Background and career
Trisha Paytas (; born May 8, 1988) is an American media personality, actress, singer, and YouTuber. She is known for her multifaceted career on YouTube, marked by numerous online controversies and feuds. Her content spans numerous genres, including lifestyle vlogs and mukbangs. As a podcaster, Paytas co-hosted the popular but short-lived podcast Frenemies (2020–2021) with Ethan Klein and later launched her own show, Just Trish (2023–present). Additionally, she has independently released several albums and singles and appeared in various screen roles, music videos, and stage productions.
Paytas was born on May 8, 1988, to parents Frank and Lenna Paytas in Riverside, California and is of Greek, Hungarian, and Moroccan ancestry. Paytas moved 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.
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, The 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.
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. 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.
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 2021, Paytas formed and fronted the emo pop/pop-punk band Sadboy2005, which featured Social Repose. The band released an eponymous debut EP album the same year, followed by the EP album "Trigger Warning" in 2021. They have also released five music videos. In 2021, Paytas began making content on OnlyFans, a subscription service site.
In May 2023, Paytas and internet comedian Colleen Ballinger began co-hosting their podcast, Oversharing with Colleen & Trish. On July 9, 2023, after only three episodes, Paytas announced the podcast had been cancelled amidst grooming allegations brought against Ballinger and the surfacing of leaked messages in which Ballinger sent videos from Paytas's OnlyFans to fans making fun of her. Paytas said she reached out to Ballinger about the allegations, and she denied them. In July, Paytas began hosting her second 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 viewers of YouTube. As of August 2025, Just Trish attracted a total of approximately 145 million YouTube views across 200 episodes, making it one of the most successful projects of Paytas's career. In 2024, Paytas signed with the Creative Artists Agency (CAA) 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. That year, 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, 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. On March 30, MGM Resorts International announced the Trisha Paytas & Tana Mongeau: Viva Las Vegas live show would be coming to The Chelsea at The Cosmopolitan of Las Vegas hotel in June.
