Childhood influencer rebuilds himself: the sobriety journey of YouTuber, PopularMMOs
Entertainment October 30, 2025, Comments OffPatrick “Pat” Julianelle, more commonly known as PopularMMOs, is gaining popularity again. Julianelle started a sobriety path and plans to continue on by sharing his experiences through the whole process.
But who is PopularMMOs? Julianelle started on YouTube on April 18, 2012, but didn’t upload his first video until May 8, 2012. Between 2013 and 2014, Julianella and his wife at the time, Jennifer Flagg, made videos and became viral. They both created gaming videos on the famous sandbox game, Minecraft, with the game having community-made modifications to it.
In 2018, the YouTube channel started to lose popularity, largely due to the dwindling public interest in Minecraft. Right as this happened, the couple that filmed together unfortunately divorced. Whereas Flagg wanted kids, Julianelle didn’t. Tension rose, and although they continued to film together every so often, fans noted it wasn’t the same.
Then around 2020, after he introduced a short lived girlfriend named Eleni, it was radio silence on the PopularMMOs YouTube channel. This didn’t, however, mean he was living a silent life. In May 2021, with a different girlfriend, Julianelle was charged with domestic battery. He and his girlfriend at the time were drunk and both fought. Then, in November 2022, Pat ran across a football field with friends while unclothed for a YouTube video. Then the final arrest was in March 2024 when Julianelle was arrested for the possession of marijuana. The bodycam of this event was uploaded June 2025. Fans, hoping he could find a way to recover, expressed how they felt Pat was going down a wrong path.
When the Mirror interviewed Drury University students about Julianelle’s previous arrests, Ellie Markum, a Drury freshman, stated, ”When it first came out that he was being arrested for multiple charges, I felt very defeated I would say. It felt like the very pure childish memories I had with him were stripped away.”
Another Drury freshman, Carly McPhail, stated, ”It made me feel like the song ‘Death of a Hero’ by Alec Benjamin. The song illiterates the moment when a person meets their hero, and it shows that they aren’t who they say they are. They are not just a normal person, but a bad person who abuses their power and has substance issues. I’m not saying that PopularMMO tries to abuse his power; however, it leaves you with a grimy feeling. [I was] disappointed and confused.”
But, as of now, Julianelle has announced he has been sober for over 160 days. His content focuses upon his journey with being sober. He comments on how alcohol ruined his life and how he’s currently going through probation to finish that chapter of his life. Julianelle in his first Instagram post back stated, ”If you were in my life in the last few years and haven’t heard from me, I was plagued by addiction, and you likely didn’t really know me. After being released, I’ve started to relearn how to function sober and haven’t reached out to very many people yet since I’ve been working on my anxiety issues and being sober.”
When the Mirror interviewed students on his journey, the general hope is that Pat will continue on this sobriety path. As of the writing of this article, he unfortunately relapsed. But, he is getting back up on his feet again and continuing on a journey of growth and healing. McPhail stated, ”I think he will go through the typical sobriety journey where you fall off and get back on. That is just part of the journey. It’s the getting back on and staying on the journey that will be tested by time. I want to stay positive and say this will stick…”
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