Jeffree Star began making a name for himself more than a decade ago and has used a number of methods, including social media and personal endorsem*nts, to raise his net worth from $0 to between $5 and $20 million. The estimates vary wildly because he is not generally known in the public venue-at-large, but has a niche following that is both devoted and loyal.
Known largely as a model and fashion designer, Star began his rise to fame and fortune back in the 90’s when he stepped out as a gay teen. Voted “Best Hair” in his high school yearbook, the teen from Los Angeles would acquire a global following and he would expand his talents into becoming a makeup artist, singer, and songwriter. With this many marketing channels, it would only be a matter of time before the money would follow as long as he could keep his fans happy. He did.
Star claims to be one of the original Internet personalities, and his timing could not have been better. Some claim he is also one of the earliest influencers on social media at a time when the term had not yet been coined.
His latest effort is a video titled “Revealing My Last Dark Secrets” in which he admits to being a cutter, using a razor blade and other sharp tools to cut himself as a way of coping with his many emotional problems. The tattoos all over his body cover the scars from those darker years, and he claims he is now free from the self-destructive behavior.
Star’s career started on a social media website known as MySpace. Yes, it was that long ago, and he uploaded a song that received more than 25 million plays, a sign that if his popularity could be monetized there would be a lot of money in his future. This initial venture into music and performing got him a record contract with the Popsicle record label, releasing the song “Beauty Killer.”
With the creation of YouTube and the development of a personal cosmetics line, Star would find his cash cows and turn up the volume, targeting an even more specific niche of followers who love his musical and hair styles. Because the majority of his income is derived from social media, exact figures of his net worth vary. What is known is Star’s 8.6 million subscribers to his YouTube channel and the nearly 1 billion total views of his array of musical and makeup videos.
Estimates of his actual YouTube income range from $20,000 to $314,000 a month, making exact calculations virtually impossible. Live streaming reportedly brought one of his makeup shows an audience that would make him $9,000 a minute. While not completely abandoning his musical career, he has apparently focused his attention on his line of cosmetics and videos.
Since his MySpace and early YouTube days, Star has expanded his social media network to include more than 2 million Twitter followers and 6.7 million Instagram followers, who can’t wait to catch up on his latest “Thirsty” collection venture. It includes how-tos of how to use the Internet celebrity’s eye shadow palettes, liquid lips, and lip scrubs.
Star has once again expanded the use of his popularity by giving followers the opportunity to meet him personally and engage him in a makeup class that runs for a total of 5 hours. His time will be appropriately come with a financial reward to the tune of around $450 per person, with events coming to an area near you in the future. Ticket buyers get an assortment of personal Star goodies, including a swag bag, an assortment of some of his most popular and latest cosmetics, the opportunity to attend a live Q&A session with Star, and being able to hang out with him after the non-VIPs have left.
One of the biggest reasons that Star’s net worth is difficult to nail down is because he has few known major assets. He owns a Lamborghini, pink naturally, but as for the rest of his assets they are not well-known. This means that deferring to the lower end of the net worth scale, around $5 million, makes more sense because that figure is largely based on his social media income – in other words, cash assets. He claims to have a makeup collection valued in the millions, but it is not clear if the actual value can be determined. Star himself claims it is worth about $7 million.
But Star is only 32 years old and can begin shifting some of that cash into assets other than a car and makeup collection. When that happens, we can start moving up the net worth scale to that larger $20 million estimate.
