Talia Joy Castellano (August 18, 1999 – July 16, 2013) was an American

internet personality An Internet celebrity, also referred to as an Internet personality, is an individual who has acquired or developed their fame and notability on the Internet. The growing popularity of social media provides a means for people to reach a large ...

and model who was best known for her work on

YouTube YouTube is an American social media and online video sharing platform owned by Google. YouTube was founded on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim who were three former employees of PayPal. Headquartered in ...

, notably her

makeup Cosmetics are substances that are intended for application to the body for cleansing, beautifying, promoting attractiveness, or altering appearance. They are mixtures of chemical compounds derived from either natural sources or created sy ...

and

fashion Fashion is a term used interchangeably to describe the creation of clothing, footwear, Fashion accessory, accessories, cosmetics, and jewellery of different cultural aesthetics and their mix and match into Clothing, outfits that depict distinct ...

content, and for becoming the first honorary

CoverGirl CoverGirl is an American cosmetics brand founded in Maryland, United States, by the Noxzema Chemical Company. It was acquired by Procter & Gamble in 1989, and later acquired by Coty, Inc. in 2016. The Noxell Company advertised this cosmetics l ...

in 2012. She battled the diseases

neuroblastoma Neuroblastoma (NB) is a type of cancer that forms in certain types of nerve tissue. It most frequently starts from one of the adrenal glands but can also develop in the head, neck, chest, abdomen, or Vertebral column, spine. Symptoms may include ...

and

leukemia Leukemia ( also spelled leukaemia; pronounced ) is a group of blood cancers that usually begin in the bone marrow and produce high numbers of abnormal blood cells. These blood cells are not fully developed and are called ''blasts'' or '' ...

for six years, and died on July 16, 2013. As of May 2021, her YouTube channel has received over a million subscribers.

Early life and illness

Castellano was born on August 18, 1999, in

Orlando, Florida Orlando ( ) is a city in and the county seat of Orange County, Florida, United States. The city proper had a population of 307,573 at the 2020 census, making it the fourth-most populous city in Florida behind Jacksonville, Florida, Jacksonville ...

, and grew up in and around

central Florida Central Florida is a Regions of the United States#Florida, region of the U.S. state of Florida. Different sources give different definitions for the region, but as its name implies it is usually said to comprise the central part of the state, in ...

with her mother, Desiree Castellano, and in

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

with her father, Marc Winthrop. She had three siblings: Kaitlyn, Jackson Winthrop, and Mattia Castellano. When she was 7 years old, Castellano began experiencing fevers and abdominal pain. When an X-ray on February 14, 2007 showed unusual anatomical displacements in her chest, she was diagnosed with

, a rare pediatric cancer of the peripheral nervous system. Castellano underwent various types of therapies and treatments and was initially declared cancer-free, but

relapse In internal medicine, relapse or recidivism is a recurrence of a past (typically medical) condition. For example, multiple sclerosis and malaria often exhibit peaks of activity and sometimes very long periods of dormancy, followed by relapse or r ...

d three times in the next six years. During that time she was diagnosed with

myelodysplastic syndrome A myelodysplastic syndrome (MDS) is one of a group of cancers in which blood cells in the bone marrow do not mature, and as a result, do not develop into healthy blood cells. Early on, no symptoms typically are seen. Later, symptoms may includ ...

(previously known as preleukemia) and progressive

; there are no known treatments to tackle both cancers at the same time. When Castellano became aware that her cancer was terminal, she opted to sign hospital forms requesting only

palliative care Palliative care (from Latin root "to cloak") is an interdisciplinary medical care-giving approach aimed at optimizing quality of life and mitigating or reducing suffering among people with serious, complex, and often terminal illnesses. Man ...

Career and activism

When first diagnosed with her illnesses, Castellano bonded with family friend Tammy DeLaRosa, who was also a cancer survivor. Delarosa taught her how to use makeup. On August 27, 2011, she uploaded her first makeup tutorial,
Crazy eyeliner
to

where it gained over 30,000 views. Subsequently, Castellano, along with her father, Marc Winthrop, co-founded a charity, Band of Parents, focused on her wish to find a cure for neuroblastoma. This organization became one of the supporters of neuroblastoma research at

Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center (MSK or MSKCC) is a oncology, cancer treatment and research institution in Manhattan in New York City. MSKCC is one of 72 National Cancer Institute–NCI-designated Cancer Center, designated Comprehen ...

. In September 2012, she appeared on ''

The Ellen DeGeneres Show ''The Ellen DeGeneres Show'' is an American first-run syndicated talk show that was hosted by Ellen DeGeneres. The show ran for nineteen seasons from September 8, 2003, to May 26, 2022, in which it broadcast 3,339 episodes. It was produced by ...

'', and was announced as a face for

cosmetics. She appeared in CoverGirl magazine ads with her slogan "''Makeup is my wig''". She also collaborated with the Orlando-based BASE Camp Children's Cancer Foundation, a program to give support to children battling cancer in the central Florida area and to their families. She has stated in videos that she was not afraid of dying, and that "when it's my turn to go, that will be my turn to go." The

YouTube Rewind ''YouTube Rewind'' (stylized as ''YouTube ЯEWIND'') was an annual year-in-review web series that was produced by YouTube and Portal A Interactive from 2010 to 2019. The videos were summaries of each year's viral videos, events, trends, and mu ...

of 2013 was dedicated to Castellano. At the end of the video, the words, "For Talia Joy, who still inspires us" are handwritten.

Death

Castellano died at the

Arnold Palmer Hospital for Children Orlando Health Arnold Palmer Hospital for Children is a 158-bed pediatric hospital in Orlando, Florida, United States. Arnold Palmer Hospital is part of Orlando Health Orlando Health is a private, not-for-profit network of community and specia ...

, on July 16, 2013, about a month before her 14th birthday, after spending the last three months of her life in

. After years of grueling treatment and with the disease

metastasized Metastasis is a pathogenic agent's spreading from an initial or primary site to a different or secondary site within the host's body; the term is typically used when referring to metastasis by a cancerous tumor. The newly pathological sites, ...

, she declined any further proactive treatment. An announcement was made soon after the time of Castellano's death, on the Angels For Talia Facebook page. On July 16, 2013, the day Castellano died, a video was posted on her YouTube channel by her older sister Mattia, who explained how she wanted some of Castellano's old friends to help carry out Talia's legacy, by completing the 13-year-old's bucket list. She also stated her determination to create a makeup line for Talia, and a clothing line, which never carried through. Back at the time of her death, friends and family of Castellano posted pictures of things she wanted to do as part of her bucket list, such as getting a tattoo and having "a huge water balloon fight." Castellano's YouTube channel and

Twitter Twitter, officially known as X since 2023, is an American microblogging and social networking service. It is one of the world's largest social media platforms and one of the most-visited websites. Users can share short text messages, image ...

are now controlled by her elder sister and mother, with occasional updates, videos, and promotions.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Castellano, Talia 1999 births 2013 deaths Deaths from myelodysplastic syndrome American women bloggers American bloggers Deaths from brain cancer in Florida People from Seminole County, Florida Beauty and makeup YouTubers 21st-century American women YouTubers from Orlando, Florida