You likely know his face, but you may not know his name. Chris Rooney is the uncle behind the popular Instagram account, The Yeet Baby.
Rooney and his niece Marleigh rose to fame after their videos began going viral on social media. Many of their most popular videos included Rooney teaching Marleigh how to “yeet,” as well as teaching her how to pour liquids into a cup as a child.
For the last several years, Rooney, Marleigh, and now his nephew Jack has been bringing smiles to millions of people’s faces. Sadly, the Rooney family is sharing heartbreaking news.
On August 3, shortly after Rooney used his personal Instagram account to discuss the multiple miscarriages he and his wife endured since becoming husband and wife, Rooney was reported missing.
In an Instagram Story shared on the official “The Yeet Baby” page, his family explained, “This is not a joke. Christopher Rooney is missing. Police have been contacted.”
The Instagram further reveals that Rooney was last seen in Fredricksburg, Virginia and asked that anyone who has seen him to “contact the police.”
However, later that same day, the Instagram pages were later updated to say that Chris had been found. Now, the Rooney family is sharing more details about what exactly happened.
Prior to being reported as missing and later found safe, Rooney had deleted all of his own Instagram posts except for one which promotes the controversial film Sound of Freedom. His page, at the time, read, “This page will be used as a dedication to the movie sound of freedom till taken down or we all raise one million dollars for the cause.”
Eighteen hours ago, Rooney seemingly shared a photo of himself on his Instagram Story along with the geo tag showing him in Richmond, Virginia. He went on to share several other fundraising tags in an attempt to raise money for “Operation Underground Railroad.”
Now, in the statement his family shared, the changes in his social media appearance comes after “his life the last 6 months has been nothing short of difficult. What you all witnessed leading up to his disappearance was all of his emotions coming to a head.”
As the statement continued, his family addressed his focus on the controversial film, revealing that he had just seen the movie, “and like many other, he was sick to his core over it.”
“To many of you this may have seemed odd, but he genuinely wanted and still wants to help this cause. Unfortunately, it was posted at a time that he was also visibly not in his right mind and not acting like the Chris we know and love.”
Now, after being reported missing, his family shared that Chris had made the decision to check himself into a mental health facility. And that’s all his family will say on his situation now until Chris is willing to speak more about his mental health battle himself.
Chris then shared a brief personal statement to his followers. “The amount of love and prayers I have received not just now but over the years, truly has brought me out of some very low times,” he begun.
“Unfortunately, there was nothing anyone could do to help me. It is something that I have to work on and am going to make it my life’s mission to not only get myself healthy but also others. If there is one thing I have learned during this time, there are a lot of hurting people in this world and I am going to do everything I can to help them.”