All these years, Jeana Smith has been harboring a rather innocuous secret.
The beloved YouTube star, who was something of a pioneer in the couple pranking space — having headlined two massive channels with now-ex-boyfriend Jesse Wellens — is revealing her true identity in a video that also marks a new creative beginning of sorts. At the outset of her YouTube career, the 35-year-old decided to vlog under the pseudonym Jeana, she shares, despite the fact that her real name is Jennifer — or, as she is known to friends, Jen.
When Smith and Wellens launched their prank and daily vlog channels in 2009 — dubbed PrankvsPrank and BFvsGF, respectively — Smith says that she was in college studying to become a teacher. Given the relatively controversial nature of the content that she and Wellens were posting, she says that professors told her having a social presence was risky, and could even result in the revocation of her teaching license. “I had been told plenty of horror stories to know that it was actually a possibility,” Smith tells Tubefilter. “So I felt obligated to create an alias, which was ‘Jeana’.”
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Before she knew the name had become as synonymous as the duo’s massively popular channels — PrankvsPrank, which Wellens took over after the breakup, counts 10.5 million subscribers, while Smith’s BFvsGF hub has 9.1 million. As a result of that snowballing success, Smith couldn’t bring herself to set the record straight — until now. “It felt like I was lying to the people who supported me the most,” she says. “I was never able to figure out how exactly I would tell people that I really am Jennifer, when all they’ve ever known me as was Jeana. I didn’t want to disappoint them.”
Now, Smith is coming clean to coincide with the launch of a new series on her channel titled Jenuine Talk. On the series, Smith will discuss “genuine” topics with fellow digital guest stars, she says, including YouTube and social media, business, and personal stories. Smith is currently putting together a guest lineup, and says that interested collaborators should reach out to her on social media.
“I’m letting go of the fear I held onto for so long and I want to bring that positive energy to my audience,” Smith says.
You can check out the emotional reveal video below.
