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Jools Lebron went viral in 2024 after she coined the phrase \u201cvery demure\u201d in a video on TikTok<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/li>\n
Behind the scenes, however, Lebron was struggling with a severe drug addiction, fueled by the money from her viral fame<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/li>\n
In an interview with PEOPLE, Lebron opens up about the fallout and her journey to getting sober<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
From the outside, it appeared that Jools Lebron was on top of the world in 2024.<\/p>\n
The TikTok star seemingly blew up overnight. She uploaded a video while sitting in her car, jokingly saying she did her makeup in a manner that could be described as \u201cvery demure\u201d and \u201cvery mindful.\u201d Less than a month and tens of millions of likes later, the viral catchphrase propelled her to A-list status online, business meetings with some of the world’s biggest makeup brands and an appearance on Jimmy Kimmel Live<\/em><\/a>. Demure was even named by Dictionary.com<\/a> as the word of the year.<\/p>\n \u201cIt was the most money I had ever seen,\u201d Lebron, 32, tells PEOPLE in an interview.<\/p>\n Behind the scenes, however, things looked a bit different. The thousands she was raking in from appearances and brand deals were financing a severe drug addiction. She would regularly go on multi-day \u201cboy benders,\u201d hanging out with a stranger she met online for upwards of 100 hours straight, forgoing her responsibilities.<\/p>\n But in March, nearing two years since she uploaded her fateful viral video, she got sober. In April, she sat down with PEOPLE to unpack it all.<\/p>\n Decades before her catchphrase would take over the internet, Lebron grew up on the west side of Chicago. Her family was full of boys \u2014\u00a0she was the middle child of two brothers, and she had mostly male cousins.<\/p>\n \u201cI wasn’t allowed to really express myself the way I wanted to,\u201d says Lebron. \u201cAs I got older, that started to get harder and harder.\u201d<\/p>\n