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THE RUNDOWN:
- YouTube influencer Trisha Paytas started their career in 2007, and they’ve been causing controversy for almost 20 years
- Paytas has recently been back in the news after the Trisha Paytas Baby Theory went viral following the birth of their child, Aquaman Moses
- The 37-year-old influencer‘s career has been chequered with controversies and cancellations. We’re rounding up everything you need to know below.
The internet recently lost its collective mind over the Trisha Paytas Baby Theory—a wonderfully bizarre TikTok rumour suggesting that influencer Trisha Paytas’s children are reincarnations of famous world leaders, including Queen Elizabeth II and the late Pope Francis.
Fans were dismayed to discover that Paytas’s third baby, named Aquaman Moses, wasn’t the reincarnation of US President Donald Trump (who is very much alive, FYI) but instead possibly Black Sabbath legend Ozzy Osbourne, who passed away just as Paytas was giving birth.
If you’ve somehow missed this viral saga and find yourself thinking, “Who on earth is Trisha Paytas?” don’t worry—you’re in for a treat. Here’s everything you need to know about one of social media’s most chaotic, controversial, and enduring stars.
Related: Trisha Paytas Baby Theory Is Internet Conspiracy At Its Wildest
Who Is Trisha Paytas?
say what you want about trisha paytas but she outlasted every other OG youtuber pic.twitter.com/k3mrOCLaDP
— momo
(@amazingmomo_) April 21, 2023
Trisha Paytas skyrocketed to internet fame (and yes, plenty of infamy) during YouTube’s wild-west era of the late 2000s and early 2010s. The star, who proudly came out as non-binary in March 2021, launched their channel way back in 2007, kicking things off with a chaotic smorgasbord of content: think “world’s fastest talker” challenges, questionable celebrity impressions, and charmingly low-fi beauty hauls. This early era set the stage for Paytas’s brand of glorious chaos, where glossy makeup tutorials lived side-by-side with pizza-and-spaghetti mukbangs shot in velour tracksuits. In short, it was (and still is) peak internet.
Trisha Paytas’s Eminem Connection
Paytas’s major breakthrough moment came courtesy of a cameo in Eminem’s 2009 “We Made You” music video. Sporting denim cut-offs and a bright red midriff top, they spoofed Jessica Simpson fresh from The Dukes of Hazzard. Fast-forward to 2024, when Gen Z stumbled across this gem via X account @popculture2000s, and it promptly sparked a viral TikTok dance craze.
eminem was such a menace bc how you open a song with ‘jessica simpson, sing the chorus’ and trisha paytas appears
https://t.co/65Y9VHbDnW— 2000s (@PopCulture2000s) January 17, 2023
Never one for modesty, Paytas gleefully commented on the thread, “I will always be an icon thanks to this music videos [sic]. 14 years later and it’s still going viral.”
Paytas still credits Eminem for kickstarting their fame, telling The Sun back in 2014, “I totally owe Eminem for giving me my start, it opened up so many doors for me when I was 20.”
Trisha Paytas’s Viral Baby Names
Trisha Paytas’s children have become internet sensations largely due to their fabulously unique names. In 2022, Paytas proudly introduced their daughter Malibu Barbie, followed by her sister Elvis in 2024. Then, this July, Aquaman Moses joined their delightfully eccentric family, securing yet another viral moment for the internet’s favourite pop-culture parent.
Trisha Paytas ‘What Do You Meme?’ Edition
In 2024, party-game company Relatable tapped Paytas to bring Gen Z exactly what they didn’t know they needed—a card game celebrating Paytas’s unforgettable internet moments. Featuring 15 Image Cards and 10 Caption Cards inspired by their viral antics, the game quickly became a must-have.
“I’ve gone viral more times than I can count, so teaming up with a fun and trendy company like Relatable made perfect sense to me,” Paytas explained enthusiastically. “This game lets me turn all my wild moments into a hilarious experience my fans can enjoy. It’s a fun way to relive some of my craziest times, and I can’t wait for everyone to dive in and play!” And yes, you can totally grab your own deck on Amazon.
A Quick Tour Through Trisha Paytas’s Dating History
Before settling down, Trisha had quite the dating resume. From 2014 to 2016, they were linked with choreographer Sean van der Wilt. Then, from 2017-2019, comedian Jason Nash was their main squeeze. Reflecting candidly on their breakup with Nash, Paytas shared with Entertainment Tonight: “He is like someone who actually claimed me as a girlfriend. I feel like all my other boyfriends, like, didn’t, and so this one was hard. Because genuinely, day in and day out, we were 24 hours a day for like 365 days. Never apart. It’s hard. That’s like a drug.”
Paytas has also been briefly linked to American singer, rapper and former teen pop singer Aaron Carter and actor Crispin Glover.
Who Is Trisha Paytas’s Husband?
Trisha Paytas met their husband, artist Moses Hacmon, in early 2020 during a tongue‑in‑cheek “Bachelorette”-style segment on the H3 Podcast, hosted by Moses’s sister Hila and brother‑in‑law Ethan Klein. What began as a jokey setup soon blossomed into something real during the COVID‑19 lockdown, when quarantining together deepened their connection After less than a year of dating, Moses proposed in December 2020—surprisingly, during a cosplay Aladdin‑and‑Jasmine moment in the sand dunes—and Paytas said yes in fairy‑tale style They wed on 11 December 2021 at the Four Seasons in Westlake Village (with a second beach ceremony in Maui), in a celebration that even saw Paytas walk down the aisle in black—because why follow tradition? The couple has since welcomed three children—Malibu Barbie, Elvis, and Aquaman Moses—and Paytas gushes about their partner. In a 2024 interview with People, they shared that Moses was “the first person who didn’t try to dim my sparkle.”
Trisha Paytas Controversy 101: The Recap
It hasn’t all been mukbangs and velour tracksuits, though. Paytas has found themselves at the centre of several major internet storms, alongside fellow controversial influencers like Jeffree Star. They’ve openly admitted to “trolling the internet” for financial reasons, once explaining, “I was broke… I thought, ‘How can I make a lot of money? Let me just, you know, troll the internet and make money in any way that I possibly could.’” Cue both views and outrage in equal measure.
The Infamous F*** The Police N.W.A Cover Incident
Back in 2011, Paytas faced backlash for using a racial slur during a cover of N.W.A’s “F*** Tha Police.” They initially defended it as “edgy humour,” but the issue resurfaced again in 2020 when TikToker Dixie D’Amelio danced to Paytas’s controversial audio clip, prompting Paytas to denounce their earlier choice of words publicly.
Cultural Appropriation Moments
Paytas has repeatedly come under fire for cultural appropriation and racial stereotyping. Throughout the early 2010s, they created problematic characters like Trishii, a Japanese pop star with exaggerated makeup and cartoonish accents. Their 2011 video “I Love Japan” triggered significant backlash, which Paytas brushed off as “parody.” Even in 2020, Paytas courted controversy with an Egyptian-inspired costume, captioning it: “Will prob delete. Prob offensive”—begging the obvious question: why even post it?
Trisha Paytas’s History With Anti-Semitism
During their time co-hosting the podcast Frenemies with Ethan Klein, Paytas was criticised heavily for antisemitic comments. In one infamous 2020 episode, they referred to an Israeli-inspired meal as a “Jew lunch,” immediately condemned by Klein. The same year, Paytas recreated the Nazi-themed “Springtime for Hitler” from The Producers, complete with a Nazi salute, labelling it “satire.” When a dispute with Klein erupted publicly, he leaked texts revealing Paytas using harmful stereotypes.
Related: Brooke Schofield Has Levelled Explosive Allegations Against Ex Clinton Kane
LGBTQI+ Identity Controversy
Paytas has been frequently criticised for sensationalising marginalised identities. In 2019, they came out as a transgender man, calling themselves a “drag queen” and discussing attraction to gay men, causing LGBTQI+ groups to accuse them of trivialising trans experiences. Drag queen Vicky Vox notably tweeted: “Using gender identity as clickbait is a privileged act of violence.”
Paytas fiercely defended themselves, stating: “I’ve been with a gender identity therapy specialist for the past 6 months because I’ve hated who I was since I was 3. Think before you tweet, THIS is more harmful than me sharing my story.”
Trisha Paytas’s Mental Health: Dissociative Identity And Borderline Personality Disorder
In 2020, Paytas uploaded a controversial video titled “Meet My Alters,” mocking dissociative identity disorder (DID) and drawing heavy backlash. They later clarified their diagnosis as borderline personality disorder (BPD), a condition described by the National Institute of Health as significantly impacting emotional regulation and sense of self. It is often associated with trauma. In 2023, Paytas hosted a candid conversation about BPD with Brooke Schofield, the controversial host of the podcast CANCELLED, on their show Just Trish, where the two discussed their ongoing mental health journeys.
Trisha Paytas was born on May 8, 1998 making them 37 years old and a Taurus.
Trisha Paytas has confirmed that they have Borderline Personality Disorder.
Trisha Paytas gave birth to a baby girl named Malibu Barbie in 2022 who is almost certainly not the reincarnation of Queen Elizabeth II.
The post Who Is Trisha Paytas? We Unpack Almost 20 Years Of Internet Chaos appeared first on ELLE.
