NikkieTutorials shares her love story as the first trans bride on the cover of 'The Knot': 'I could have my happy ending'

The Knot Magazine is featuring its first trans bride on the cover: YouTube's NikkieTutorials, for the the magazines's fall 2022 issue.

The beauty guru, whose real name is Nikkie de Jager, is one of the platform's most popular creators, garnering 13.9 million subscribers during her 14 years on YouTube and collaborating with stars like Kim Kardashian, Selena Gomez, Megan Thee Stallion and Adele. Even after creating authentic beauty challenges like "Power of Makeup" to show how cosmetics can change a person's face, de Jager hadn't revealed her ultimate truth until 2020 when she posted a video titled "I'm Coming Out."

At 25 years old, de Jager shared with her millions of followers that she was "born in the wrong body" and identified herself as transgender for the first time publicly. "By the time that I was 19, I fully transitioned. I transitioned while on YouTube,” she explained in the video. “I have literally grown up and transformed into me in front of all of you.”

She told The Knot that coming out "was one of the scariest moments of my life." However, with her soon-to-be-husband Dylan Drossaers by her side, she felt more empowered to do so.

"I had a coupe of rocks surrounding me. And one of those people was Dylan," she told the publication. "He was everything I hoped he would be for me in that period because he was super, super supportive. He was with me throughout every second."

De Jager's news made headlines across the world and even landed her on The Ellen DeGeneres Show, where the Netherlands native shared more about how she began her transition, with the support of her mother, at just 6 years old. "My mom is a queen, Mama Tutorials is a queen. Even when we went to the hospital to see what was going on, doctors were like, ‘Just don’t, don’t push it too far. Let’s see where it goes.’ But then I came home, and I was like, ‘Mom I really wanna wear girl clothes.’ And she was like, ‘If you wanna wear girl clothes, you’re gonna wear ‘em,’" de Jager told DeGeneres.

Although her coming out was well received by her subscribers and supporters, the timing of it was something that de Jager had little to no control over, as, she explained to DeGeneres, she was blackmailed by an unnamed person to share the information before they did.

"I got emails from a certain person and he was not OK with the fact that I was ‘lying’ and wanted to expose that," de Jager said. "I feel like his entire goal was, with this, to destroy my life. But plot twist: That didn’t happen."

In fact, de Jager told The Knot, the opportunity brought her and her fiancé Dylan closer together.

"When I had to click publish on my coming-out video, it was a very scary moment, because you don't know what the future will bring. He took my hand and looked me in the eyes and said, 'You're going to publish this. We're going to be fine. You got this. Whatever happens happens, but know that we have each other and it'll be just fine,'" de Jager recalled. "When he said that I was like, 'This man is never leaving me, and I'm never leaving this man.' I thought, 'That's my person. He is mine until the end of time.'"

The couple had faced other obstacles throughout 2020, as they were forced to put a pause on wedding planning because of the coronavirus pandemic. They also were robbed at gunpoint in their home in the Netherlands in August of that year. After going through it all together, 2022 is finally the year that they're making their marriage official — something that de Jager said she wasn't sure she'd ever do.

"After my previous relationship, I put away the idea of marriage, because it wasn't working out. I was like, 'Okay, well, I'm never getting married.' But then when I found Dylan, I was like, 'Wait, this could be the one. This could be the one where it actually happens, where I could have my happy ending,'" she said. "I’m looking forward to putting that ring on and kissing each other, knowing that we’ve sealed the deal. I think every bride says that."

Wellness, parenting, body image and more: Get to know the who behind the hoo with Yahoo Life's newsletter. Sign up here.