Keith Lee is one of the few Black social media influencers who has been able to break through as a cultural figure who is known by those who don’t even spend hours scrolling through TikTok. But even in all the success, Lee admits that he’s dealt with depression and anxiety.
The TikTok star discusses the support he has received from his family and how they have continued to stand by him even as he works on his mental health, according to PEOPLE.
“Without them, I don’t believe that I would be able to cope as much as I do or have as many tools to improve on it as I have,” he said.
If you’ve followed Lee, he’s always emphasized how much his friends and family mean to him. Oftentimes when he’s reviewing a restaurant, his loved ones are in the car with him, tasting the food.
But Lee also credits his 17 million loyal followers: “These are people who have seen me as a kid, seen me as a 19-year-old, 20-year-old. A lot of people have seen when my daughter was firstborn. Now she’s four, about to be five. It feels like having a distant family.”
The popular TikToker only hopes for that support to continue, telling PEOPLE that he plans on taking his content worldwide, and visiting countries such as France, Australia, and the United Kingdom.
Although many social media users love Lee, he hasn’t been without controversy.
In November, his love of sushi backfired on him when fans noticed a “worm” move on sushi he was tasting at a Seattle restaurant. After another fan reported to have gotten sick after eating the sushi, the restaurant closed down.
Black Twitter also attacked Lee after his harsh criticism of several restaurants in Washington D.C., writing in an August post, “We made a decision as a family and as a team and also a personal decision to not post most of them... A lot of those videos are not constructive at all.”