Colleen Ballinger tears up reflecting on “darkest days” in 2023

Disgraced YouTuber Colleen Ballinger, aka Miranda Sings, teared up reflecting on 2023 in her first vlog of the new year, calling her viral scandal the ‘darkest days’ she’d experienced.

Colleen Ballinger is an OG YouTuber best known for her comedic character ‘Miranda Sings.’

While Ballinger enjoyed a large fanbase for over a decade, she was hit with accusations of grooming a young viewer back in 2020. Although these allegations came and went without much fanfare, they returned in 2023 as more fans spoke up about their indecent experiences with the YouTube star.

This prompted several sponsors to drop Ballinger and caused her live tour to get canceled — but the most prominent backlash occurred when she responded to the accusations with a bizarre, ten-minute ukulele song.

Her response video instantly went viral, prompting parodies from critics and even from one of her accusers. Since then, she’s been silent on her main channel but has resumed vlogging on her Colleen Vlogs channel over the past two months.

Colleen Ballinger speaks out after “darkest days” in 2023

On January 3, Ballinger uploaded her first vlog of 2024, where she reflected on her past year — and although she didn’t directly address the accusations against her, she did tear up discussing some of the negative aspects of her life over the past 12 months.

“2023 was not my favorite year I’ve ever lived,” she admitted. “..I learned a lot about the internet. I learned a lot about myself and qualities that I don’t like about myself. I learned things about myself that I do love. I learned that it’s better that I’m here on this Earth than not.”

“I learned a lot about trust and friendships and the media, and I’m probably never going to believe anything I read or hear in the media for the rest of my life.”

“What I’m trying to say is that there can be beauty in hard times. [The] darkest days I’ve ever seen in my life were in 2023, and I would not have seen so many beautiful things without those dark times, so I’m grateful for all of it.”

This is the latest to come from Ballinger after the accusations went viral last year. She did upload another apology video following the fallout from her ukulele song in November, after which she’s resumed vlogging as normal.

For now, it looks like Ballinger is focusing on her family and is “grateful” for the lessons the last year has taught her.