Watch CBS News

Bretman Rock On 'MTV's Following: Bretman Rock': 'When I First Started, The Word Influencer Wasn't Even A Thing'

(CBS Local)-- Bretman Rock has been creating content since he was an eight-year-old kid messing around with is mother's phone. Today, Rock is one of the biggest influencers in the world and has over 5 million followers on Twitter and over 15 million followers on Instagram. The social media phenom and beauty influencer is the subject of a new series called "MTV's Following: Bretman Rock."

The six episode series began this week and will air every Tuesday on MTV's social platforms for the next several weeks. Rock will take people behind the scenes of his life as an influencer, living on a small Hawaiian island and his new business ventures. Rock hopes the series will provide his fans with a more extensive look at who he is as a person and influencer.

"It was interesting because I didn't think I'd be filming a reality show during the middle of a pandemic," said Rock, in an interview with CBS Local's DJ Sixsmith. "It was weird and really new. I think we filmed a great show, even though I don't feel my nose anymore with all those cotton swabs that have been up there. I'm obviously used to my own cameras pointing towards my face, but I'm not used to other cameras pointing at me for such long periods of time."

Rock is used to having the control over his own content, but for this show he had to relinquish control and allow MTV to capture the good, the bad and the ugly of his life. The influencer says he had full trust in the MTV team and enjoyed the process of collaborating on this reality show.

"Every time I said something stupid I thought 'oh my God, I hope they don't use that,'" said Rock. "When I first started, the word influencer wasn't even a thing. I started Instagramming and YouTubeing without the knowledge that I could make this as a career one day. To be honest with you, I just loved making videos. I was making videos on my Mom's phones since I was eight years old. I've always loved being in front of the camera. It's such a different world now."

Watch all of DJ Sixsmith's interviews from "The Sit-Down" series here.

View CBS News In
CBS News App Open
Chrome Safari Continue
Be the first to know
Get browser notifications for breaking news, live events, and exclusive reporting.