Jools Lebron was sitting in her car during a break from her supermarket shift when she recorded the TikTok video that would push her into a new level of internet fame.

In the August 2024 clip, Lebron joked about wearing understated makeup to work. “Very demure, very mindful,” she told viewers, contrasting her own appearance with people who, in her words, “go to the interview looking like Marge Simpson and go to the job looking like Patty and Selma.”

At first, she says, the response looked ordinary. A few comments arrived, then more. Soon the numbers accelerated beyond anything she had experienced online before.

“I remember refreshing my phone and just staring at it like: ‘Wait … what is happening?’” Lebron recalled during a video call from her home in Chicago.

Within days, the phrase had spread far beyond TikTok. Government agencies, celebrities and brands repeated it across social media. Nasa posted on X about Earth looking “very demure, very mindful” from space. The White House account for former US president Joe Biden used the phrase in a post about student debt relief. Khloé Kardashian repeated it while filming her own makeup video.

The sudden attention marked another dramatic turn in a public life that had already included earlier success, personal setbacks and years spent trying to rebuild stability.

Lebron, now 30, first built an audience online after transitioning in her early 20s. Inspired by transgender beauty creator Nikita Dragun, she began posting makeup tutorials and personal stories on YouTube.

She said she rarely saw trans women online who reflected her own background or appearance. Her videos mixed makeup techniques with personal experiences, including coming out to family members and navigating relationships. Over time, her audience grew to nearly one million subscribers.

But her online career later unraveled after a feud with beauty influencer Patrick Starrr. Lebron said she lost brand partnerships, struggled with cocaine addiction and was eventually dropped by management.

After pressure from her mother to pursue steadier work, she stepped away from chasing major beauty contracts and took a supermarket job stocking shelves and assisting customers.

She described that period as unexpectedly grounding. “I’m working a regular job,” she remembered thinking. “This is so good. I turned my life around.”

Then came the “demure” video.

The rapid success that followed brought opportunities but also fresh pressure. Lebron said she spent weeks travelling constantly for appearances, interviews and meetings with brands eager to benefit from her visibility online.

She later appeared on an episode of Jimmy Kimmel Live! co-hosted by RuPaul, where she exchanged jokes comfortably with the longtime television host and performer.

Behind the scenes, though, she said the pace became difficult to manage.

Packages from companies arrived in large numbers each day, sometimes disappearing before she could retrieve them. One delayed promotional campaign reportedly led a company to cancel a deal, while she says industry representatives later described her as unreliable to other agencies.

Lebron also said she increasingly felt treated as a temporary viral figure rather than someone companies intended to support long term.

At the same time, she was dealing with personal trauma. Shortly after her catchphrase exploded online, she said she was assaulted by a man she had met online. Although she informed people around her, she felt there was little room to pause her schedule while momentum around her fame continued.

Feeling isolated and overwhelmed, she said she returned to drug use.

Even while recounting painful moments, Lebron often shifts into dark humour. She remembered attending Milan Fashion Week in 2024 for luxury brand Bottega Veneta when she received a call from her former fiancé telling her their dog was being put down.

As makeup artists prepared her for celebrity interviews, she said she struggled through tears before heading to the event.

Later that evening, she approached Kendall Jenner for an interview clip and came away upset after what she described as a dismissive interaction.

Back at her hotel room, exhausted and grieving, she said she searched for drugs again before realising she was in Italy and did not know where to find any. Recounting the memory now, she laughed while stroking her long wig.