Trisha Paytas (/ˈpeɪtəs/;[2] born May 8, 1988) is an American media personality.[a] Her content consists of a wide variety of genres including lifestyle-oriented vlogs, music videos, and mukbangs. As of July 2022, she has accumulated roughly 5 million subscribers and almost 1 billion lifetime views on YouTube.
As a podcaster, Paytas has co-hosted the podcasts Frenemies (2020–2021) with Ethan Klein, and Just Trish (2023–present) with Oscar Gracey. Additionally, she has worked independently as a singer, releasing several records and singles, and appeared in various television shows, films, and music videos.
Paytas has been the subject of controversies and has been accused of deliberately making controversial videos and social media posts to attain fame.[3] She also has been accused of targeting various specific groups, including alternative music fans, the emo community, and the LGBT community.[4] Following accusations of sexism and antisemitism from a direct message exchange she posted on Twitter between her and Ethan Klein, she apologized for the texts.[5][6]
Early life
Paytas was born on May 8, 1988, to parents Frank and Lenna Paytas[7][8] in Riverside, California, before moving to Freeport, Illinois at age 3 after her parents divorced.[7][9] She has two siblings: an older brother and a younger maternal half-sister. At age 15, Paytas moved back to California to live with her father and was enrolled in a Catholiconline school program.[7] At the age of 16, Paytas returned to Illinois to live with her mother and attend high school in Pecatonica, Illinois.[7]
Paytas registered her YouTube channel in 2007.[13] 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.[10]
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.[17][18] In 2014, Paytas began posting widely-viewed mukbang sessions and eating-challenge videos.[10] In September 2014, Paytas competed in an episode of the television game show Celebrity Name Game, along with her mother.[19]
In 2017, Paytas became a housemate on Celebrity Big Brother 20.[23] She left the show after 11 days of participation[24][25] and proceeded to make disparaging comments about fellow participants, including accusations of drug use.[26]
2018–2022: Concert tour and Frenemies
In 2019, Paytas embarked on her own headlining tour, The Heartbreak Tour, to promote her music.[27]
In September 2020, Paytas started the YouTube podcast Frenemies with fellow YouTuber Ethan Klein.[28] 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.[29][30][31]
As of 2021[update], Paytas has expanded her social media presence to the subscription website OnlyFans.[32]
2023–present: Just Trish Podcast
In July 2023, Paytas began hosting her own YouTube podcast titled Just Trish Podcast. Co-hosted by Oscar Gracey, the podcast sees Paytas commenting on current pop culture topics.[33] Originally planned as a weekly series, Just Trish gained significant YouTube viewership, which inspired Paytas to publish two episodes a week and invite various guests to talk on the podcast. The August 2023 episode featuring Tana Mongeau was the first episode of Just Trish to reach over one million YouTube views. As of March 2024, Just Trish attracted a total of approximately 30 million YouTube views through more than 50 episodes, making it one of the most successful projects of Paytas' career.
Personal life
Paytas has had several public long-term relationships. She dated American YouTuber Jason Nash from 2017 to 2019.[34] In 2020, she started dating Israeli artist Moses Hacmon. The pair got engaged on December 18, 2020 after being in a relationship of 9 months that same year[35] and married in December 11, 2021.[36] 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.[37] On September 14, 2022, she gave birth to a daughter, naming her Malibu Barbie.[38] In November 2023, Paytas announced she is expecting her second child with Hacmon.[39] On June 4, 2024, she announced on social media she had given birth to her second daughter, Elvis Paytas Hacmon, on May 24, 2024.
Paytas has identified with different religious beliefs throughout her life, mainly Roman Catholicism.[40]
Paytas has suffered from mental health problems, having been diagnosed with borderline personality disorder.[41] In an interview on the H3 Podcast, Paytas stated she used to have substance abuse problems and was once hospitalized after a methamphetamine overdose.[34][42] Paytas has stated that her main addiction was to prescription pills.[40][43]
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.[44] 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".[45] 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.[46][13] She has since updated her pronouns to she/they.[47]
