Jim Chapman felt he was oversharing in YouTube vlogs about his wife Tanya Burr

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Jim Chapman

Jim Chapman says he used to feel "an obligation" to post daily vlogs about his personal life to his six million followers.

He now very rarely features in videos with his wife, fellow YouTuber Tanya Burr, because they were "sharing a bit too much of us just living".

Speaking to Newsbeat, he explains there came a point where they decided "to take a step back".

But Jim, 29, is now opening up about things he hasn't spoken about publicly.

Image source, Getty Images
Image caption,

Jim and Tanya married in 2015 but decided not to work together - so they would have something to talk about at the end of the day

He decided to talk about growing up in a domestically abusive environment in a new book, because he hopes others will read it and "reflect that it doesn't have to define you".

"People do think they know everything about us, but actually in my videos they see 10 minutes of a 24-hour day," Jim tells Newsbeat.

"I feel like it needed the time to be written rather than to be spoken about on video."

Jim's sisters, vloggers pixiwoo, uploaded a video with their mum discussing the domestic abuse.

You can watch that video from 2014 here., external

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"I have bad days like everyone else," Jim explains. "On those days I like to think that people can get home from a stressful day and they might watch me for five minutes.

"The last thing I want is to unload my problems on them."

Fans do come up to Jim to tell him that he's helped them through a difficult time in their life.

Jim posted a video titled: The Science of Heartbreak, external

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"This world can feel quite lonely," he admits. "Having people you can really connect to on the internet is very special."

Loneliness is something Jim can feel too, despite the 6 million followers he has across YouTube, Instagram and Twitter.

"I can feel like the walls are closing in," he says.

"This job is a really anti-social way of being social - you can reach millions but you don't physically have to talk to anyone."

Away from being a YouTuber, and now author, Jim also models, writes a column, hosts events and presents awards.

His daily vlogs have evolved from just YouTube to now include things like Instastories.

Jim posted a photo of himself holding a pumpkin on Instagram., external

"I have 2.5m followers on Instagram so if I post a photo, I want to look good," he smiles.

"The issue arises when people see the way my life looks and compare it with the way their life feels."

It's something he does too.

"I follow people who have amazing abs and workout constantly and think I want to be that guy but it's actually unrealistic.

"The more time you spend looking at this, the sadder it can make you feel."

But as his career develops, and he approaches his 30th birthday, he's much more aware of the kind of content he produces.

"There's an argument for growing up online that it can keep you quite young, but you have to be true to yourself," he explains.

"I get fewer viewers now than I used to, but I'm much happier."

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