Jenna Nicole Mourey (born September 15, 1986), better known as Jenna Marbles, is an American YouTuber. Over the span of ten years, her YouTube channel has accumulated approximately 1.8 billion video views and, at its peak, over 20 million subscribers. After apologizing for a series of accusations involving offensive content in her older videos, Marbles announced her indefinite hiatus from the platform in 2020.
In the summer of 2010, Marbles was sharing a three-bedroom apartment in Cambridge, Massachusetts. She supported herself by bartending, working at a tanning salon, vlogging, and go-go dancing at nightclubs.[7] That year, Marbles started her career with Barstool Sports, where she wrote for their female-oriented site StoolLaLa. She left the publication in 2011.[8]
Among the first of Marbles's videos to gain traction on the platform, "How to Trick People into Thinking You're Good Looking", released in 2010, was viewed around 5.3 million times in its first week.[7][9] As of 2024, the video has over 70 million views.[10] Her video "How to Avoid Talking to People You Don't Want to Talk To" was featured in The New York Times and ABC News in August 2011. In the video, she said, "I'm sick and tired of guys thinking that just because I showed up at a club or a dance or a bar that I want to have their genitalia touching my backside."[11][12]
Marbles adopted the pseudonym Jenna Marbles after her mother complained the search term "Mourey" resulted only in Jenna's videos on Google. Jenna's mother was unemployed when Jenna's first video went viral and was concerned that the content might put off potential employers. The name "Marbles" stems from her dog's name, Mr. Marbles.[6]
Alongside the creators of the YouTube channel Smosh, Marbles became the first YouTube personality to have her likeness appear as a wax figure displayed at Madame Tussauds New York, which she unveiled in 2015.[17]
On June 25, 2020, Marbles uploaded an apology video following accusations of blackface and racism.[2][18] In this video, she addresses offensive content in her videos posted between 2011 and 2012. This included an impersonation of Nicki Minaj, rapping anti-Asian slander while wearing traditional Asian clothing, and shaming women who had slept with multiple people, which she attributed to internalized misogyny.[19] Marbles states it was never her intent to hurt or offend anyone, acknowledging that these actions were "shameful" and "awful", wishing "it wasn't part of [her] past".[20] She followed up these remarks by announcing her indefinite hiatus from YouTube.[21][22]
On June 26, Marbles's then-boyfriend, Julien Solomita, announced on Twitter that the couple's joint podcast and Twitch streams would also be put on indefinite hiatus.[23] Public reaction to Marbles's apology was largely positive; The Berkeley Beacon noted that Marbles "was not the first to use the term 'accountability' in a YouTube apology, but she may have been the first one to actually mean it".[24][25][18]
Marbles released a brand of dog toys called Kermie Worm & Mr. Marbles. The toys are modeled after her dogs' likenesses.[6] She also created items with some of her most popular phrases printed on them, including "What are this?" and "Team legs!"[26] Marbles previously hosted a weekly pop countdown on SiriusXM Hits 1 named YouTube 15.[27] In 2016, Marbles became an executive producer for Maximum Ride, a film based on James Patterson's series of novels of the same name.[28]
In April 2021, Marbles became engaged to long-time partner and fellow YouTuber Julien Solomita.[29] They married in November 2022.[30][31] In January 2023, Marbles and Solomita had an incident at their home where an intruder broke in, was subdued with pepper spray, and arrested.[32]
^ abFehr, Kaitlyn (September 24, 2021). "A year without Jenna Marbles". The Berkeley Beacon. Archived from the original on October 10, 2021. Retrieved October 25, 2021.
