Top YouTuber Lilly Singh Says She’s Taking a Break From Videos, Citing Mental Health

By Todd Spangler

LOS ANGELES (Variety.com) – Lilly Singh, the popular comedian and vlogger known online as “Superwoman,” is taking a hiatus from posting on YouTube, citing a need to restore her mental health and creative energy.

Singh, who has 14.5 million subscribers on YouTube, revealed her decision to take a break in a video Monday. She said she didn’t know how much time she would be taking off YouTube, saying it could be one week or one month: “I have no idea.”

“I am mentally, physically, emotionally and spiritually exhausted,” said Singh, noting that she’s been creating videos consistently for the past eight years. “I’m not my optimal happiness right now. I could be mentally healthier.”

Burnout among career YouTube creators has become a higher-profile issue in the last year — and some in the industry say the Google-owned video service’s changing algorithms  are fueling a rise in creative and mental stress.

Singh emphasized in the video that she wasn’t “leaving YouTube” and that her timeout doesn’t reflect a change of her feelings about the platform or her fans, whom she calls Team Super. However, she said, YouTube is a platform that “demands constant content.”

YouTube “kind of is a machine,” she said. “It makes creators believe that we have to pump out content consistently even at the cost of our life, and our mental health, and our happiness. Because if you don’t, then you’ll become ‘irrelevant.’”

In her video, Singh gave a shout-out to other YouTubers who recently suspended their regular posting schedules, including Alisha Marie, who took a two-month break over the summer . “You are a great example for not only myself, but everyone else,” Singh said.

According to Singh, her nonstop schedule has led her to feel like her YouTube videos haven’t been their best. “Straight up, I haven’t been super-happy with a lot of the content I’ve created” recently, Singh said. She also cited the need to focus on her other business ventures, including her recently formed production company Unicorn Island Productions, along with speaking engagements, social work, and merchandise.

Singh said she won’t be posting on YouTube “until my soul feels ready to do so.”

Singh, 30, has appeared in several traditional Hollywood projects, including “Bad Moms,”  HBO’s film adaptation of “Fahrenheit 451.”  and “Ice Age: Collision Course.” Documentary film “A Trip to Unicorn Island,” about Singh’s worldwide comedy tour, was one the first YouTube originals to bow on the subscription service (now called YouTube Premium). She is repped by WME and Sarah Weichel Management.

Watch Singh’s video to fans, titled, “I’ll see you soon…”: