Who is Colette Butler?
Colette Crofts was born on 29 June 1982, in California, USA, and is a YouTube personality, best known for being a part of the video blog (vlog) channel Shaytards. She is the wife of YouTube personality Shay Carl, and their family is considered the first family of YouTube, with most of their daily endeavors documented for their channel.
The Net Worth of Colette Butler
As of early-2020, Colette Butler’s net worth is estimated to be over $300,000, earned through a successful career on YouTube. She’s collaborated numerous times with her husband, and has been featured in several other channels as well as podcasts.
The couple owns a 1000 acre property in Pocatello, Idaho, and they also own the Pebble Creek Ski Area. Her husband has a net worth estimated to be over $25 million.
Early Life and Online Beginnings
Colette lived her life mostly out of the spotlight until her marriage to Shay Carl. She grew up in a large family with four siblings and raised by her parents. Before her online fame, she worked as a trainer at a gym and so was athletically inclined. She loved participating in athletic events when she could, and even ran a half-marathon. She’s tried balancing all of these endeavors with raising a large family.
In the early-2000s, amid various struggles to make ends meet, the whole family, including Colette and her three children moved to Los Angeles. This was during the time that Shay’s channel was gaining attention following his friendship with Philip DeFranco. She started becoming more of a constant presence online, appearing with the family frequently on the Shaytards channel, featuring some of the family’s day to day endeavors and documented a lot of events of their children.
Continued Online Work and Maker Studios
Over the years, Colette’s fame increased significantly as she became more of a constant presence on the Shaytards channel.
Being one of the first families to document and vlog their lives for YouTube, they were called by many as the first YouTube family. Their lives have been compared to several reality television families, though they have a little more creative control when it comes to their work. The channel has been noted for documenting their children’s lives extensively. Their fourth child Brock, in particular, has been called the first Truman baby, a reference to the film “The Truman Show”. In the film, the main character played by Jim Carrey’s entire life has been documented on television.
Eventually, Colette and her husband began collaborating with other popular YouTubers for the project called Maker Studios, alongside Philip DeFranco, Kassem Gharaibeh, Lisa and Ben Donovan, and Dan Zappin. Maker Studios began more as a collection of several channels, each focused on a particular genre, namely Entertainment, Family, Men, and Women. She was a part of several shows, mainly in the Women division of Maker Studios.
Selling Maker and Controversies
Colette’s shows when she was a part of Maker Studios include “Mom’s View Talk Show” and “The Mom’s View”. The entire project was a success, and attracted the attention of The Walt Disney Company, which later bought the Studios for $500 million.
This increased the wealth of all involved significantly, making them millionaires in a short period.
In 2017 controversy struck the family, when her husband Shay was accused of trying to cheat on his wife by cam girl Aria Nina. Aria started posting about messages on Twitter, alleging that the two exchanged messages of a sexual nature. She decided to reveal his identity to the public after he started becoming rude in their interactions. The issue drew a lot of attention, and in response Shay announced that the Shaytards channel would be taking a year-long break, admitting to being an alcoholic and would be taking time to rehabilitate from his condition.
The following year the Shaytards channel was reinstated, and the couple has been more open about their relationship as well as Shay’s struggle with addiction. They’ve also committed not to do a daily vlog schedule, as it can lead to serious burnout.
Husband – Shay Carl
Shay Carl grew up in Pocatello, Idaho after his family moved there from Phoenix, Arizona. After matriculating from high school, he went on a two-year mission for the Mormon church to locations such as Guyana, Trinidad and Barbados. After returning to the US, he enrolled at Idaho State University, but later dropped out to pursue work instead of school.
He did odd jobs as he was trying to find a financial breakthrough, working as a school bus driver, installing countertops, and also briefly operating as a DJ.
Following his friendship with Philip DeFranco, things changed for Carl who went from being a relative unknown YouTuber to a star on the platform. His fame continued to grow as he co-founded Maker Studios which would later be sold to Disney for a huge amount. His career has also led him to become friends with several celebrities, including Terry Crews and Matt Damon. He’s also been sponsored by companies such as Skype, General Electric, Kia, and Foot Locker. He’s been named one of the most successful YouTube video entrepreneurs by Force, and his work has been featured by “The New York Times”.
He also created a documentary called “Vlogumentary” which was mainly funded by viewers who raised $200,000.
Personal Life
Colette married Butler in 2003, and they have five children. Most of their children’s lives have been recorded and they’ve all become social media stars in their own right. Their daughter Emmi was featured in the album “Some Kind of Trouble” by James Blunt as a part of the front cover. Their other daughter, Avia has also aspired to a music career and released the song called “Forever Love”. The couple tries their best to go on running events together including marathons as a form of therapy, and to maintain weight loss.