Christine Weston Chandler

Christine Weston "Chris" Chandler, formerly Christian Weston Chandler (born: Christopher Weston Chandler; February 24, 1982) is a YouTube vlogger and creator of the webcomic Sonichu. He is commonly considered to be one of the most documented individuals in human history, and has spawned numerous documentaries based upon his life.

Early Life
Christopher Weston Chandler was born in Charlottesville, Virginia on February 24, 1982. He is the son of secretary Barbara Anne Weston and General Electric engineer Robert Franklin Chandler Jr. (whom the couple were 40 and 54 respectively at the time of Christopher’s birth), Chandler has 3 older half-siblings and is of English and French-Canadian descent, although in numerous videos, he claims that he is of Cherokee ancestry, a 23andMe DNA test shows no sign of Native American ancestry. Chandler stated that in his early childhood, an abusive babysitter locked him in a toy room with the lights turned off when his parents were out, something that was considered traumatic for him, he claims that this event was the source of his autism (although autism is a genetic condition and isn't activated by external events).

Chris was a mute up until the age of 7, and visited James Madison University for speech therapy, Chris was eventually diagnosed with High-functioning autism when he was five.

From Kindergarten to Third Grade, Chris attended Greene County Primary School, before transitioning to Nathaniel Greene Elementary School in Fourth Grade, according to Chris, he had distressing experiences at Nathaniel Greene, stating that five faculty members abused him by pinning him down to the ground, holding his wrists and ankles, and audio taping his cries.

Following those incidents, Bob took legal action against the school district, by 1994, the case would be dropped. The district recommended putting Chris in a Special Education School but Bob refused the offer, fearing that his son would be institutionalized, Chris and Bob moved from their Ruckersville home to Richmond, Virginia, while Barbara stayed in Ruckersville, alongside the family dog, so she could continue working at Virginia Power, by that time, Chris would be home-schooled in Fifth Grade. Chandler would later attend Province Middle School, where he would graduate in 1996, also around this time, Barbara retired from Virginia Power and moved in with Bob and Chris in the process.

Around December 1992, Chris went to Regency Square Mall during a shopping trip in Richmond, there, he came across the Leonard Bearstien Symphony Orchestra (a show comprised of animatronic characters that were held around Christmas Time), the performer operated Leonard Bearstien asked for Chris’ name but misheard “Christopher” as “Christian”. Chris took this as a profound sign and felt he should be called Christian, by December 1993, Christopher’s name was legally changed to Christian, thus, becoming Christian Weston Chandler.

Chris would attend Manchester High School at Midlothian, Virginia, where he would graduate in 2000 and attended Piedmont Virginia Community College, Chandler was suspended from PVCC for the 2003-04 year by the dean due to soliciting sex on college property. He later returned and graduated in 2006 with a degree in Computer Aided Drafting and Design.

Career
On March 24, 2005, Chandler released the first issue of his webcomic series "Sonichu", the eponymous protagonist being a hybrid of Sonic the Hedgehog and Pikachu.

After catching the attention of 4chan and Encyclopedia Dramatica in 2007, Chandler would become something of a celebrity within internet circles. Initial fascination was spurred on by his signature homemade Sonichu medallion, his childlike artwork style, and history of loitering in public spaces with hopes of finding a romantic partnership. Due to his unusual mannerisms, Christian quickly became a victim of online harassment and trolling.

In 2017, Chris-Chan began identifying as a lesbian woman named Christine. Christian was arrested in 2014 after trying to remove the cases from the game Sonic Boom: Rise of Lyric at GameStop and attacking an employee before leaving forcibly.

Trolling
Chandler has frequently been a victim of online trolling due to his childish mannerisms and unusual tendencies. Such trolling was typically performed under the alias of well-known public figures or celebrities, such as video game designer Shigeru Miyamoto, television personality Billy Mays, or sports commentator Jimmy Hill. Other trolls created exaggerated and elaborate personas in attempts to conflict with Chandler's worldview or webcomic.

Personal life
As of 2021, Chandler still lives with his mother in Ruckersville, Virginia. Chandler hasn't held a job since 2001 after being fired from a local Wendy's fast-food chain.

Legacy
In 2011, animator Harry Partridge remarked:"There’s more [written] about Chris-Chan than about George Washington, Robert Pattinson or Justin Bieber, these huge heartthrobs, don’t have wikis with 1,000 articles about their pet cats and the places that they like to go and eat and what kind of shirts they’ve worn on different days."

Documentaries
Several documentaries were produced about Chris-Chan. The best documentary is by Best True Crime Documentary https://youtu.be/YpsbAF68Aao. In 2016, YouTuber Fredrik Knudsen released a 23-minute documentary summarizing Chandler’s life and art. On November 12, 2017, PewDiePie, at the time the most-subscribed YouTuber, released a video in which he covered Christian's story.