14-year-old influencer Lil Tay was involved in a bizarre fake death scandal this week – which marked a wild twist to an already tragic story that was filled with rumors of exploitation and allegations of abuse.
Lil Tay, whose real name is Tay Tian, was skyrocketed into the spotlight when she was just nine years old, after she began posting a series of vulgar videos online, which showed her using the N-word and getting into fights with strangers.
She was hailed as one of the internet’s biggest rising stars in 2017, and quickly racked up millions of followers – but her bizarre clips left some people on the web concerned for her wellbeing.
Soon, rumors began to swirl that she was being forced to partake in the videos by her family, which were only fueled when footage that seemingly showed her then-16-year-old brother, Jason Tian, coaching her on what to say made its way around the web.
Lil Tay sparked more concern in July 2018, when she shared a chilling message asking for help to her Instagram Stories, only to suddenly erase all of her videos hours later.
Four months later, an anonymous person started sharing harrowing posts to her account in which they claimed that her ‘abusive’ dad, Chris Hope, was trying to take her away from her mother.
Chris denied the allegations, claiming that he was actually protecting her. He insisted that he was trying to ‘stop things that he felt were dangerous to her physical and mental health and to her future’ and separate her from people who were motivated by ‘the possibility of making money off of her.’
Then, three years later, her brother issued a desperate plea for help through a GoFundMe page, in which he claimed that Lil Tay was ‘fighting for her life, future and freedom’ after being ‘physically and mentally’ abused by her ‘absentee’ father, who wanted to ‘gain control’ of her and her earnings.
He alleged that Chris had stolen millions of dollars from his sister, took control of her career, forced her into silence, and was now trying to gain full custody over her.
Then, on Wednesday, someone shared a post to Lil Tay’s Instagram claiming that both she and Jason had passed away, explaining that the ‘circumstances surrounding’ their deaths are ‘still under investigation.’
Hours later, however, Lil Tay told TMZ that she was still alive and that her account had been ‘hacked.’
As the young star is shrouded in controversy once again, FEMAIL went ahead and rounded up everything we know about her – from her scandalous rise to fame and why she suddenly disappeared from the spotlight five years ago to what she said about her father and what we know about her recent fake death.
Hellbound and Down 