each other. We're perfectly fine."

Danielle also posted an Instagram story in response to Mikey's parents' claims, saying they force their son "to do things."

"Don't trust anything these parents say because they are violent, they are disgusting, they don't even deserve to have kids," she said, according to Distractify. "They treat their kids like they are literally their walking bank and they're investments."

Advertisement

But not long afterwards, it was announced Danielle and Mikey's relationship had ended.

Read more: Here are all the YouTube controversies that have happened so far in 2019

The speculation hit a peak when someone allegedly leaked Danielle's birth certificate

Mikey's mother also posted an Instagram story of a news article that supposedly showed Danielle was 6 years old in 2012, making her 13 years old now. She also claimed to have seen Danielle's birth certificate.

"We have a certified copy of Danielle's birth certificate," she wrote. "We would never lie about something so severe."

Advertisement

Some photos of Danielle's mother and father in hospital have also leaked online from an album which allegedly show that she was born in 2006. They were shared by the account exposingyoutubeshade.

Two Instagram accounts, exposing.dani and blankbluewall, also found a Flickr account that supposedly belonged to Danielle's grandmother Linda Archambault, but it has since been deleted.

Some online commentators are convinced it was Danielle's father Dustin who leaked much of the information that is now available online, especially since he posted his revelations on Facebook this week.

Mikey's mother Katie reshared Dustin's post, saying her family had been through a lot in the past year and thanking him for "speaking up."

Advertisement

"Our son is completely broken from this situation," she wrote. "The lies, manipulation, deceit, and emotional abuse that's come from his first relationship will affect him for the rest of his life."

Dustin called out companies for making money from his '13-year-old' daughter

In his recent Facebook statement, Dustin also accused companies of handling the situation incredibly badly, and said he had never authorized Danielle working or making money from sponsorships.

"Instagram, YouTube, Fashion Nova, Buzzfeed, Universal, Target, Bang Energy Drinks, and the State of California are ok with child exploitation, obviously," he wrote.

"They have no issues using my daughter for clicks, a minor, someone who just turned 13. I have contacted Instagram and YouTube and they both ignored me while they made money off exploiting my daughter."

Advertisement

He almost forgot his @BangEnergy! ❤️ It is the best drink to have for a long drive! #EnergyDrink Follow the inventor @BangEnergy.CEO #BangEnergy

A post shared by DANI🖤 (@daniellecohn) on Jun 29, 2019 at 11:03am PDT

Dustin wrote about a lot of issues in the lengthy post, including how he is supposed to see his daughter every week, but Danielle's mother "only sends her when she feels like it," and how he is sad Danielle has a bad relationship with her grandmother.

He also said the people around her are influencing what she does, suggesting it is Jen who is controlling Danielle's account.

"I have asked Jen to not allow her around boys that age and she says it's Danielle's decision," he wrote. "Even though I have sources telling me she is pushed towards the older boys and people for likes and followers."

He added he does want Danielle to be happy, "but not at this cost," as "no 13 year old should be dancing in lingerie."

Advertisement

He said he truly hopes in the future she isn't "caught up in a world of followers, fame, likes, and money."

"I hope one day she sees that I've only ever tried to protect her," he said. "I hope others around her wake up and realize it shouldn't be about the money, but living life as a kid that she is."

Danielle's eventually responded to the claims

Danielle's mother Jen refused to answer any questions for this article when contacted by Insider. But Danielle is still posting videos and hasn't really addressed any questions about her age. In one video titled "EX BOYFRIEND TAG (We Are Back Together?)" she appears with her ex Sebastian Topete, who she apparently dated for two years.

Concerned commentors on the video point out that if she is 13 now, this would have made her 11 at the time, while Sebastian would have been 16.

Danielle did finally respond to her father's post in a series of Instagram stories. She addressed him in an open letter, saying she was happy he wasn't involved in her life and that her mother is "twice the parent you could ever be."

Advertisement

"There is so much damage you have caused that I will never be able to forgive you," she wrote. "Like going to social media instead of personally reaching out to me ... You laid out lies and spoke about me as an enemy would ... But the fact is that you have lied about it all."

She continued explaining in the three lengthy posts that her father had never been there for her and she had caused her a lot of pain. She also asked him to stop dragging her mother's name "through the dirt."

"You keep telling people she forces me to do this and that; she does not force me to do anything that I do not want to do myself!" she said. "I have a mind of my own, I have set goals in my life and all I am doing is attaining them and because you are not part of it you want to sit here on social media and bash my mom!"

She ended the post saying "Time for you to go to rehab, you are completely delusional."

Advertisement

Nobody knew YouTuber Danielle Cohn's real age until her own father said she's only 13. Here's what you need to know about the teen star who tricked the internet into thinking she was pregnant. (6)

To make things even more bizarre, on September 20, tea channel "Spill Sesh" tweeted that the entire thing was actually copy and pasted from an article on The Odessey.

"Danielle Cohn got caught plagiarizing her response to her dad's facebook message where he exposed her for being 13," she said. "The entire insta story was copy and pasted from an @TheOdyssey Article."

—Spill Sesh (@spillseshYT) September 20, 2019

When several people commented on her posts sticking up for Dustin, Danielle responded telling them to stop.

"Stop stop stop I have the best life and make my own decisions so tired of this bull crap," she replied to one. "Listen to someone who had nothing to do with me and also took my mom to court before I was famous because he didn't want to pay child support."

Advertisement

In the comments of another post, she also said that the Flickr account that her grandmother supposedly owns is a "set up."

People are skeptical over whether Danielle is speaking for herself

One of the most popular theories about Danielle's career is that her mother Jen is controlling it all. Many speculate that it was Jen who posted the Instagram stories, not Danielle. It also should be noted that Danielle's YouTube channel URL is "jennifer6262002chad" and the contact email address is also her mother's. When Insider reached out, it was Jen who replied, not Danielle.

There are several accounts dedicated to getting Danielle's Instagram taken down, such as cornonthecohn, which urges people to report it for child exploitation.

But Danielle doesn't seem to be taking any notice about what's being said, presumably because she's used to the rumors being spread about her and has grown a following regardless.

Advertisement

She's continued to upload videos and Instagram photos like normal and has been tagging retail company Fashion Nova, who she seems to still have a sponsorship deal with.

"He had beautiful eyes," she wrote cryptically in the latest post. "The kind I could get lost in."

He had beautiful eyes... the kind I could get lost in🌊

A post shared by DANI🖤 (@daniellecohn) on Sep 18, 2019 at 10:43am PDT

Read more:

Jake Paul said his marriage to Tana Mongeau is 'open' and it would be 'dope' if she hooked up with Noah Cyrus

Advertisement

Christine Sydelko, a YouTuber with 1.3 million subscribers, decided to quit the internet for good because being an influencer is 'such a trivial job'

A YouTuber with almost 1 million subscribers sold microwave meals from his apartment on food-delivery app Deliveroo pretending to be a restaurant called 'The Italian Stallion'

A YouTuber with 13 million followers surprised his friend with a brand new $290,000 Lamborghini he was gifted by EA Sports

An 84-year-old grandfather has become a highly fashionable Instagram influencer by modeling his grandson's clothes

Read the original article on INSIDER. Copyright 2019.

Follow INSIDER on Facebook.

Follow INSIDER on Twitter.

Read next

Watch: This YouTuber with over 2.7 million followers is making the beauty industry more inclusive

Nobody knew YouTuber Danielle Cohn's real age until her own father said she's only 13. Here's what you need to know about the teen star who tricked the internet into thinking she was pregnant. (7)

Nobody knew YouTuber Danielle Cohn's real age until her own father said she's only 13. Here's what you need to know about the teen star who tricked the internet into thinking she was pregnant. (2024)

References

Top Articles
Latest Posts
Recommended Articles
Article information

Author: Nathanael Baumbach

Last Updated:

Views: 5575

Rating: 4.4 / 5 (55 voted)

Reviews: 94% of readers found this page helpful

Author information

Name: Nathanael Baumbach

Birthday: 1998-12-02

Address: Apt. 829 751 Glover View, West Orlando, IN 22436

Phone: +901025288581

Job: Internal IT Coordinator

Hobby: Gunsmithing, Motor sports, Flying, Skiing, Hooping, Lego building, Ice skating

Introduction: My name is Nathanael Baumbach, I am a fantastic, nice, victorious, brave, healthy, cute, glorious person who loves writing and wants to share my knowledge and understanding with you.