It’s actually not all THAT melodramatic, tbh. It’s honest. From my perspective, I feel as if there are a couple of issues at play, personal & persona.
Whenever you’ve done any one thing for a given length of time, things can grow old. Especially when you’re doing it to pay the rent, you can sometimes fall into a rut or lose sight of why you fell in love with it in the first place. Art can be draining. Burnout is real. It’s not just the long hours, but also the toll it can take on your creative spirit. Time away from it all is sometimes necessary to recharge. An exploration of life and of other endeavors can reinvigorate.
Artists are just people. Who we are today is not who we were yesterday or who we might be tomorrow. The topics we painted or modeled when we were 20 might not necessarily be the ones we’ll tackle when we’re 30 or 40. Even if they are, our perspective changes. I think that it’s important to step back every now and then to rest and to do some introspection, reinvention. Every artist has their “periods” and a drastic change like Stephane’s is necessary to bring about his next.
Look. I get the whole “Wootha is dead” comment. Nobody tells you that when you pick out your online nickname that it can follow you, define you, and even haunt you for many years past its shelf life. It’s not a pretty thing. Seriously.
A lot of younger artists here won’t recognize the name Ben Mathis. However, to some of us who’ve been here for ages, we know him as “poopinmymouth”. What probably started as a silly, sophomoric joke of a handle took a life all its own; To the point where it’s literally his URL. At this point - after nearly 20 years, despite the fact that he’s probably outgrown it, and that the joke isn’t quite as funny anymore - it’s how many people online know him. His online reputation is partially attached to the “poopinmymouth” moniker, for better or worse.
I get it. I totally do. “Cookepuss” was born in 1996, shortly before my 22nd birthday. When struggling for an online nick, the first thing that came to mind was the Carvel ice cream cake “Cookie Puss”. Being a bit juvenile, I even spelt it cookEpuss for the first year or so. Maybe as some sort of crude sexual joke or maybe “E” because it was… the interwebs. 
Whatever the case, “cookepuss” is what it became and, ffs, it stuck. I haven’t been able to escape that “cookepuss” motherf-er for 24 years. It followed me as I wrote articles & tutorials. It followed me as I admin-ed from one forum to the next. It almost even followed me when I was asked to be part of magazine interview/roundtable; A tale for another day. At age 46, I hate “cookepuss”. I really do.
Maybe “Wootha” had to die for Stephane Richard to find himself again. Maye he outgrew “Wootha” and needed some time to redefine himself. Maybe the name became attached to a part of his life he’d rather move past. Maybe people started seeing him as “Wootha” instead of Stephane, erroneously conflating one for the other.
I rarely go by “cookepuss” these days. I’ll tell you why. Apart from having outgrown that mid-1990s, early 20s mindset, I’ve grown tired of the baggage that the name carries with it. Sadly, the internet remembers the negatives more than the positives. Posting as “cookepuss” tends to remind my why I hate the internet sometimes and why I stopped posting ANYTHING - art included - as “cookepuss” years ago. When you go by a weird or kooky nickname for too long, people sometimes treat you like a character or non-person. Unsurprisingly, the internet is full of assholes who assume that they know you because they know the nick.
Ditching a familiar nickname or opting to fly under the radar is sometimes necessary. To find yourself (again), you have to sometimes leave the persona behind and the character that you’ve become to them. Numerous musicians and performers over the years have done this exact thing and for these exact reasons, with varying degrees of success.
Ask yourself one question. If you had a chance to, would you “kill Imhotep397” for a fresh start? There are certain advantages and disadvantages to whatever choice you make. For my part, with social having largely replaced forums, I see the appeal in “killing cookepuss” once and for all. I’m SO over it. That sonuvabitch has gotta go. 
Bottom line: If Stephane wants to bury “Wootha”… more power to him. Leave the past in the rear view mirror. Seek creative rebirth. Redefine himself online. Open up a new chapter full of surprises, artistic & personal alike. He has every right to change direction and seek a new path on his terms. Good for him.
