Everyone using the internet in the Philippines knows who Bretman Rock is. It’s not surprising as he has gone beyond being a makeup YouTuber to become a globally known internet sensation.
He’s taken on a wide variety of projects and was, in fact, in the Philippines recently for his book signing tour. To keep up with this multimedia star, we’ve compiled a list of things you need to know about Bretman Rock.
Image credit: @bretmanrock
Bretman Rock was born in Sanchez-Mira, Cagayan on 31 July 1998 to Filipino parents. This makes him a Leo, which isn’t surprising given his larger-than-life personality.
He moved to Honolulu, Hawaii when he was 7 and is now a naturalized US citizen.
While he moved abroad at a young age, Bretman is still fluent in Ilocano, a widely used language in the Northern Philippines.
Image credit: @bretmanrock/Attitude Magazine
The name Bretman Rock sounds so iconic that it could very well be a screen name. However, the internet personality was actually born Bretman Rock Sacayanan Laforga.
His dad named him after professional wrestlers Bret “The Hitman” Hart and Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson.
In fact, Bretman paid homage to his namesakes during his recent Attitude magazine shoot.
Video credit: Zach Sang Show
In his Zach Sang Show interview, Bretman said he identifies as non-binary and goes by any pronoun.
He explained that in Filipino, there are no masculine or feminine pronouns. The Filipino pronoun “siya” is used to refer to both men and women. “I feel like, in a way, I’ve always been non-binary,” he expressed.
Bretman also shared that, growing up, his grandmother used both masculine and feminine adjectives to describe him.
Video credit: Bretman Rock
Bretman started posting videos on his makeup YouTube channel in 2015 and he captured viewers’ attention with his candid humor.
Since then, he has released products with brands such as Morphe Cosmetics, ColourPop, and Crocs.
Today, 8 years later, he has almost 9 million YouTube subscribers, 18.5 million Instagram followers, and 15.1 million followers on TikTok.
Image credit: @bretmanrock/Playboy
Since 2015, Bretman has taken on many other projects outside of social media influencing. In October 2021, he became the first openly gay man on the cover of Playboy magazine, dressed as a Playboy bunny.
The cover was met with differing opinions. Particularly, straight male Playboy fans were not receptive to it. But Playboy stood by their choice of cover star and emphasized that freedom and equality are the DNA of the brand.
Image credit: time.com
Bretman Rock became such a big name that he graced 2 coveted lists of notable individuals.
In 2018, he joined Forbes’s 30 Under 30 in Asia under Media, Marketing, and Advertising. Before that, he was also in TIME’s 30 Most Influential Teens in 2017, alongside actress Millie Bobby Brown and Filipino student activist Shibby de Guzman.
Bretman has also received several awards, including Best Beauty Influencer at the 2019 People’s Choice Awards and Breakthrough Social Star at the MTV Movie & TV Awards in 2021.
Video credit: Joey Graceffa
In 2019, Bretman starred in Season 4 of the scripted, reality-style series Escape the Night aired on YouTube premium. Here, he played The Playboy who joined the quest at the promise of cute boys.
The series was created by YouTuber Joey Graceffa and also starred other YouTube personalities such as Colleen Ballinger, Safiya Nygaard, Alex Wassabi, and more.
Bretman has also led MTV reality shows, namely MTV Following: Bretman Rock and 30 Days With: Bretman Rock which both aired in 2021.
Image credit: @bretmanrock
On 14 February 2023, Bretman launched his newest venture to date – a memoir.
You’re That Bitch is a collection of essays where he talks about his childhood in the Philippines and becoming a celebrated online personality. In fact, he came for a 2-day book signing affair in Metro Manila just this 4th and 5th March.
If you want the book read to you by Da Baddest himself, Bretman also narrated the You’re That Bitch audiobook.
There is truly more to Bretman Rock than his entertaining Instagram stories that we just can’t get enough of.
Since there seems to be no limit to what this celebrated internet star can do, we can’t wait for more surprises from him in the future.
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Cover image adapted from: @bretmanrock, @bretmanrock, @bretmanrock
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