YouTube star Billy LeBlanc is clearing up any skepticism about the death of his girlfriend Natalie Clark.
“This is a message just so everybody knows. I’ve had a lot of people asking me a lot of questions,” LeBlanc said in a video via Instagram on Tuesday, July 16. “It’s hard to answer every single one of them. Yes, Natalie did pass away. It is not some kind of way to get somebody to follow me or anything like that.”
LeBlanc announced Clark’s death on Sunday, July 14, which came after the couple “both got vibrio vulnificus from raw oysters.”
“I’m sure none of you know but I recently almost died. I was in the hospital for 12 days. Unfortunately Natalie didn’t make it and she passed away,” LeBlanc wrote via Instagram.
According to the Cleveland Clinic, vibrio vulnificus is “a type of bacteria that can enter your body when you eat uncooked or undercooked shellfish. It can also infect open wounds. It causes a serious form of the illness vibriosis that can quickly lead to sepsis, shock and large, spreading blisters that destroy tissues.”
LeBlanc — who rose to internet fame with the popular YouTube account @Bratayley, featuring videos of himself, his ex-wife Katie LeBlanc and their three children — remembered Clark with a carousel of photos from their cross-country adventures.
“I will always remember how we got lost everywhere together,” he shared. “I will always love her and miss her. Be safe and hold your loved ones tight, you never know when it’ll be the last time you see them.”
Billy also has a solo YouTube channel called @justbillyleblanc where he often posted videos of himself and Clark. The last video posted to his page, called “Ping Pong Money Ball Challenge,” was uploaded in May 2023.
The day before Billy announced Clark’s death, he posted a birthday message to his late son Caleb, who died in 2015.
“It seems like just yesterday, you would have been in this ihop with us,” LeBlanc wrote alongside pictures from the pancake chain restaurant. “I miss you my little baby boy. Happy birthday.”
Billy’s ex-wife and Caleb’s mother, Katie, announced the news of their son’s death in October 2015, sharing he had died due to “natural causes” at the age of 13.
“This has come as a shock to all of us,” she wrote. “Words cannot describe how much we will miss him. His incredibly funny, loving and wonderful spirit made us all fall in love with him as a YouTuber, friend, brother and son.”
She continued, “We know you tune in to watch each day and eagerly anticipate new videos, but ask that you bear with us while we deal with this tragedy as a family.”
Billy and Katie got divorced in 2019 before he began dating Clark the following year.
