Jake Paul: The Problem Child explores the star’s rise to fame, here’s how he managed to do it

Jake Paul’s rise to fame is the topic explored in Netflix’s latest documentary Jake Paul: The Problem Child. Jake Paul has been at the forefront of social media and YouTube since its early days and has had a truly wild career.

The documentary includes interviews with Logan Paul and explores their relationship with their father, who was also interviewed for the documentary.

Jake has often faced controversy over his career, from his YouTube days to more so in his boxing career. But how did Jake Paul reach the ranks of a well known boxer from just being a Viner who did silly skits with their brother and went viral?

Here’s a look inside Jake Paul’s rise to fame.

Jake Paul’s internet career began when he started posting videos on Vine with his brother, Logan

Jake Paul made a name for himself on Vine, the app that shaped a generation that has since been deleted. He first posted a video in September 2013 and amassed over five million followers and two billion views.

Jake would post videos with his brother, Logan, and the pair took the app by storm before it was discontinued. He eventually left Vine after joining a group of creators who wanted to make money from the app given their popularity.

After this, Jake moved to YouTube, where his career really took off.

Following the end of vine, he started a YouTube channel and set up Team 10

Jake Paul joined YouTube in May 2014 and initially posted pranks on his channel. After two and a half years creating content on YouTube, Jake Paul launched his own group called Team 10.

The idea behind the group was to be an influencer marketing agency and management firm and some of YouTube’s top creators were part of the group, many of them who lived with him. Some of the members of Team 10 included Alissa Violet, the Martinez Twins and Tessa Brooks, who have all since left the group.

If you’re as chronically online as the rest of us, you’ll remember the truly awful song It’s Everyday Bro which amassed 296 million viewers and 3.1 million likes.

He now has more than 20 million subscribers on his YouTube channel.

He later joined Bizaardvark as a cast member on Disney Channel

Off the back of his popularity, Jake Paul joined the cast of Disney Channel’s Bizaardvark in 2015. He was cast alongside Olivia Rodrigo and  Madison Hu. However, he didn’t appear on the third and final season of the show after he and Disney “mutually agreed” to end their partnership.

He later told The Sun in 2021 that people are quick to say he was fired from the show to fit his “wild child” narrative.

“I think it was a long time coming,” he told The Sun. “You know, a lot of the media paint any picture of you that they want. The split between Disney and I, in fact, was mutual, it was like sort of this thing that was coming.

“But at the time, everyone was like, ‘Oh, you got fired by Disney, you got fired by Disney’. So I kind of just ran with it.

“Because there wasn’t really like, I wasn’t able to tell the truth about it. Or people just didn’t want to hear the truth. They just wanted to be like Jake Paul got fired by Disney.”

He added: “But it was sort of this, too, you know, a brand and Disney and Jake Paul, kind of two brands growing apart. And so it sort of made sense. And ultimately, both parties are happier after that split.”

Some of his fame can be attributed to Logan Paul

In the past, Logan Paul has made digs that his younger brother is only famous because of him. A bitter feud between the two saw them hurl diss tracks at one another, in one Logan Paul says people only know Jake because of him.

However, the two have since sorted things out and are often cheering for one another ringside.

He later moved into the world of boxing and went on to fight Tommy Fury

Jake Paul began boxing in 2018 and turned pro two years later. He told Bloomberg News that he has been “competitive my whole life” and grew up wrestling and playing an array of different sports.

“When I moved out to LA I was acting and making YouTube videos, crushing the game. But I was a bit tired of it and wanted something different,” he told the publication.

He added: “All these YouTubers started calling each other out and saying they wanted to fight each other. There were these two brothers from England who started talking with me and my brother.

“I was like, ‘You fight the older one, I’ll fight the younger one.’ A couple days later we have a signed contract to do a boxing match in Manchester, England.”

The two brothers in which he was talking about are in fact KSI and Deji. In August 2018, Jake took on Deji in a boxing match and won after Deji threw in the towel, ending the match. It was Jake’s first boxing match and sparked an interest in him continuing his career.

Since then, Jake Paul has gone on to fight AnEsonGib, Nate Robinson and more recently he fought Tommy Fury.

Today, he has a net worth of $60 million

According to Celebrity Net Worth, Jake Paul has an estimated net worth of $60 million. It is reported that Jake is consistently one of the highest paid social media stars in the world, making a minimum of $20 million and as much as $50 million each year.

He earns this much from a range of different things, whether it be boxing events, merch, endorsements and YouTube video views.

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Featured image credit via Netflix and Instagram @jakepaul.