Ethan and Grayson, best known as the Dolan Twins, became massive stars on YouTube. After seven years and over ten million subscribers, the two went MIA on the platform. What happened to the Dolan Twins?
It’s been more than a year since fans heard about the Dolan Twins suddenly leaving the influencer world behind. With a combined net worth of five million dollars, Ethan and Grayson Dolan became YouTube’s favorite twin brothers.
Starting their careers on social media at 13, the Dolan Twins went from posting a six-second clips on Vine to exposing their lives and adventures on YouTube.
After seven years and millions of fans, the Dolan Twins decided to dramatically quit YouTube and the spotlight. HITC dives into its beginnings in the platform, some drama, other business adventures, and officially leaving YouTube.
Starting on Vine and YouTube takeoff
Ethan and Dolan began posting videos on Vine when they were 13. With a maximum length of six seconds, the Dolan twins began to build off a solid fanbase with their clever and funny videos.
Uploading videos every Tuesday, and sometimes twice a week, Ethan and Grayson garnered between four and eight million views per video. Together, they underwent challenges, pranked each other, reacted to videos, and even swapped identities for a day.
The two also made close friendships with other popular YouTubers such as the Merrell Twins, Emma Chamberlain, James Charles, Jeffree Star, Larray, and Addison Rae.
Throughout their years on the platform, Ethan and Dolan caught the eye of the luxury fashion house Louis Vuitton and attended their Fashion Week shows.
As of December 2022, the twins have more than ten million subscribers, accumulating 1.8 billion views since they first joined in March 2014.
Sister Squad: Friendship, an unconfirmed romance and drama
The Sister Squad consisted of the Dolan twins, Emma Chamberlain and James Charles. The foursome became very close shortly after Emma moved to Los Angeles to pursue a full-time career on YouTube.
The four met after James Charles became a fan of the twins and was known to leave comments under their photos. James became friends with Emma after their collab, as she herself recently started becoming a popular YouTuber. The four stars were then known as one of the popular groups of influencers on social media.
Together, the four of them would complete challenges, road trips, and dress up as each other. Known as the Sister Squad, they became a beloved foursome in the YouTube space.
During their time together, there were rumors about a possible relationship between Emma and Ethan, but these were never confirmed.
“It wouldn’t be fair for us to talk about it unless everybody in said squad had their opportunity to speak on it,” Ethan said at the time.
Grayson also revealed the four hadn’t been in contact “in a while” and didn’t think the four were “comfortable speaking about that”.
It seems there isn’t bad blood between Emma and James, as the beauty guru still follows her on Instagram. However, neither of them follows the Dolan Twins, and vice-versa.
Love From Sean: Their father’s death
On January 2019, the twins announced the heartbreaking news that their dad, Sean Dolan, had passed away after a battle with cancer.
Writing a statement for their followers, the two announced they would be taking time off social media “to be with our family”. Ethan and Grayson were extremely close with their dad, which broke the hearts of many fans.
Grayson tweeted: “I can’t believe that today actually real. It doesn’t make sense. Ethan and I are going to be taking some time off and spending it with our family. I love you guys so much, thank you so much for everything. I’ll be back soon.”
One month later, they returned from their hiatus. As a tribute to their “best friend”, Ethan shaved his hair to show solidarity. The two brothers created a fundraiser where they collected more than $368,000 in donations for research, treatments, and support services.
Leaving YouTube
During their last two years on YouTube, their content became more sporadic, where Ethan and Grayson went from posting every Tuesday to only posting two videos in the year.
This began worrying fans, who had been following them since the beginning of their careers.
Nonetheless, Ethan and Grayson instead focused on their podcast channel, Deeper With The Dolan Twins, where they spoke about different topics and invited different guests to join them in their conversations. Their first-ever episode featured Brie Larson, known as the infamous Captain Marvel.
In an interview with Shane Dawson, the two brothers spoke about the pressures of uploading weekly videos and not being able to have a “life”. Grayson admitted to having struggled to film content for their fans and the two brothers not “living our lives as dudes”.
After deep discussions, their final video was posted on December 29, 2020.
Where are the Dolan Twins now?
Over the past two years, many have wondered where the Dolan twins are now.
From what fans have learned, Ethan is still in a relationship with social media personality Kristina Alice. Ethan’s last public appearance was in October 2021, when his Australian beau celebrated their third anniversary.
Ethan and Grayson’s dog, Sledge, appeared on Kristina’s Instagram account earlier this year, but she hasn’t posted anything about Ethan since then. However, the two are believed to be together.
On the other hand, fans have been unable to trace Grayson’s whereabouts. Known for being the popular twin, he hasn’t posted since May 2021.
The only way fans have been able to learn about Ethan and Grayson’s projects is through their company, Wake Heart, where they are the founders of their fragrance and candle line. In early October, Merrell Twins announced a collaboration with the twins.
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