From Makeup Tutorials to a Cult — What's up With These Rumors About Michelle Phan?
Published May 5 2022, 1:10 p.m. ET
Anyone who was watching makeup tutorials on YouTube in the early 2000s is probably well aware of Michelle Phan. Her unique looks and keen eye for detail made her stand out in a major way. She inspired so many people to experiment with makeup and beauty over the years. She also inspired people who were leaning towards launching their own YouTube channels.
Michelle's older videos give curious YouTubers step-by-step instructions on how to look like a Barbie doll, a zombie, and even Lady Gaga. She’s got a Snow White makeup tutorial, a Sailor Moon tutorial, and so much more. Once upon a time, Michelle was the blueprint for makeup inspiration to millions of people. However, these days, her devoted fans are wondering if something more sinister is going on. Is Michelle Phan in a cult?
Is Michelle Phan in a cult?
The biggest reason people believe Michelle might be involved in a cult right now is that she started posting about her ability to see angels and heal paralyzed men on social media. She posted about going to a retreat where she wasn’t allowed to go to sleep, use the bathroom, or do anything aside from meditation.
To most people, rules like those are considered red flags. If you’re ever in a situation where you’re not allowed to sleep or use the bathroom, you might not be in the safest spot.
Based on Michelle's social media posts, it wasn’t a threatening experience for her. According to Showbiz Cast, Michelle has been really impressed by Dr. Joe Dispenza and his healing methods lately. She's vocalized her admiration of Joe's thought process quite a bit.
A Reddit thread created at the end of March 2022 further questions whether or not Michelle is involved in a BDSM cult. BDSM stands for “bondage, discipline, sadism, and masochism.” However, according to Mixed Article, Michelle denies being part of any cult.
Michelle Phan took a huge YouTube break before returning back to social media.
When Michelle disappeared from YouTube, just about everyone noticed. According to The Cut, a lot of people actually speculated that she died. She spent 10 years on YouTube creating 385 videos and pulling in over 1 billion views in total. She abruptly fell off the map in 2015 without posting a goodbye note to her fans and followers on any platform.
A lot of people in her comment sections on various YouTube videos were mentioning how much they missed her. Fast forward to 2017, and Michelle posted an 11-minute self-illustrated movie describing why she decided to take a break from social media. She mentioned how “somewhere along the journey, [she] lost [herself].” Now in 2022, she's back to posting YouTube content on a fairly frequent basis.
She’s got new videos posted almost every month for the last six months. It’s still possible to continue accessing her older videos from 12 years ago. Michelle certainly paved the way for creators on YouTube wanting to pursue online fame through makeup.
Since she currently denies the rumors of being involved in a cult, there’s no actual proof that she’s doing anything that might harm her or someone else. Hopefully, she continues posting makeup tutorials without going ghost again the way she did in 2015.