Trisha Paytas (/ˈpeɪtəs/;[2] born May 8, 1988) is an American YouTuber, singer, and media personality. Her[a] YouTube channel consists of a wide variety of content including lifestyle-oriented vlogs, music videos, and mukbangs. As of July 2022, she has accumulated roughly 5 million subscribers and 1 billion lifetime views. From 2020 to 2021, Paytas co-hosted the podcast Frenemies with fellow YouTuber Ethan Klein. Additionally, she has worked independently as a singer, releasing several records and singles, and appeared in various television shows and films.
Early life
Paytas was born on May 8, 1988,[3] in Riverside, California, before moving to Freeport, Illinois at age 3.[4] She has two siblings; an older brother and a younger, maternal half-sister. At age 15, Paytas moved back to California and was enrolled in a Catholiconline school program. She returned to Illinois to live with her mother at age 16, attending high school in Pecatonica, Illinois.[5]
Paytas registered her YouTube channel in 2007.[9] It was originally dedicated to movie director Quentin Tarantino, whom Paytas idolized, but soon after being created, Paytas began to focus on other types of videos. On the channel, Paytas primarily gives fashion, beauty, and relationship advice.[6]
From 2013 to 2017, Paytas made a number of trolling videos, which she told Business Insider were a way to "dumb [her]self down" in order to get more attention and views. This involved videos claiming that dogs do not have brains, or that she was voting for the 2012 Republican candidate for President of the United States, Mitt Romney.[13][14] In 2014, Paytas began posting widely-viewed mukbang sessions and eating-challenge videos.[6] In September 2014, Paytas competed in an episode of the television game show Celebrity Name Game, along with her mother.[15]
In 2017, Paytas became a housemate on Celebrity Big Brother 20.[19] She left the show after 11 days of participation[20][21] and proceeded to make disparaging comments about fellow participants, including accusations of drug use.[22]
2018–present: Concert tour and Frenemies
In 2019, Paytas embarked on her own headlining tour, The Heartbreak Tour, to promote her music.[23]
In September 2020, Paytas started the YouTube podcast Frenemies with fellow YouTuber Ethan Klein.[24] The show discussed recent events in the social media world. Paytas and Klein were cohosts on Frenemies until June 2021, when Paytas left Frenemies, and the show ended.[25][26][27]
As of 2021[update], Paytas has expanded her social media presence to the subscription website OnlyFans.[28]
Personal life
Paytas has had several public long-term relationships. She dated American YouTuber Jason Nash from 2017 to 2019.[29] In 2020, she started dating Israeli artist Moses Hacmon. The pair got engaged that same year[30] and married in 2021.[31] In February 2022, Paytas announced that she was expecting her first child with Hacmon. She had previously been told by her doctors that she would not be able to conceive a child naturally.[32] In September 2022, Paytas addressed false online rumors claiming that she had already given birth and that the baby was the reincarnation of Elizabeth II.[33] That same month, she gave birth to a daughter, naming her Malibu Barbie.[34] In November 2023, Paytas announced she is expecting her second child with Hacmon.[35]
Paytas has identified with different religious beliefs throughout her life, mainly Roman Catholicism.[36]
Paytas has suffered from mental health problems, having been diagnosed with borderline personality disorder.[37] In an interview on the H3 Podcast, Paytas stated she used to have substance abuse problems and was once hospitalized after a methamphetamine overdose.[29][38] Paytas has stated that her main addiction was to prescription pills.[36][39]
In October 2019, Paytas came out as a trans man online, but denied wanting to change her pronouns. She received criticism for this due to having previously self-identified as a chicken nugget, ostensibly in a facetious manner.[40] In a March 2021 interview, she said that when she came out as transgender in 2019, she "didn't have the vocabulary to describe it at the time".[41] In April 2021, Paytas released a video on her main YouTube channel, in which she discussed her previous gender confusion and reaffirmed her non-binary identity.[42][9] She has since updated her pronouns to she/they.[43]
