When I think of influencer, I think of Tana Mongeau. I don’t think anyone encapsulates the concept of “influencer” more than her. Her job is to make YouTube videos. She just does fun/outrageous stuff and talks about her life online. I understand she’s not the most followed creator out there. But, her still sizable success and fame has brought her millions. As an influencer, Mongeau often sees criticism for embodying the negative prototype we tend to associate with influencers. Seemingly lazy, trashy and with no “talent” to profit from, she is part of the reason influencers are so hated. Obviously, Mongeau was under the microscope in the past, and in recent months, countless fans have noticed odd behavior developing. Many fans believe that addiction problems have set in recently.
Humble Beginnings
Tana Mongeau knows trashy all too well. Tana came up in Vegas. She was born on June 24, 1998. Her mother was a homemaker, and her father, a pool cleaner who owned his own business. Her parents had her when they were older. They were a working class family and Tana was their only child. Her mother, a woman with severe social anxiety, rarely left the house. Her father, a Vietnam Vet, was prone to yelling fits in public. She moved frequently throughout her childhood to different areas of Las Vegas. Her parents had a strained relationship and, in Tana’s own words, poor parenting skills. Her relationship with her parents still fluctuates from being bad to non-existent.
She made her first YouTube video in 2015, Hairdresser from Hell, the first of many story-time videos of hers. Mongeau, throughout high school, would casually vlog, slowly gaining a steady following. Her videos often featured her “story times” – funny, exciting retellings of things that happened to her. She quickly became well-known for her storytelling abilities and the extravagance in her life, from meeting celebrities to crazy parties to dating wild hogs. The brand of influencer quickly became interchangeable with Tana’s brand. After a year of posting story time videos, she gained a huge following and could make steady money off the videos she was making. Her and her boyfriend of two years had a public breakup in 2017, with him airing their grievances online. She went on to date Lil Xan and Bella Thorne, beef with Miley Cyrus’ sister, and marry controversial influencer Jake Paul in a public (fake?) ceremony.
The Many Issues of Tana Mongeau
Tana Mongeau has not been a clean, beloved celebrity. Hundreds of thousands of people can’t stand influencers in general, and she fits the bill perfectly, so she is often regarded as trash by them. Her viewers are often skeptical of her past, she has used racial epithets in malicious ways, her convention, TanaCon, was a disaster. She has apologized for these, and other, mistakes she’s made in the past and generally demonstrated herself to be capable of making fun of herself. Her videos are often criticized for being exaggerated. People find her obnoxious or galling. She has been a dependent user of various editing applications, which she freely admits to using, but many claim that the admittance is not enough. She has gotten multiple cosmetic surgeries – this has met the same criticism.
In recent videos, more concern from her fans grows from her behaviour. Weight loss, slurred and rushed speech, non-sensical talk, fidgeting her jaw, sleepiness, itching, etc. The comments of her current videos voice worry. People implore her to leave Los Angeles and find new friends. The comments of her old videos long for “this era” and “this version” of Tana Mongeau. The last video she posted was from six months ago. Before that, she published videos as often as two to three times a month. She has slowly turned her attention towards other platforms, participating more on Twitter and TikTok. She also began a podcast, Cancelled and an Only Fans. On Only Fans, and has begun her own show, Tana Gone Wild. The same concerns from her fans on YouTube found her on her new platforms.
The Future of Tana Mongeau
Tana Mongeau is appealing for her realness. She doesn’t sugarcoat anything and is honest with her public about her flaws and mistakes. She owns up to doing wrong and apologizes when necessary. Her YouTube might be the least lucrative of her ventures and the one which she can be least explicit on. On Only Fans, she can charge people to view her content, unlike YouTube, where she has to rely on advertising (either for her own merchandise or from Google AdSense). On her podcast and Only Fans, her concerning behavior persists.
In the past, Tana Mongeau has been open about her struggles with mental health. It isn’t that unlikely that she might one day talk about whatever struggle she’s currently going through. She might want privacy on the issue, she might not think there’s a problem, or the assumptions of her fans might just be incorrect. She has expanded her brand through her perceived struggle and still managed to keep her unique, Howard Stern-ness about herself regardless.
