Tragic Details About Ninja
Tyler Blevins, aka Ninja, is one of the biggest streamers on the internet. While he's experienced his ups and downs as a content creator, he's still one of the most prominent names in the esports world. He even has 17 million Twitch followers despite leaving the platform a few years ago.
The streamer has gone through a stunning transformation, working his way from the ground up after making a name for himself as a "Halo" pro player. However, Ninja's shady side has upset a lot of people on his rise to the top. In fact, plenty of other streamers think they could take Ninja in a fight, including people like CouRage and Tfue.
Despite his popularity — and his immense financial success that he hinted at when he broke his silence on high taxes — Ninja has his own tragic stories to tell, including some that are directly related to his streaming career.
Ninja's under a lot of pressure to perform for half the day
It's no secret that streamers can have brutal schedules. When you stream for 12-plus hours every day, it takes a physical toll on your body. However, Ninja pointed out that it's not the physical toll that's stressful.
On the H3 podcast in 2018, Ninja told Ethan and Hila Klein that his worst days streaming are when he's playing badly. The pressure to perform is what mentally drains him and makes him feel "taxed" the most — not the 12 or so hours of streaming he does on a regular day.
Luckily, poor performance days don't happen too often for the streamer, because he's pretty good at the games he plays. His strict streaming schedule definitely helped him hone his skills through the years he's been online. However, streaming probably isn't helping him with another physical issue.
Ninja has severe eye trouble that's led to surgery
In 2020, Ninja revealed that he's had multiple surgeries on his right eye through an Instagram post. Apparently, when he was streaming a lot of "Destiny," NInja's retina in his right eye detached, which led to multiple surgeries for cataracts.
Ninja also mentioned in the caption that he could've ended up completely blind because of the problem — in fact, he said that he's "almost completely blind" in the eye.
Despite the eye issues, Ninja continued to give his fans hours upon hours of streaming content, an impressive feat considering the strain it must've put on his injured eye, especially considering that he streams for at least half of most days.
There are times when Ninja comes on stream wearing glasses, although it's pretty rare. In fact, he became a meme and fans were genuinely concerned about his health when he wore his glasses during one stream.
Being famous has cost Ninja people in his life
While many people look at internet celebrities and think that they have everything, being famous is more complicated than that. Ninja talked about what it feels like to be a hyper-popular internet celebrity in a question-and-answer video in May 2021.
When asked how it feels to be popular, Ninja's immediate reaction was that it doesn't feel good to be that famous and that, while money is great, it can't buy genuine, long-lasting happiness.
He brought up the point that, for 90% of people who have money, there are a lot of sacrifices that come with it. These sacrifices often include "relationships, family, time, love, [and] friendships." Once you've succeeded, Ninja mentioned that it's very hard to know who you can even trust, and it leads to difficulties forming close relationships.
Ninja doesn't go into detail about who he's lost in his life or what specifically being famous has cost him. Luckily, he's got a support system with his wife, Jessica.
Ninja's no stranger to mental health battles
Streaming can be a struggle mentally, as Ninja talked about on the H3 podcast. However, Ninja's daily 12-hour streams can take a mental toll after a while, and he learned that the hard way in 2019.
While on a trip to Los Angeles, the streamer took a surprise break from Twitch, according to Win. The outlet explained that Ninja kept turning down offers to use the Red Bull studio and instead spent time with his wife and other friends.
According to Ninja (via Win), his chat had become so toxic right before the trip that he just needed to step away. At the same time, he felt like he was stuck in a repeating cycle and needed to reset his mental health: "It's just necessary when you're feeling overwhelmed or you feel like you're stuck in a loop to break out of it ... you've got to take care of yourself first, always."