Entertainment Hollywood
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ByCassie Daigle/
These days, high-paid streamers, TikTokers, and YouTubers are taking over the world. These Internet personalities have become a huge part of pop culture, so much so that even Billie Eilish had something to say about it at the 2024 People's Choice Awards. "There's some, like, TikTokers here," the singer snarked during the event (via theIndependent). Yes, Billie, there are some TikTokers everywhere these days, most of whom are building multi-million-dollar empires without so much as a college degree.
Just ask Tana Mongeau, who rose to the ranks of content-creating fame after dropping out of high school years ago. The Las Vegas native is one of many insanely popular content creators, boasting millions of followers across her TikTok and YouTube channels. Mongeau's outspoken personality garnered her a massive amount of attention when she started on YouTube nearly a decade ago, sharing stories and anecdotes about her personal life. Outlandish titles like "I Cussed Out My Teacher" and "Hairdresser From Hell?" captured her enough of an audience to skyrocket her to fame before she could even legally drink alcohol.
The YouTube star has become a major celebrity, evolving from high-school dropout to red-carpet attendee at some of Hollywood's hottest events. Her journey hasn't been linear, however, as Mongeau has weathered her fair share of controversies and has a long list of beefs (new and old). Regardless, she played her cards right, as millions of people continue to tune into her even if she's doing something as mundane as drinking lemonade. Here's a look atthe stunning transformation of Tana Mongeau.
Tana Mongeau had a rocky childhood
Tana Mongeau may have a star-studded life nowadays, but her childhood was far from picture-perfect. The Internet star left her hometown behind, along with the dark memories of her parents,Richard and Rebecca. "I grew up in Vegas with two parents who were completely unfit to be parents, and I still in so many ways just want nothing to do with them," she said during Episode 8 of MTV's "Tana Turns 21."Instead, Mongeau prefers to spend holidays with her best friends instead of blood relatives."I don't know where I'm going for Christmas," she said during the special, which premiered in 2019.
Mongeau admitted that she grew up in a rough neighborhood in Las Vegas where the many privileges she indulges in today were a distant reality back then. "It's like I'm the parent of my parents," she said in the episode. It sucks I don't want to be that [I] just want to be the kid."
In 2017, she briefly reconnected with her parents to film their reaction to her music video for "Hefner" in a YouTube video, but she hasn't had the best things to say about them since. In a 2021 interview with "Unfiltered,"the star admitted she credits many of her missteps at the beginning of her career to the lack of direction she had from her parents. "There was no obedience growing up," she revealed. "I was rebelling against my parents like my entire life ... I don't really ever remember getting along with my family."
She developed an addiction to Xanax
Tana Mongeau has dealt with substance abuse in the past, stemming back from when she was 15 years old. The Internet personality got candid in a video posted to her YouTube channel in 2020, sharing obstacles she's endured while balancing her personal life with her celebrity persona.
"Ever since I was 15 years old, I struggled with numbing things out with anything," she revealed, adding that she started smoking weed at just 13 years old. "It wasn't until I was like 20 that I kind of realized, 'Wow, I've like been numbing out everything I felt in the first half of my life.'" Mongeau's tumultuous relationship with her parents caused her to distance herself by using drugs as a way to escape her reality, but it eventually snowballed into a problem.
The YouTuber admitted she's struggled with an unhealthy dependency on Xanax, which picked up when her career started to take off. "I just started hanging out with so many people in Hollywood that are in that crowd," she shared, adding, "Every second I was awake I was doing everything I could to numb everything I was feeling all while still trying to like fix my life in the public eye."
Mongeau credits her former managerJordan Worona for pulling her out of the deep end when she hit what she considered rock bottom in 2019. Eventually, she got sober cold turkey. "I got this apartment in Hollywood, and I woke up day one in it and was like, 'This is the day I'm gonna change my life," she shared.
Mongeau went viral on YouTube
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Tana Mongeau skyrocketed to fame in 2015 after she gained an enormous following on her YouTube channel. But it wasn't singing or dancing that garnered her attention; it was her knack for storytelling.
Mongeau began to post long-form videos on her channel that captured peoples' attention with titles like "I Sexted Someone on Accident" or "Crazy Racist Uber Driver Storytime." It was enough of a zinger for fans to tune in, and she kept them engaged with her famous "story time" segments, which involved her sitting in front of the camera and ranting about some ludicrous thing that happened to her that week. She went on to collaborate with other popular YouTubers like Shane Dawson andCody Ko, which helped take her to the next level.
From gettingcosmetic fillers to learning how to drive, Mongeau has shared just about everything. She even once filmed a dead person in a public bathroom, laughing along with her friend at her discovery. Despite the cringe level at her lack of awareness, viewers continued to flock to her page. As of the time of writing, she boasts over 5 million followers on her YouTube channel and over 8 million followers on her TikTok account, the latter of which she's more active. "I mean I can definitely get a bit clickbaity at times hahaha, but I always try to keep it real," she said in an interview with Fangirlish (via Fandom). "That's just who I am. I don't know why crazy s*** happens to me, I really don't."
She went under the knife
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As it goes with being in the spotlight, it's only a matter of time before fans start questioning whether an A-lister has gotten work done. Tana Mongeau was no different, as fans have often questioned whether or not the star has gotten plastic surgery done since she became famous.
In May 2016, the content creator posted a video titled "I Got A Nose Job?"which featured her post-recovery after getting nose surgery to alleviate her deviated septum. In the video, Mongeau admitted she wanted to correct her problems with sleep apnea and nose bleeds and didn't undergo the procedure for her appearance. Before the surgery, she shared that she could only breathe out of 13% of her nose, which made her feel stuffy all the time. "I was totally fine with my nose before," she shared. "... I would have never ever operated on it had it worked normally," she added.
The Las Vegas native also put an end to rumors about her breasts being fake, tweeting in 2017 (via Life & Style), "I've been getting asked [so much] lately if my boobs [are] fake. And they aren't like THANK U." Mongeau has been open about getting fillers in her face and lips, however, and documented her trip to fellow YouTuber Joanna the Nurse'soffice for injections in a vlog. "I think I'm accrediting lip filler to my Instagram growth," she said in the video," adding, "And to me hooking up with far hotter people, which I also accredit to my Instagram growth."
Mongeau's tumultuous relationship with Bella Thorne
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Tana Mongeau and Bella Thorne started seeing each other in the fall of 2017, after getting cozy at theLife is Beautiful music festival that year in Las Vegas. Mongeau confirmed the news on Snapchat, posting a photo and writing, "Starts dating Bella Thorne," she wrote (via X), adding, "Wakes up with camo nails and a tye dye shirt on."
The pair was open to exploring other connections while seeing each other, and the YouTube star confirmed to the Los Angeles Times at the time that they were in an open relationship. At the time, Thorne was dating the rapper Mod Sun. "I don't think anybody will really understand the bonds that I share with Mod or Tana," Thorne told the Gay Times (per Yahoo! Finance). "Yeah, we joke around about poly, but we aren't in the sense that we don't put a word, a box or label too many things. It is what it is."
Thorne and Mongeau dated throughout 2018, often posting sweet tributes to each other on social media. Their romance ran its course, however, and the two split in February 2019. "I love her forever don't get that twisted. She changed my life forever. Don't really wanna talk on it," Mongeau tweeted at the time.Mongeau quickly moved on to YouTuber Jake Paul, with whom she got engagedjust months after the split. Thorne didn't take the news well, posting a tear-filled selfie to her Finsta account and writing, "When ur ex gets engaged" alongside a ton of crying-face emojis.
She weathered a huge controversy with her failed 'TanaCon'
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Tana Mongeau had a Fyre Festival-like disaster on her hands when she launched TanaCon" in 2018. The Las Vegas native initially got the idea for her own YouTubers convention after the famous annual convention "VidCon" (think Comic-Con but make it YouTube), failed to feature Mongeau as a "featured creator" for their convention in 2018.
Upset over the lack of recognition, she launched her free "TanaCon" event, held at the Marriott Suites in Anaheim, California, not far from where "VidCon" was taking place. The event promised VIP meet-and-greets, with appearances from major YouTube stars Shane Dawson, as well as Mongeau's then-girlfriend Bella Thorne. Due to massively poor management, the event was overrun with an estimated 20,000 people in an event space with a capacity of 5,000. It was called off hours within hours, and refunds were issued.
"I wasted 150 dollars on #tanacon," one user wrote on X (per New York Magazine). "It's one hallway, one big concert room, and no activities. No creators are walking around like promised. We stood outside for 4 hours, just to be treated like animals." Another posted a photo of her VIP gift bag, tweeting, "I paid $70 for a condom.... Thanks, @tanamongeau #TANACON."
Mongeau released an apology video after the event, saying, "The event was oversold and I was wrong for ever, ever condoning that," adding that she put her trust in the wrong business partners and acted out of spite to put on the event on such a fast turn-around.
She scored her own television show
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Tana Mongeau made her television debut in 2019 with the premiere of her MTV series "Tana Turns 21." The reality show followed her and her friends navigating adulthood, newfound fame, and personal relationships leading to Mongeau's 21st birthday. The show ran for two seasons and an additional Christmas special before it was canceled in 2020.
While most YouTubers would be thrilled to have a show in their honor, the "Hefner" singer has mixed emotions about how she was portrayed in the series. Mongeau received backlash once the show aired, with viewers dubbing her tone deaf for her excessive drinking around her friend Trevor Moran, a recovering alcoholic, as well as her constant bickering with her former manager Jordan Worona. But the "Cancelled" star clapped back at the negative comments, claiming she received an unfair edit.
"I was seeing the episodes; I was seeing how MTV was editing me kind of in a way that isn't exactly like how I act on a day-to-day basis," Mongeau said in a YouTube video.The content creator also claimed that she and the cast were given early call times to purposefully make them tired or whisper certain things in their ears to start fights. "We fought a lot on the show," she clarified, adding, " But also a lot of the things that are now edited to look like this major serious fight were sarcastic things we were saying to each other — or it was five minutes of a heated discussion that gets chopped up into two," she added.
Mongeau faked a marriage with YouTuber Jake Paul
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Tana Mongeau and Jake Paul's whirlwind romance was full of twists and turns, and many fans are still racking their brains trying to make sense of it. The two started seeing each other in April 2019, after Internet sleuths discovered the "Cancelled" star was posting from what seemed to be Paul's bed. The two featured one another in several of their respective YouTube videos, referring to their "clout relationship" but calling each other boyfriend and girlfriend. Fans were left wondering if it was a match made in YouTube heaven or simply a ploy to get more followers.
It got even more confusing in June 2019, when Mongeau publicly pleaded with her ex, Bella Thorne, tweeting, "TAKE ME BACK." Just weeks after, Paul bought Mongeau a Mercedes G Wagon and popped the question while celebrating her birthday in Vegas that year. The pair got married the following month in a $500,000 Vegas ceremony that was questioned by everyone in regard to validity. After the wedding, reports confirmed that the pair had not obtained a Nevada marriage certificate before the nuptials.
The two went on to be in an open "marriage" for about six months before splitting in January of 2019. Paul talked about the controversial wedding in aninterview withJon Youshaei, saying, "I literallygot fake married to Tana and like sold it like it was 100% real." As for Mongeau, she admittedon "The George Janko Show" that "If there were no cameras, would there be a wedding? No."
She started her own podcast
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Tana Mongeau took her career to the next level in the summer of 2021 when she launched her own podcast. The YouTuber dubbed her new show "Cancelled," working alongside her manager, David Weintraub, and The Paragon Collective to give her fans more much-anticipated content.
"Cancelled"features weekly episodes with Mongeau taking on pop-culture stories and interviewing high-profile guests while still keeping in tune with the storytelling that attracted her fanbase in the first place. She's interviewed stars such as Josh Peck amid the controversy concerning Nickelodeon's tainted reputation, singers like Jelly Roll, and fellow YouTubers like Austin McBroom and Tara Yummy.
Mongeau eventually brought on her long-time friend Brooke Schofield to join as her co-host, an inspiring actor who moved to Los Angeles to pursue a career in the industry. She ultimately met Mongeau along the way while working in restaurants to supplement her income and was invited to join the "Cancelled" podcast.
She hard launched her relationship with a Hawaiian surfer
Tana Mongeau took the Internet by storm when she hard-launched her relationship with her Hawaiian boyfriend on her Instagramin 2023. Posing next to a giant waterfall surrounded by lush forest, the content creator shared a sweet photo of herself kissing her man alongside the caption, "Happiness check!" Not much is known about Makoa other than that he appears to live on the island of Oahu, where Mongeau's bestie and fellow influencer Amber Mozo also lives.
Mongeau has posted several PDA-filled shots of her alongside Makoa to her social media accounts, featuring the two smooching in the ocean waves or attending the Coachella music festival. She's also taken several photographs of Makoa practicing surfing as well as featured him in many of her TikTok videos.
She spoke about meeting Makoa during an episode of her "Cancelled"podcast, admitting that while it was fast and unexpected, it unfolded in a healthy way. "I went to Hawaii because I was burnt out," she explained, adding that the Aloha state is her go-to when her life gets stressful. "I texted Amber, and I was like, 'Bring me a boyfriend,'" she said, admitting that she meant it as a joke. Eventually, Mozo brought along her boyfriend's best friend, who happened to be a perfect fit for Mongeau. The "Cancelled" host suffered a broken toe during the trip, while Makoa helped nurse her back to health. "We've ever so literally been inseparable since," Mongeau shared.
Tana Mongeau is splitting her time between Los Angeles and Hawaii
Tana Mongeau is making long-distance work with her boyfriend. Ever since she debuted Makoa on her social media in 2023, the influencer has spent an increasing amount of time in Hawaii.
It's a full-circle moment for Mongeau, who has had dreams of moving to the islands for years. In 2019, she posted an Instagram photo of herself at the North Shore with the caption: "Mark my words I'm moving to Hawaii at some point." It seems that dream has come true, as Mongeau seems to be splitting her time between her home in Los Angeles and her new home in Hawaii.Mongeau previously purchased a sprawling estate in Los Angeles that was previously owned by fellow Internet personality David Dobrick. She bought the $2.5 million home in 2021, joking that Dobrick had become her "landlord."
The YouTuber alluded to her long-distance relationship in 2024 when she posted a series of Instagram photos of herself alongside Makoa and her friends enjoying the sights of Kauai. "Cries in Los Angeles," she wrote sarcastically alongside one shot that featured her and Makoa overlooking a mountainous landscape. Fans love the Aloha vibes for Mongeau, with one viewer writing, "She's in her island era." Another compared Makoa to a modern-day biblical figure, writing, "You found your Moses," alongside a teary-eyed emoji.
As for Makoa, he keeps a much lower profile than his girlfriend. As of the time of writing, his social media accounts remain private.
