Top YouTube gamer Jacksepticeye, whose real name is Seán McLoughlin, announced on Twitter that he and longtime girlfriend Signe ‘Wiishu’ Hansen ended their relationship earlier this year. Hansen, a Danish influencer, also tweeted about the breakup, and urged fans to support both her and McLoughlin moving forward.
“It’s hard for me to say this, but a couple of months ago Signe and I went our separate ways,” McLoughlin said. He added that it wasn’t easy, but, “Sometimes people change and life moves on in different directions.”
Both McLoughlin and Hansen asked that fans not spread rumors, with Hansen adding, “Some people have even prematurely put the blame on me and used me as a scapegoat, which is unfair. I’ve been very supportive of Sean as well as the decision to break it off.”
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A short update: pic.twitter.com/hdXvNjeSqg
— Wiishu (@Wiishu) October 9, 2018
The pair were together for three years, and were living together in Brighton, England, prior to their split. They regularly appeared on one another’s social media channels, including McLoughlin’s YouTube channel, where he has more than 20 million subscribers, and Hansen’s Instagram, which has 433,000 followers. (Hansen is also a YouTuber, with nearly half a million subscribers.) Unlike many other creator couples who made content together, the pair did not make a breakup video, instead sticking to their written statements.
Like a number of other creator couples, however, McLoughlin and Hansen took some time before announcing the end of their relationship. The pair notably stopped appearing on one another’s channels, while in other cases, creator couples have continued making content together after breaking up, but before announcing their split to fans. The BBC made a documentary back in February exploring the challenges of being an influencer couple, including the pressure creators may feel to keep making content together, because fans are invested in them as a couple.
In July, McLoughlin, who’d posted a video virtually every day for years, took a break from YouTubing, saying in a vlog that his mental health hadn’t “been in the best place recently.” It got bad enough that there were days he didn’t leave his house, he explained, and he needed a break from “doing the same videos over and over again.”
