Steven Jay Williams (born July 24, 1974), better known by his online alias Boogie2988 or simply Boogie, is an American YouTuber best known for his video rants about video games and nerd culture as a character named Francis.
Steven Jay Williams grew up in St. Paul, Virginia. His father, Carl Williams (May 1, 1935 – September 2, 2001) was a coal miner, and his mother, Wanda Faye Williams (née Privett) (December 6, 1941 – October 6, 2009) was a preschool teacher. He has two older siblings.
Williams described his childhood as a “sad” time period in his life, due to dealing with obesity, lack of friends, and suffering verbal and physical abuse from his mother. Despite this, her death in 2009 while he was in the same hospital as her has been considered the saddest moment of his life. He had already been depressed due to his father dying of cancer. Williams had gastric bypass surgery due to morbid obesity on August 1, 2017.
Williams graduated from St. Paul High School in Virginia and attended University of Virginia’s College at Wise, but did not graduate. He later moved to Fayetteville, Arkansas, where his life improved momentarily but soon worsened, and he did not leave his home for seven years while being supported by a friend. It was then that he discovered YouTube and started to create videos, which he said gave his life a meaning.
