When Pokimane cried on live stream while discussing her "real identity" with Dr. K

Back in May 2020, Imane “Pokimane” Anys spoke to Alok “Dr. K” Kanojia about various issues that she was facing with respect to her online persona.

In this throwback incident, Pokimane decided to consult Dr. K about various issues that she was facing with respect to her online identity. Dr. K hypothesised that Pokimane had, at some point of time, gotten away from her “real identity,” because someone important to her told her to be a particular way.

In response, Pokimane said that she had not spent enough time building an identity which was independent of the online persona that she sought to create through some of the most formative years of her life. Dr. K agreed with her, as Pokimane got emotional and ended up crying.

Pokimane gets emotional after discussing her identity issues with Dr. K

As can be seen in the video, Dr. K can tells Pokimane that she stopped being “herself” when someone important to her told her to be a different person. His point was that due to some external factors “Imane” had stopped being herself to become the online persona called “Pokimane” that she had created.

“I think its kind of hard for me to think of a moment when I for sure knew what I wanted to be..I do know that for quite some time I tried to separate the two, but mainly in order to like, protect myself kind of.”

According to Pokimane, she was being subjected to a lot of criticism by people who did not quite know who she was as a person. Moreover, she never really got the time to build her own identity up as she had been streaming for almost six years, at the age of 23.

“When people would theorize or say like or try to twist a lot of stuff publically, I would be like all they see is like “Poki”, and they don’t know me personally. That’s how I separated the two, to make myself feel better..I just haven’t given myself time to like identity develop because I have spent so much time to please others.”

Image via HealthyGamerGG, Twitch

Saying this, Pokimane began to cry, as Dr K tried to calm the situation down by reassuring her that she has it all figured out. For Pokimane’s viewers, the discussion proved to be a detailed insight into how the controversies that she has been involved in for years have affected her mentally.

Pokimane began streaming in 2012, back when she was around 16 years old and was also going to college. Since then, her growth has been constant, as she has developed into one of the most popular female internet personalities of recent times.