Trisha Paytas
Trisha Paytas is an American media personality, actress, singer, and YouTuber. She is known for her multifaceted career on YouTube, where her content has spanned numerous genres, including lifestyle vlogs, music videos, and mukbangs.
As a podcaster, Paytas co-hosted the popular but short-lived podcast Frenemies with Ethan Klein and later launched her own show, Just Trish. Additionally, she has independently released several albums and singles and appeared in various television shows, films, and music videos.
Paytas's career has been marked by numerous public controversies and online feuds. Media outlets have often described her as a polarizing and controversial figure who has maintained public relevance through her provocative online presence and statements.
Early life
Paytas was born on May 8, 1988, to parents Frank and Lenna Paytas in Riverside, California, before moving to Freeport, Illinois, at age 3 after her parents divorced. 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 Catholic online school program. At the age of 16, Paytas returned to Illinois to live with her mother and attend high school in Pecatonica, Illinois.Career
2006–2012: Beginnings on YouTube
After moving to Los Angeles to pursue acting, Paytas began doing professional lingerie modeling and worked as a stripper and an escort to support herself. She was featured on various television shows, attempting and failing to break the fastest-talker record on Guinness World Records Unleashed with 710 words in 54 seconds, and appearing on The Greg Behrendt Show, Ellen DeGeneres Show">The Ellen DeGeneres Show">Ellen DeGeneres Show, and Who Wants to Be a Superhero?.Paytas registered her YouTube channel in 2007. 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.
In 2010, Paytas appeared in an episode of My Strange Addiction as a self-admitted tanning addict, despite being aware of the high chances of developing skin cancer, among others. Paytas appeared in several music videos by various artists including Eminem, Amy Winehouse, and The All-American Rejects.
2013–2017: Online success and music releases
From 2013 to 2017, Paytas made a number of trolling videos, which she told Business Insider were a way to "dumb 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. In 2014, Paytas began posting widely viewed mukbang sessions and eating-challenge videos. In September 2014, Paytas competed in an episode of the television game show Celebrity Name Game, along with her mother.In 2015, the video for her song, "Fat Chicks" was featured on websites such as Cosmopolitan, The Huffington Post, and Business Insider. In 2016, her EP Daddy Issues appeared on the Billboard Top Heatseekers albums chart, debuting at number 25.
In 2017, Paytas became a housemate on Celebrity Big Brother 20. She left the show after 11 days of participation and proceeded to make disparaging comments about fellow participants, including accusations of drug use.
2018–2022: Concert tour, ''Frenemies'', Sadboy2005 band, and OnlyFans
In 2019, Paytas embarked on her own headlining tour, The Heartbreak Tour, to promote her music.In September 2020, Paytas began co-hosting the podcast Frenemies with h3h3Productions creator Ethan Klein. The show, which featured the two discussing pop culture and their often-conflicting opinions, became an immediate success, frequently described as one of the most popular podcasts on YouTube during its run.
On June 8, 2021, after 41 episodes, Paytas announced she was leaving the show following an on-air dispute with Klein regarding production and creative ownership. Her abrupt departure effectively ended the podcast and led to a prolonged and highly public feud, with both Paytas and Klein exchanging accusations on social media and in subsequent videos. In the aftermath, a private text message exchange between Paytas and Klein was posted on social media, leading to accusations against Paytas of antisemitism, for which she later apologized.
Also in 2020, Paytas began and fronted an Emo pop / Pop-punk band Sadboy2005 that featured Social Repose. The band released an eponymous debut EP album the same year, followed by the EP album "Trigger Warning" in 2021. It also has released five music videos.
In 2021, Paytas expanded her social media presence to the subscription website OnlyFans.
2023–present: ''Just Trish Podcast,'' ''The Eras of Trish Tour'' and acting
On May 23, 2023, Paytas and YouTube star Colleen Ballinger began co-hosting a podcast titled Oversharing. It came to an abrupt end on June 6, 2023, after 3 episodes following Ballinger being accused of grooming her fans. Paytas confirmed the cancellation on July 9, 2023, in a video about the situation. A former fan of Ballinger's revealed she had previously sent him NSFW photos and videos of Paytas from her OnlyFans making fun of her. Paytas said she reached out to Ballinger about the allegations and she denied them.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. 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 August 2025, Just Trish attracted a total of approximately 145 million YouTube views through across 200 episodes, making it one of the most successful projects of Paytas' career.
In 2024, Paytas signed with the Creative Artists Agency as her talent agent.
On December 7, 2024, Paytas made a surprise guest appearance on an episode of Saturday Night Live hosted by Paul Mescal. She appeared as herself in a sketch that parodied the annual Spotify Wrapped feature.
Shortly after, on December 10, 2024, she starred in a live holiday show at the Beacon Theater titled Trisha Paytas: Trishmas Live.
In February 2025, Paytas starred in Trisha Paytas' Big Broadway Dream, a one-night benefit show at the St. James Theater, featuring performances from Sutton Foster, Ben Platt, Joy Woods, and Rachel Zegler.
In 2025, Paytas embarked on her first-ever North American tour, titled The Eras of Trish Tour. The tour ran from February to June and spanned over 30 cities across the United States and Canada. The show was described as a live, multimedia retrospective celebrating the various "eras" of her long and varied internet career. The performances included live singing, costume changes, and video montages of her most viral moments, from her early YouTube videos and music to her mukbangs and podcasting career. Reviews noted the highly engaged and enthusiastic reception from her fanbase, describing the show as a mix of musical numbers, personal anecdotes, and comedy.
In October 2025, it was announced that Paytas would make her Broadway debut in the second revival of Beetlejuice in the role of "Maxine Dean" from November 4–23. Later that month, it was announced that Paytas would appear in season three of the HBO teen drama series Euphoria.
In January 2026, Paytas announced she was seeking to run for the House of Representatives in California for the 2026 [United States House of Representatives elections|2026 election]. She resides in California's 26th congressional district and it is unknown which party she will be running under.
Personal life
Paytas has had several public long-term relationships. She dated American YouTuber Jason Nash from 2017 to 2019. In early 2020, she started dating Israeli artist Moses Hacmon. The pair got engaged on December 18, 2020, and married on December 11, 2021.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, but gave birth to a daughter.
In November 2023, Paytas announced she was expecting their second child and gave birth to a daughter. On March 6, 2025, Paytas announced on Instagram that she was pregnant with her third child and gave birth to a son.
Paytas has identified with different religious beliefs throughout her life, mainly Roman Catholicism.
Paytas has suffered from mental health problems, having been diagnosed with borderline personality disorder. In an interview on the H3 Podcast, Paytas stated she used to have substance abuse problems and was once hospitalized after a methamphetamine overdose. Paytas has stated that her main addiction was to prescription pills.
In October 2019, Paytas received criticism for coming out as a "trans man" online, due to having previously self-identified as a chicken nugget, ostensibly in a facetious manner. In a March 2021 interview with Vulture, she clarified that she identifies as nonbinary, and said that when she came out as transgender in 2019, she "didn't have the vocabulary to describe it at the time". 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. She has since updated her pronouns to she/''they''.
Reincarnation meme
Paytas's pregnancies and births have been the subject of a recurring internet meme which suggests her children are the reincarnations of prominent public figures who died around the time of their births. The phenomenon began in September 2022, when the birth of her first daughter occurred days after the death of Queen Elizabeth II, sparking viral jokes about the connection.The meme continued and evolved with her subsequent pregnancies. Following King Charles III's cancer diagnosis in February 2024, social media users humorously predicted he would be reincarnated as her second child. The theory resurfaced again in April 2025 after the death of Pope Francis, with new memes suggesting he would be reincarnated as her then-unborn third child. This expansion of the joke beyond the British monarchy prompted Paytas to address it on her podcast, asking, "Is it just any influential person that dies gets to come reincarnated as my baby?". The meme culminated in July 2025, when musician Ozzy Osbourne died on the same day that Paytas, in her first podcast episode since giving birth, officially announced her son's name.
Paytas has publicly addressed the conspiracy theories, telling Rolling Stone that while she understands it's a joke, she has found the experience upsetting and feels it has sometimes "ruined" the announcement of her children's births.
Filmography
| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
| 2006 | Character Fantasy | Sexy ninja | 1 episode |
| 2006 | The Tyra Banks Show | Self; guest | 1 episode |
| 2006 | The Greg Behrendt Show | Self; correspondent | 13 episodes |
| 2007 | The Next Best Thing | Self; contestant | 1 episode |
| 2007 | Who Wants To Be A Superhero? season 2 | Self; contestant | 7th place, 4 episodes |
| 2008 | The Price Is Right | Self; contestant | 1 episode |
| 2010 | My Strange Addiction | Self; tanning addict | 1 episode |
| 2010 | Supreme Court of Comedy | Self; defendant | 1 episode |
| 2010 | Tim and Eric Awesome Show, Great Job! | Eric's date | 1 episode |
| 2010 | The Dish | Self; guest | 1 episode |
| 2010 | The Ultimate Man | Tracy | 3 episodes |
| 2010 | Scream Awards 2010 | Self; dancer | TV special |
| 2011 | Ellen | Self; speed talker | 1 episode |
| 2011 | The 1st Annual Critics Choice Television Awards | Self; body shots girl | TV special |
| 2011 | Jackass Parody: Inception | Steve-O's Fantasy girl | TV special |
| 2011 | E! 50 Super Epic TV Moments | Self; commentator | TV special |
| 2011 | The Car Show | Modified girl | 1 episode |
| 2011 | Conan | Football player | 1 episode |
| 2011 | Modern Family | Plastic surgery girl | 1 episode |
| 2011 | ShaneDawsonTV | Stripper | Web series, 1 episode |
| 2011 | Who Wants To Date A Comedian? | Self; contestant | 1 episode |
| 2011 | Judge Alex | Self; defendant | 1 episode |
| 2011 | The Millionaire Matchmaker | Self; contestant | 1 episode |
| 2012 | Jane By Design | Extra | Uncredited, 1 episode |
| 2012 | 1000 Ways To Die | Self; former Hooters waitress | 1 episode |
| 2012 | Inside Edition | Self; guest | 1 episode |
| 2012 | America's Got Talent season 7 | Self; contestant | 1 episode |
| 2012 | Tosh.0 | Self; cameo | 1 episode |
| 2013 | Dr. Phil | Self; guest | 1 episode |
| 2013 | Nathan For You | Self; guest | 1 episode |
| 2013 | Walk of Shame | Sally | 1 episode |
| 2013 | Family Tree | Extreme character | 1 episode |
| 2013 | Double Divas | Self; model | 1 episode |
| 2013 | Guinness World Records Gone Wild | Self; speed talker | 1 episode |
| 2013 | Good Morning America | Self; guest commentator | 1 episode |
| 2013 | Today | Self; guest Weather reporter | 1 episode |
| 2014 | Ridiculousness | Self; cameo | 1 episode |
| 2014 | Celebrity Name Game | Self; contestant | 1 episode |
| 2014 | Dirty Mind Challenge | Self; contestant | 1 episode |
| 2016 | To Tell The Truth | Self; contestant | 1 episode |
| 2017 | My Five Minutes Live | Self; cameo | Documentary |
| 2017 | This Is Everything: Gigi Gorgeous | Self; feature | Documentary |
| 2017 | Celebrity Big Brother UK series 20 | Self; housemate | 13th place, 11 episodes |
| 2018 | Shane | Self; recurring cast member | Web series, 3 episodes |
| 2018 | The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills | Self; cameo | 1 episode |
| 2018 | Access Hollywood | Self; guest | 1 episode |
| 2019 | The Reality House | Self; cast member | Web series, 2 episodes |
| 2019 | David's Vlog | Self; guest | Web series, 2 episodes |
| 2019 | The Doctors | Self; guest | 1 episode |
| 2019 | Blood Queens | Marmee Trish | 1 episode |
| 2020-2024 | Redbar | Self; guest | Web series, 8 episodes |
| 2021 | TheQuartering | Self; guest | Web series, 1 episode |
| 2021 | InformOverload | Self; guest | Web series, 2 episodes |
| 2024 | Feed Me | Self; feature | Documentary |
| 2024 | Weekend Breakfast | Self; guest | 1 episode |
| 2024 | Saturday Night Live Season 50 | Self; Spotify Wrapped host | 1 episode |
| 2025 | Watch What Happens Live with Andy Cohen | Self; bartender | 1 episode |
| 2026 | Euphoria | TBA | Post-production |
| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
| 2025 | Trisha Paytas' Big Broadway Dream | Self | St. James Theatre, Broadway, 1 night |
| 2025 | Beetlejuice | Maxine Dean | Palace Theatre, Broadway, November 4-23 |
Discography
All song credits adapted from Spotify and Apple Music.As lead artist
Singles
Extended plays
Studio albums
Published works
- Paytas, Trisha. The History of My Insanity CreateSpace, 2013.
- Paytas, Trisha. Tease CreateSpace, 2014.
- Paytas, Trisha. Curvy and Loving it CreateSpace, 2014.
- Paytas, Trisha. Trisha's 31 Nights of Fright CreateSpace, 2014.
- Paytas, Trisha. 101 Poems About My Ex-Boyfriend Independent, 2019.