Money, fame and millions of followers on social media do not automatically make for a happy, fulfilling life. Instead, as one video points out, it can be quite the opposite.
Dude Perfect is a massively popular YouTube channel, with 59 million people subscribed to the account. The channel is made up of hundreds of videos that have racked up millions and millions of views.
Most videos on the channel feature the guys attempting and usually successfully completing insane trick shots. However, in a video for the “I Am Second” series, one of the channel’s creators, Tyler Toney, and his wife Bethany, explained why the fame, opportunities and followers became a burden to them and their marriage.
In the video, Tyler begins by explaining that the idea for the channel actually originated from a group of guys he met during a college Bible study in 2009.
Soon after putting their first video on YouTube, the guys got a call from Good Morning America.
“And two days later, Good Morning America somehow got ahold of one of our phone numbers and said, ‘Hey, we would love to put your video on TV,’” Tyler said.
Then as the guys continued making more and more videos showing their impressive trick shots, additional opportunities began coming their way.
As the channel grew in popularity, Tyler wanted to quit his job and wanted to create Dude Perfect content on a full-time basis. Bethany, his wife, wasn’t on board at first.
“Naturally, I’m like, ‘No,’” Bethany said. “Because we have a mortgage and we just got married, ‘No, like, that’s, that’s so risky.’”
However, after some prodding and convincing, Bethany gave Tyler the OK to pursue Dude Perfect full-time. However, she gave him a year to make it a real job.
Bethany admits she was envious of Tyler and the Dude Perfect crew.
“He was getting to pursue his dreams,” Bethany said. “He was getting to do what he wanted to do, and I had jealousy of that.”
Bethany also mentioned the difficulties she and Tyler endured while trying to start a family. She talked about several miscarriages. She also stated that during this time, she was upset with God.
“I was so angry at God during that season of our life because I just felt God was ignoring me and that He wasn’t hearing my requests for things,” she said.
She also adds that she began to become “resentful” of her husband because of everything he was doing in his career and that she was at home in pain, struggling with loss.
Tyler, in the video, stated that he did not handle things great during this period. He said he put more emphasis on Dude Perfect and those opportunities than on Bethany during this time.
Tyler and Bethany did eventually get pregnant and had two children. At the time, Bethany found out that she was pregnant again. However, Tyler spent a lot of time away from home, working on Dude Perfect.
“So, instead of being excited about that pregnancy, like I should have been, it devastated me,” Bethany said. “Because all I could see was this is just another child I’m gonna have to take care of by myself.”
Their marriage was not in a good place.
Tyler, after many difficult and stormy days in his marriage, realized that he needed a relationship with Christ. He knew he needed to step up and become a spiritual leader for his household.
He formed a men’s Bible study group, which he mentioned, meets weekly at his house on Thursdays.
Things in their marriage have since improved, Bethany reports.
“Tyler just puts Christ at the center of everything in our family now,” Bethany said. “And whereas before he didn’t do that. And so, it’s just been, he’s a whole new person. I remember telling my mom, ‘I feel like I’m married to a new person.”’
Ephesians 5:25 “Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church and gave himself for it;”
