Tragic Details About Social Media Star Tana Mongeau
The following article includes mention of child abuse, suicide, mental health issues, and addiction.
YouTuber Tana Mongeau has had one wild ride of a life. She grew up with not a lot of money on the outskirts of Las Vegas, where she watched YouTubers like Shane Dawson, whom she would one day collaborate with. In her teens, she started posting Storytime videos about her outlandish life with often exaggerated titles like "DRUG DEALING UBER DRIVER" and "I got CAUGHT having sex on a Ferris Wheel ... and more HORRIBLY embarrassing stories." Her riveting — and often raunchy — tales and intriguing storytelling style earned her over 5 million subscribers and over 900 million views. She regularly shared her personal and unfiltered thoughts and feelings with her viewers, a kind of honesty that YouTube was eager for. With millions of eyes on her, Mongeau has expanded from storytimes to music, reality TV, award shows, and beyond.
Part of what makes Mongeau's Storytime videos so successful is her ability to talk about such intense and abnormal experiences and then laugh them off. But that doesn't mean her life is without pain. In recent years, Mongeau has started to be more honest with her fans about her emotions rather than wave her difficult experiences off as a joke, welcoming a new era of Mongeau content. From her complicated childhood to her very public breakups, the over-the-top Mongeau is a person just like everybody else.
Tana Mongeau 'wants nothing to do with' her parents
At the start of 2018, Tana Mongeau dropped the 32-minute video, "finally opening up about growing up/my insane dad." The video was a recounting of her mom, Rebecca's, parenting and her dad, Rick's, embarrassing behavior. "This is definitely a very light-hearted and comedic video," she began. "I definitely do need to make a dark ... video about my childhood." She shared stories about her parents' erratic choices, her father cussing at strangers, and the persistent dysfunction in her home.
When she was in her early teens, Mongeau started spending most of her time with her best friend, Imari Stuart's, family to escape the chaos. Because of their inattentiveness and unreliability, the Vegas native was always taking care of herself, so much so that she had to drop out of high school to do so. Mongeau has credited her best friend's family for saving her life and said she claimed them as her chosen parents.
In her holiday episode for "MTV No Filer: Tana Turns 21," Mongeau explained that she had no interest in going home for Christmas because her parents were unfit for parenting: "[I] just want nothing to do with them." In 2023, the social media star compared her childhood to Jenette McCurdy's memoir "I'm Glad My Mom Died." Despite a loveless upbringing, though, she holds out for the possibility of connection. "You'll always have that irrational hope that [my parents] could one day be people and apologize," she admitted on the "H3 Podcast."
Her parents sued her for defamation
After her MTV series aired in 2019, Mongeau's parents decided to file a lawsuit against her for defamation. The "Hefner" singer talked about a wide array of topics on the show, including parts of her upbringing that weren't flattering to the Mongeaus, so they took their daughter to court, a decision that marked the end of any cordiality.
The first time Mongeau spoke about it publicly was on Ethan and Hila Klein's H3 podcast. She told the Kleins that her parents claimed her words could cause the couple a loss of income, but Mongeau saw the suit as a cash grab. During the court proceedings (which were all on Zoom due to the 2020 quarantine), the then 22-year-old had to go down an itemized list of everything she'd publicly said about her parents and defend each statement. To avoid years of public trials, Mongeau settled and paid her parents hundreds of thousands of dollars. Now when talking about her parents she speaks in idioms and vagaries so they can't go after her for slander. The Kleins had to often fill in the blanks for her during their interview.
At the time of the interview, Mongeau confirmed the three of them no longer speak, "I don't wanna talk to them ever again, I don't wanna feel that way ever again, I don't wanna watch them [say] they were good parents." The content creator shared she doesn't regret the life she had but does sometimes wish things had been different.
She had a serious stalker situation since childhood
Unfortunately, most people in the public eye attract at least one stalker. It turns out that Tana Mongeau's alleged stalker knew her before fame. In her 2015 video, "MY CREEPY STALKER STORY," a 17-year-old Mongeau explained that she had a stalker since second grade. She recounted how he followed her in real life and online and declared his love for her throughout grade school. Later that year, Mongeau announced she had been able to get her stalker arrested, but he resurfaced the next year, allegedly broke into her house, and left polaroids he took of her sleeping. She was also convinced he tapped her phone as her apps acted suspiciously and disturbing photos would appear in her gallery.
Mongeau posted an update in 2016 and responded to viewer criticism about her choice not to share his name, "I live my everyday life terrified of the capabilities of this human being ... I know that if he wanted to kill me he would be able to do it tracelessly." She admitted her fear had escalated to the point where she considered hiring a bodyguard.
In 2021, Mongeau updated fans that her stalker had returned. When in Miami, her phone had gone missing and was used to harass her ex. Suddenly, her phone reappeared in one of her purses along with other strange and disturbing happenings. Guarded by security, she finally chose to reveal his name, William. She finished the video saying she needed guards to live with her forever.
Her ex Bella Thorne made a diss track about her
Tana Mongeau has been open about her dating history online, but one of her most well-known relationships was with Disney Channel alumni Bella Thorne. After meeting in 2017, the two quickly became an item, posting romantic photos and being seen out in public more and more. Over a year into their relationship, the duo decided to turn into a throuple with Derek Ryan Smith, known by his fans as the rapper Mod Sun.
Thorne and Mongeau split in February 2019, and then the Disney actor and Smith broke up two months later. Shortly after, Smith and Mongeau decided to date each other alone, which the "Shake It Up" star did not take kindly to. Thorne tweeted (via OK!), "Tana and I are no longer good. She broke the girl code I'm over it." This started a long back and forth on X, formerly known as Twitter, where Thorne accused the influencer of using her for clout. In June 2019, during her engagement to fellow YouTuber Jake Paul, Mongeau admitted she wanted the actress to take her back. Thorne also infamously posted a crying photo in reaction to their engagement.
In December 2020, Thorne dropped the song "Stupid F***ing B***h." Fans quickly figured out it was a diss track about Mongeau and the song reignited their online feuding, with Mongeau posting a video reacting to the track. But in 2023, Mongeau claimed that the two have since let bygones be bygones and have moved on.
She had a very public breakup with Jake Paul
After her breakups with Bella Thorne and Derek Ryan Smith, 20-year-old Mongeau started locking lips with YouTuber and boxer Jake Paul, going public with their relationship in April 2019. Paul is known for his many controversial videos and drama-filled history, and his time with Mongeau is no exception.
Quickly after beginning to date, Paul asked Mongeau to marry him at her 21st birthday party that June. The two exchanged vows in July 2019 in a $500,000 Las Vegas wedding that was filmed for Mongeau's MTV show. Fans immediately speculated that the marriage was faked for publicity. Mongeau responded, "i don't care if u think my wedding's real ... i don't care if u think Jake and I don't love each other." Soon after, In Touch Weekly reported that their wedding was not legally binding. Only a month later, Paul was photographed with one of his ex-girlfriends, which prompted Mongeau's confession that her mental health had been declining since the wedding. Still, the two defended their relationship until its official conclusion in January 2020.
Initially, the breakup seemed mutual and respectful, but in 2021, Paul referred to his ex as a "sloth" in a TikTok video (via Seventeen). Mongeau clapped back with minor threats and shared her shock over his statement. Both YouTubers have confirmed and expressed regret over their fake marriage. But even though their marriage was fake, Mongeau shared she was madly in love with Paul.
She was subjected to inappropriate comments from the Vlog Squad
David Dobrik's Vlog Squad once entertained almost 20 million subscribers and accumulated over seven billion views. The Vlog Squad was a group of rotating regulars on Dobrik's channel, which once included then-teenaged Tana Mongeau. The group was well beloved until people started paying attention to the inappropriate behaviors exhibited, including bullying and harassment of the squad members. Unfortunately, Mongeau was one of those targeted.
The biggest perpetrators in the group were Dobrik and his comedic partner and Trisha Paytas's then-boyfriend, Jason Nash. In several vlogs, Dobrik and mid-40s Nash would make sexual comments about Mongeau. In one video (via a YouTube compilation), Nash begs Dobrik to help him get sexually involved with Mongeau, "If you can get Tana to have a threesome with me and Trisha ... I'll do anything."
The men often put the then-19-year-old on the spot and pushed her even when she was in a relationship. One time, Nash and Mongeau were on a fake date for a YouTube video, and the two ended up in a store dressing room together. Off camera, Nash kissed her, which Mongeau was not expecting, and vlogged her response, "He just kissed me in the dressing room. I don't know what's going on. I really thought this was a fake date."
Mongeau dealt with a drug addiction
Tana Mongeau has been honest in her past about her recreational drug use, but it was a surprise to fans to learn she had been battling an addiction to the prescription drug, Xanax. In 2020 after the release of her MTV reality show, "Tana Turns 21," Mongeau posted a tell-all video about her experience and why 2019 was one of the worst years of her life.
"I was definitely like at the point of taking Xanax where it's not that I was trying to like overdose ... that drug has literally like killed people I love," she opened up. "I was definitely just like taking enough to where ... I wasn't trying to kill myself but I definitely didn't care if I died." She recalled how she started smoking weed when she was 13 and how she used it as a numbing agent, which led to her trying and using different substances as well. It wasn't until she turned 20 that she considered this behavior to be unhealthy for her. She also revealed she was smoking so much tobacco that her lungs started to suffer.
Nearly three-quarters into production on the show, Mongeau said that she knew if she didn't change her life choices she was going to die, "I'm the only person that can change my life." Since then, Mongeau has gone through periods of sobriety. On the "Zach Sang Show" in April 2023, she explained her disinterest in becoming "dependent on anything," but doesn't want to give up substances completely.
Her relationship with Chris Miles was toxic
In 2021, Tana Mongeau dated and fell out with rapper Chris Miles. "I romanticized toxicity for so long," she said of the relationship. "Let's give it up for my ex, Chris Miles, because there's not many people who can out toxic Tana's toxic."
The couple was hot and cold for months. In October 2021, the "Facetime" singer posted a since-deleted TikTok (via Instagram) with a cryptic caption and an accompanying Steve Harvey audio about men showing you their true selves. But fans were even more confused after Miles posted the response, "someone gotta take her phone away when she's drunk" while in bed with her. Soon after, both of them took to X. Mongeau posted a series of heartbroken tweets and called her relationship unhealthy. Miles took a different approach and posted on his Instagram story "hmu im single." Mongeau shared a screenshot of the post (via Centennial World) with the caption, "the definition of cruelty. u never loved me. no more toxic public s*** for me ever again."
Another ex of Mongeau's, rapper Lil Xan, went on to collaborate with Miles on the 2021 song, "Miss Me," inspired by their romances with the influencer. In a paparazzi interview, Miles said he had love for his ex-girlfriend but accused her of promiscuity. He also covered up the tattoo Mongeau gave him of her initials with a bullet to symbolize her as a bullet he dodged.
She was stalked again
In 2023, Tana Mongeau revealed she had a new stalker. She recounted on a 2023 episode of the "Cancelled with Tana Mongeau" podcast how he started harassing her and best friend, Ashley Schwan, on Only Fans in 2019 and had even sent the duo a photo of him standing outside of their house with a knife. When she moved multiple times after, the terrifying stranger always found her new address and left her gifts and copious love notes. On one occasion, the stalker sent her a food she had mentioned craving online.
Mongeau reported that the police dismissed her concerns and blamed her career as a content creator for these experiences. She was also unable to get a restraining order since he didn't have a permanent address. Similar to her previous stalker, this man would send Mongeau unsolicited photos and refer to her as his girlfriend or lover, but Mongeau explained that she found this one a lot scarier than William, especially since the relationship is parasocial. She told Trisha Paytas on the "Just Trish" podcast, "I feel like the stalker I have right now makes my first stalker really look like a cakewalk." She started paying $30,000 for security and hired a private investigator. She stopped posting her location on social media as well, but he still managed to find her out in the world or at home.
She has been open about having depression
In multiple videos, Tana Mongeau has confided about her dealings with her mental health. During her messy marriage to Jake Paul, she posted a video that addressed her mental health decline, a decision she found therapeutic. "Making a video like that ... was therapy for me," she told Business Insider in 2020. "That's why I made my YouTube channel, and that's really all I want my YouTube channel to be in 2020."
In May 2020, Mongeau admitted that by the end of the year prior she was at rock bottom and having suicidal thoughts. She shared that she had been bottling up and numbing her feelings for years and attributed a lot of her pain to her abusive and chaotic childhood. In 2019, while filming for MTV, she asked the producers to use her confessionals about her mental health struggles to promote awareness of what suicidal ideation is like, which they ultimately did not do.
For a while, Mongeau feared asking for help because she was afraid people would think she was complaining while having a perfect life. But she got over that hurdle and documented her healing process in a follow-up video. She shared lessons that she had learned, the physical and mental progress she made, and how grateful she was to have put in the work for her mental health; "To film real happiness feels great."
If you or anyone you know may be the victim of child abuse, is in crisis, needs help with mental health issues, or needs help with addiction issues, contact the relevant resources below:
- Contact the Childhelp National Child Abuse Hotline at 1-800-4-A-Child (1-800-422-4453) or contact their live chat services.
- Call or text 988 or chat 988lifeline.org.
- Contact the Crisis Text Line by texting HOME to 741741, call the National Alliance on Mental Illness helpline at 1-800-950-NAMI (6264), or visit the National Institute of Mental Health website.
- Visit the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration website or contact SAMHSA's National Helpline at 1-800-662-HELP (4357).