Tragic Details About Valkyrae

Valkyrae went from everyday GameStop employee to the queen of gaming, making her an aspirational figure for many would-be streamers. From being friends with Corpse Husband to becoming one of the first women co-owners of an esports org, Valkyrae is on top of the gaming world. Success isn't necessarily a buffer to the outside world, though, and Valkyrae has experienced her share of struggles on her way to fame.

Often, it seems that streamers are held to a different standard than the rest of the internet. For example, when Pokimane showed off her room in a tour of her streaming setup, she accidentally started a gross new trend which resulted in many fellow streamers (mostly men) calling her tour unrealistic and inauthentic. For a lot of streamers, there's no winning or losing, and all you can do is try to maintain your viewership and hold onto revenue streams. As a high profile streamer, Valkyrae has dealt with the highs and lows that come along with internet celebrity, but there may be some tragic details about her life that her fans don't know.

In early 2021, Valkyrae had to make her Twitter account private after a stalker refused to stop sending her alarming messages. She explained that this individual had made "hundreds" of alternate accounts to continue messaging her, and because Twitter does not block individual IP addresses, that tactic worked. Valkyrae set her account to private in order to avoid seeing the person's insistent messages. The problems didn't stop there, though.

Later, Valkyrae announced that she wouldn't be living with her current roommates anymore, including Pokimane. She said that she didn't have any issues with her current roommates, but that she needed to get out of a bad situation. Valkyrae explained, "Y'know the lease is coming to an end, and this house has pros and cons, and plus the address has been leaked by stalkers and stuff, so we all kind of just wanna, y'know...get out of here." The house of streamers did part ways, all moving to separate homes. Valkyrae said she was looking forward to living on her own for a while. 

In a separate, now deleted stream (via Dexerto), Valkyrae said that Twitter eventually helped her solve her stalking case, but not without help from some higher-ups. Rae told fans that her esports org, 100 Thieves Gaming, had connections at Twitter who ultimately helped her get rid of her stalker. Valkyrae was unsure of what ultimately happened to the fan, but said she hadn't heard from him since Twitter helped her out.

Valkyrae tries to be authentic with her audience, and she's even admitted to personal struggles she's experienced. Once on stream, Valkyrae surprised herself by talking about a time she considered self-harm, even recounting a moment when she had a blade in her hand and thought hard about hurting herself. 

"Looking back," she said to her fans, "I can't even believe how different my life has changed from back then, you know? It's just...that was like, what? Ten years ago? And now I'm the happiest ever been." Valkyrae emphasized that people who struggle with their mental health need to keep trying because things change and one never knows what the future might hold.

However, Valkyrae's history of discussing her history of mental health struggles doesn't end with that stream. In 2017, Rae tweeted about an "emptiness" that she feels at night sometimes. She posted, "To those with depression and/or anxiety; having to deal with those feelings 24/7.. trying to be healthy/always trying to get out, I'm sorry." Judging from the replies to her post, Valkyrae's honesty with her own mental health struggles has struck a chord with her followers and friends, because they know they're not alone. 

If you or someone you know is struggling with mental health, please contact the Crisis Text Line by texting HOME to 741741, call the National Alliance on Mental Illness helpline at 1-800-950-NAMI (6264), or visit the National Institute of Mental Health website.

Valkyrae found herself rushing to the hospital after she woke up in tremendous pain one night. Once at the hospital, she endured a grueling six hour stay. The pain and subsequent hospital trip forced Valkyrae's hand, leading to her canceling a stream and reevaluating her lifestyle.

Even though Valkyrae's doctors didn't find any abnormal test results, Valkyrae opened up about her scary hospital visit in a later video, saying it was one of the worst days she'd experienced in a long time. From unruly patients to nurses just trying to make it through their shift, Valkyrae had a difficult few hours under medical care. After being discharged, she decided to stay home instead of returning to the hospital for a follow-up appointment, closely monitoring her condition in case anything changed. 

Valkyrae speculated that her diet and lifestyle might be to blame for the sudden onset of pain. She explained to viewers that she felt overdue for a checkup, and that the sudden pain might have been her body's way of telling her to take better care of herself. After all, long streaming hours don't exactly do the body any favors.

One of the most tragic events Valkyrae has endured was the loss of her father, who passed away in 2017 from cancer. According to a report from the New York Times, Valkyrae was able to use her profits from streaming to provide quality end-of-life care for her father. After her father died in 2017, Valkyrae wrote a heartfelt message to him on Instagram. She said that death was "the hardest to accept, but this is life. And we can learn from the hardships." 

Valkyrae still thinks of her father often. In the video about her traumatic hospital visit, Valkyrae mentioned that an older man she encountered reminded her of her father when he was sick, which likely only made the visit more alarming.

When fellow streamer Dr Lupo posted that his dad had passed, Valkyrae responded in solidarity. "I lost my dad last year," she said. "We knew he was going to pass but it was still difficult... So sorry for your loss..biggest life reminder to love and appreciate your loved ones as much as possible." 

When a follower asked how she had coped with the loss of her father, Rae said that she made sure to appreciate her other loved ones "more than ever before" and to value the present moment. She also explained that death is a natural part of life, and that everyone must go through it. Through sharing one of her most difficult experiences, Valkyrae helped teach others about the importance of valuing loved ones.

Loss has sadly been a part of Valkyrae's life since long before her dad passed away. Valkyrae was still just a kid when her brother died by suicide, and as hard as his death his her, she feels that it hit her father even harder. Valkyrae has said that she thinks her brother's death drove her father, who struggled with alcoholism, to drink more heavily than before.

Valkyrae doesn't talk about that traumatic loss very much, but she did once share a little about her brother and father on X, explaining that her father felt a great deal of guilt over what happened to her brother. "He would vent to me while he was drunk throughout the years until he passed," Valkyrae wrote. In a way, it seems Valkyrae had to carry some of her dad's grief along with her own.

If you or someone you know is struggling or in crisis, help is available. Call or text 988 or chat 988lifeline.org

If you or anyone you know needs help with addiction issues, help is available. Visit the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration website or contact SAMHSA's National Helpline at 1-800-662-HELP (4357).

These days Valkyrae is living a kind of dream life. She's financially successful and pursuing her own passions every day with the support of thousands of fans. Valkyrae's streaming career has largely transformed her life for the better, but her passion for video games actually started as a way for her to cope with a life that was much harder to get through. 

"The reason why I was into video games is because of my broken childhood," Valkyrae said in an interview with Anthony Padilla. She explained that her dad would often fight with her mother when he was inebriated, mostly about money. Valkyrae's mom would lock the kids in another room while the fights raged on, and Valkyrae often kept herself and her siblings entertained by playing video games.

Video games also became a way for Valkyrae to escape her life at school. Other kids bullied Valkyrae, making fun of her appearance and any of her nerdy interests. "I kept gaming a secret throughout my teenage years for sure," Valkyrae said in the interview. While she was secretly plugging away at her favorite games, Valkyrae was really paving a path to her future streaming success.

As exciting as her streaming career has been, Valkyrae also went through some growing pains when she started blowing up. There's really no way to prepare for the transition from streaming for a handful of viewers to being watched by thousands and asked to do interviews that will get over a million views. For a while, Valkyrae found herself struggling with anxiety, which would manifest in physical reactions. "I used to be so uncomfortable back then," Valkyrae told Anthony Padilla. "I would be shaking, or I would feel like I'm blacking out." Imagine trying to play a game or answer deep questions about your life in that kind of condition. Luckily, Valkyrae was able to pull through, and she says she doesn't have that kind of nervousness anymore.

Being on the other side of success comes with its own pressures, though. Valkyrae also explained how easy it is to get fixated on numbers when you're streaming, and she said that now she feels a similar kind of anxiety when there are too few people watching her. "There was a time when I was the number one female streamer," Valkyrae said, adding, "When you start seeing that decline, you know, you start the feeling of falling off or becoming irrelevant." Valkyrae's approach for getting through that kind of anxiety is pretty much the same approach she took while growing the channel: Push through it and try to have fun anyway.

Online harassment is something that basically every streamer has to face on a daily basis. The internet can be a cruel place, and most streamers do their best to ignore the trolls as much as possible. Valkyrae has undoubtedly ignored thousands of comments and posts that tried to get under her skin, but in late 2024, a particular streak of harassing posts drove Valkyrae to pursue legal action.

Valkyrae first posted on X about her concerns on November 29. She retweeted an account that had posted out-of-context clips in an extremely misleading way and said, "I get people are just trying to make a few bucks with the logo and stuff but the hate I've received because of lies has been insane." What made these clips even harder to stomach was that they showed parts of a conversation in which Valkyrae talked about being sexually assaulted, distorting those comments to make them appear more salacious.

Valkyrae must have been heartened by the responses her post got because that very same day she announced that she was going to talk to a lawyer about the issue. Since then, Valkyrae hasn't given any official updates on what legal action she's taking. It's possible that Valkyrae won't pursue a full-blown lawsuit, but it seems worth mentioning that the account she initially retweeted has taken down its original post.

If you or anyone you know has been a victim of sexual assault, help is available. Visit the Rape, Abuse & Incest National Network website or contact RAINN's National Helpline at 1-800-656-HOPE (4673).

Streamers spend a huge amount of time on camera in front of their fans. Because of that, most streamers struggle with where to establish the boundary between their public and private lives. Valkyrae's approach has been to be incredibly open with her fans, and on platforms like the "Press ESC" podcast, she occasionally lets fans into her private life on her own terms. Unfortunately, that hasn't always been a smooth process.

After an episode of "Press ESC" in October 2024, Valkyrae's ex Sonii called her out on social media for what he claimed was toxic behavior. Valkyrae and her co-host Alythuh had been jokingly playing with a voodoo doll of Sonii on the podcast, but he didn't see the humor in it. Sonii made a long post on X saying that he hadn't spoken to Valkyrae for years, but he was disturbed enough by the voodoo doll to call her out in public.

In Sonii's post (which has since been deleted), he said, "Our relationship was toxic on both sides ... We both were hurt for our own reasons & hopefully healed at our own paces. This prompted fans of both creators to quickly dive into all the drama and any public relationship history they could find. The day after Sonii made his post, Valkyrae (clearly bummed out by the response) told her viewers that she'd reached out to him to try and settle things privately. No one likes having their dirty laundry aired out in public, and this incident in Valkyrae's career goes to show how a joke between friends can blow up into something much bigger when thousands of people are watching.

Anyone who's made a big move before knows what a pain it can be. The process of finding a new place to live can be challenging enough, but packing up all your belongings and completely changing your living situation is something most of us want to do as little as possible. That's why some fans were shocked when Valkyrae said on an episode of "Press ESC" that she's gotten to a point where she moves on a yearly basis.

Moving that much would be unfeasible for most people, but Valkyrae has a very clear reason for doing it. "I think it's for safety because a lot of streamers have stalkers and a lot of streamers might get doxxed," she said. As we've already covered, Valkyrae has plenty of experience dealing with the very real dangers that come from being a streamer, so she gets a little more peace of mind knowing that her home address is a secret.

There are some less gloomy reasons Valkyrae has been motivated to move, too. She said that simply having a change of scenery can make a big difference when you're spending hours every day sitting in your room streaming. After years of regularly rotating through homes, Valkyrae's just come to accept this as part of what being a streamer entails.

In March 2025, Valkyrae — along with fellow streamers Cinna and Emiru — had one of the scariest experiences any streamer can have. While streaming in Santa Monica as part of a week-long streaming marathon meant to celebrate women in the industry, the trio was approached by a man asking for Emiru's phone number. She turned him down and the three of them tried to leave, which is when things took a turn for the worse.

The man started following the streamers, who pulled their hoods up and attempted to get away as quickly as possible. At first he said that he was going to keep following them, but then his comments got violent. The streamers started yelling for security as the man began threatening to kill them. The police eventually arrived to escort Valkyrae and her friends away from the park, but by that point the man had already left. Police were unable to find the man following this incident.

Valkyrae later went on X to share more about the experience from her point of view. She said that the man kept reaching into his pocket, which made her think he had a weapon. "I'll never be out without a taser/pepper gun ever again," Valkyrae wrote. In another post, Valkyrae called out people blaming the streamer's team for the incident, saying the blame should fall only on the stalker. She and Cinna addressed the matter further during a tearful follow-up stream, during which Valkyrae said, "I am investing as much as I can to find this guy."