Trisha Paytas on OnlyFans, Free Will and Her ‘Mother’ Era
Make it stand out
For our November cover, Polyester commissioned writer, comedian and actor Jordan Firstman to interview Trisha Paytas, one of the internet’s longest standing creators, at home in California.
“I don’t think there has been a day that has gone by in the last 3 years where I haven’t thought about Trisha Paytas, or consumed some of her body of work in some way shape or form.
She’s the one person that my algorithm knows not to hide from me. Others come and go, but Trisha is for life. And for so many this is true. Trisha is for life. When I found out Polyester was doing a cover with Trisha, I immediately begged to interview her. When it was confirmed, I posted to my close friends and I got more congratulations messages from my friends than any project I have ever worked on. It was a big deal for me. There’s something about Trisha on the internet that is both completely unfiltered and candid while also remaining mysterious and unknowable.
Trisha IRL is almost identical to the Trisha we know now online, but with an added warmth. She is ditzy and smart at the same time. Not ever trying to be funny, but almost constantly laugh out loud hilarious. I came a stan and left a bigger stan. Below is our freewheeling, at times chaotic, conversation, which took place at her home. Trisha for life.”
– Jordan Firstman
Jordan Firstman: I’m a longtime follower – it was like 2018 I got really involved. But I know you’ve been doing it for…
Trisha Paytas: 2006.
You invented the internet.
[Laughs] I always say that! I feel like I was the first YouTuber for sure. I feel like I was an OG.
The internet is such a crazy place, it’s hard to survive. But you’ve made it very very far. And you feel so in it, and calm and confident.
It’s like when you’re in a job, like seniority, just like, “I’ve been on here so long.” To me it’s not even an option, it’s just like “Where do other people - where do they go when they stop making videos?” I guess they get real jobs or, I don’t know, they just get over it. But I don’t even know what I would do. I keep posting on my main channel and that gets like 10,000 views because I’m like, “What else am I going to do?”
Boa, T-Shirt, Pearls: VINTAGE
“Maybe when I actually became a mother people were like “mother”, you know?”
How have you seen it change from 2006 and where do you see it going?
YouTube changes so much year to year. When I started YouTube no one was making money, it wasn’t highly produced. It’s cliché to say, it was like cat videos or people doing webcam videos or something. My digital camera could only do like 60 seconds, all my first videos were 59 seconds long, because I didn’t know how to edit or anything. Now it’s so produced. YouTube is social media’s mainstream, which was never the case before. It’s only the past three years where it’s like “Oh, this is getting more numbers than television.” And I’m so old school where I think, “I wanna be on TV.” But in reality, TV gets way less views. On TikTok you get 200 million views a month. What TV show does that? It’s pretty wild.
And you would have to play by all their rules, not say anything you wanna say.
Oh yeah, censored, you don’t get control, creative. It’s really crazy.
You were around ten years ago when it felt like you had to be part of the industry to make anything of yourself. And now it’s switched. I think for our generation it’s hard to rationalise, so we keep going back to the industry and wanting acceptance from the industry, but you get there and it’s like “No one’s even here.”
But in my head, I’m like “Oh my god that’s so cool, I wanna do a film, I wanna do something that’s tangible.” And the pay! We even looked it up, because I love Wendy Williams, and she was getting like $55,000 an episode. I’m just like, “That’s insane.” And she’s doing it five times a week. You get that in a week on the internet. It’s more the notoriety, on billboards, on TV.
I feel like this is your first moment of having press that is based on you being an icon and you being a star, and you as a positive thing.
I feel it, I feel the shift. It’s so weird to have people rally behind me for positivity. It’s just me – I’ve done solo podcasts before and no one’s cared, I’ve done solo things and so it’s cool. It’s one of those things where you get grandfathered in. It’s like Wendy, she’s said really offensive things and people are just like, “But it’s Wendy, she’s old, she’s been around forever, we love her.” You know? If you last a certain amount of time, you just automatically get icon status whether people like you or not.
Did you notice a shift, and when was that? When it was like “Oh Trisha, she’s mother now”?
I don’t know, it’s all very new for me. Even doing this magazine thing, it’s all very new. I’ve done magazines in the past and it’s like, bizarre. It’s like, “Where has this come from, is my name out there somewhere?” It’s very bizarre. I actually don’t know the shift.
It’s now.
Skirt and top: DI PETSA
Yeah it’s now! It happened. Maybe when I actually became a mother people were like “mother”, you know?
You feel like such an emotional success story to people because you’ve shown yourself, the good the bad and the ugly. And seeing how you’ve come out the other side with your baby and you just seem so genuinely happy. Because you’ve always been genuine everyone knows it’s real, because we saw you crying on the kitchen floor and that was real too.
Oh my god. Sometimes I see those compilations on TikTok and it brings me right back to it. Because it doesn’t seem like me, but I’m like, “No I remember that feeling.” That’s the only positive thing about putting all that mess out on the internet, because I see so many people in those TikTok comments like “That’s where I’m at right now, she gives me hope.” Because where I’m at now, I never in a million years thought I’d be married with a baby, I never thought I’d be able to save money for a house, it just was not me. So I don’t know, it’s a miracle. I like that you said “an emotional success story” because that’s how I feel. I’ve never been happy, and this is the first time I’ve been happy in my whole life.
If you take in the good from the internet, you have to take in the bad too. Do you still let the good stuff affect you and the bad stuff? Or do you remain neutral to everything?
Neutral. Something I learned is like, don’t buy into the hype. Sometimes they bring you up to take you down, and that happens, that’s the nature of it. Something big will come along, but no matter what I do, everything from my past will come up.
You don’t wanna be crying now your daughter is here, like “Mommy got bullied on YouTube.”
That’s why I don’t let it affect me. I don’t want her to feel it. Energy is everything. I don’t feel it so she doesn’t feel it. I do what I do and then that’s it. And if something’s really bad or really good then someone tells me.
I’m very impressed and mystified at your output. Something people don’t talk about with you enough is how much you put out and how hard that is. The work ethic that goes into making anything. Can you walk me through your schedule?
It changes so much. Before I was married, I’d wake up and I’d be filming five videos a day or something like that. And then when I got pregnant I had a very easy schedule – I was just doing like ASMR, whatever felt good that day. But I really hustled right before I gave birth. I was doing OnlyFans and ASMR and main channel videos, and everything, Twitter, TikTok. I was doing that three or four days a week and I had my husband to help me so he would set up all the shots and stuff. When I was doing it myself it was just literally just in my car or on my floor or something. Even after she was born I was filming in the hospital, after the hospital, I really hustled. Because that’s a flow too, popularity, money, everything like that. So there was a time when I was posting every single day making $100,000 versus a time I was posting every single day making $8,000.
And you really know. It’s an exact science – if you post more, you make more.
But then YouTube goes up and down. And you have to hustle. And when something is good I just focus on it. So OnlyFans did great in 2020, so I was like “I’m only doing OnlyFans this whole year.” I kind of followed the money. I always post on YouTube no matter what. Doing what you love and also making money is great, so that’s why the podcast is great because it’s like, “Wow people are liking it.” And I get to make money. As opposed to my YouTube videos, which I still post, but just not many people watch it. I just like to do it.
And do you like OnlyFans?
I did. When I was single I loved it. I’d never had that era where I was like, my slutty era or whatever. And I did, I had fun. Because I liked the idea of being a pornstar when I was younger. Like Jenna Jameson on Howard Stern sounded fun. But maybe not working for a studio or them telling me what I had to do or all the angles… this was OnlyFans, your iPhone, whatever you wanted it to be and picking who you wanted to do it with. It was fun. I had a summer of it and I made a ton of money and I loved it. I probably would have continued longer but I met Moses [her husband] and I was like, “OK, I’ll stop now.”
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And if it’s coming in other ways then you just don’t…
Yeah, so I really rode that for a while. I did it about a year before I met him, but the really hardcore stuff I did for like a summer. I don’t regret it. Why don’t you do it?
I think about it every goddamn day. Because I have this syndrome where I still want Hollywood’s approval, they just are so judgmental about it, but I’m like sucking dick on camera in a movie [2023’s Rotting In The Sun]. I already did it. And I made no money from the movie. I kinda want to make that money and there are so many people who just wanted to see my dick. This ties back to the industry question – has your team changed or grown, and how much do you still want to do that, do anything in the mainstream media, versus this empire you’ve set up for yourself.
I’ve never had a team. I had maybe two managers for like a month, my whole career. Not by choice I just don’t know how people get them.
What about all those random things in the 2000s? Like Nathan For You…
That was all me. I was just on [casting websites], and I was always the first one to submit to the thing. Back in the day they’d call you and you’d go in for auditions, so I think they just wanted someone like, “Can you come audition right now?” And Nathan For You was one of those. I did Tim and Eric and they called me from that, like “There’s another Comedy Central show, it’s $500, can you come in ten minutes?”
You’ve just been in everything. Were you aware of the cultural impact of that stuff?
No! That was the first season. Over time it seems more impressive. At the time I wasn’t working that much. I would go on sets and people were doing background work on every show, like Two and a Half Men or whatever. I was very casual, I did Modern Family. I just got really lucky. There were so many other girls doing it and no one talked about it. Over time, when you look at it, maybe it’s like “Oh my God she’s everywhere!” But at the time I wasn’t.
I think you were always really hustling.
Yeah I loved it, any chance I would get I was doing background work. I was like, audience members clapping in Deal or No Deal.
Do you miss that era?
Looking back it seems fun but at the time I hated it. Because being an extra, they don’t let you pee if you have to pee, so there’s many sets I just walked off of for sure. Where I was like, “I’m not doing this.” I think there was a show called Dirt with Courteney Cox where I just walked off because they wouldn’t let me eat or drink. And I walked off the Paramount set. Back then the rate was like $64 for eight hours or something, it was so cheap. It wasn’t even really worth it.
You’re probably in your favourite Trisha era right now, but is there any other Trisha era that is your favourite?
I loved my popstar era. I did a lot of music videos for three years in a row. I probably spent like, ten million dollars on music videos. I loved it. I was very single and very depressed and very lonely. I’d go home from those music videos and cry. But for the moment it was so fun.
You were able to make your dreams a weird reality.
Our sets were huge and we had like 60 people working there. It definitely filled a void and I loved it so much. I would do it now, I wish I could make money on music.
To have that as a touchstone, you’re going to remember that more than like, a Birkin. So to put your money into an artistic endeavour –
– A memory. I loved it. I had my one director, he did every single music video, 65 music videos with me. And I loved him so much, and I had a great choreographer who was really fun. It was like my social time. I’d go to rehearsal and we’d go out to eat after. It was just a fun vibe. They were all my friends for so long. They still are, but those were my only friends for a long time.
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Dress: FANCI CLUB | Earrings: BALENCIAGA
I wanted to ask you about identity in general because you obviously love dressing up and characters. But then you’re talking and it’s still Trisha. You kind of don’t embody the character, you’re just physically them [Laughs]
[Also laughing] That’s so true! It’s like, look, I don’t know what to wear so when I think of something I’m like, “Oh I’ll wear this for this event.”
But there must be something, since a child or something. Have you always dressed up?
Yeah. Always for sure. I love wearing costumes 24/7. I just always liked pop culture. I always wanted to be in movies and TV shows, and that was my dream. It’s still like that! I’m like, “Wow the outfits they wear, the things they do.” You were kind of saying, you don’t know your character. And sometimes I’m like “Is this a character? Is this Trish?” Sometimes at home when it’s just quiet, I’m like, “Is this the real me?” And then Moses will be like, “You’re the same, you’re just tired.”
I feel like if you really know your body of work and everything you’ve done to get to the place, you know you’re like a highly intelligent person… but a lot of the memes and the characters are just you saying stupid shit. [Laughs]
Totally! Sometimes it is. There’s this huge one about gravity or climate change and honestly that kind of stuff I just never learned. I grew up in Illinois in this little farm town, they didn’t teach us like science and math, truly. I didn’t have a science or math class my whole life. So that kind of stuff always is. I think it’s both. But it’s funny because when people started finding it funny I’m like, “I’ll just play into that because I don’t know what it is anyways.”
So is there a switch you flip on? It’s like any performer. You’re not going to talk to Moses in bed the way you’re gonna talk on your podcast.
Sometimes I do! He’ll explain stuff to me and it blows my mind. I think it’s what naturally comes up. If it’s something that I don’t know then it’s so easy to play into it. I can always be funny or cute about it.
So you wouldn’t say there’s a strategy behind the character?
Nooo! You know, you just have something in you.
And you’re smart enough to use it but also – that is you?
Totally, yeah. Honestly that part people give me more credit for than it is, because I actually don’t know and you’re like “Oh my God I sound so stupid” or whatever.
But that’s what usually makes a star, being yourself.
And I do think with that, I’m fooling myself. I’m not a good comedian. I tried stand up comedy once. I can’t plan to be funny at all. It’s the internet, honestly the internet now, the sense of humour that they have, it’s cool. They’ll find old clips of me from really old videos, and it’s just like, me eating a french fry. They come up with it, they’re funny, they come up with the memes. I would never think about it. I’m like, “Oh my god I’m so funny!” But people just edit it that way.
“Anna Nicole, I saw myself in her. She was funny and ditsy but herself, and true to herself. I loved her so much, she’s my favourite, always.”
Who were your cultural touchstones growing up? Who did you idolise?
Anna Nicole Smith. I loved her. I loved her because she was on TV for being herself. She was big. Even though you look back now and you’re like, “She wasn’t that fat,” but I remember she ate on TV, she would eat donuts and stuff. She was on around the same time The Girls Next Door were on and I was just like, “Ugh, I’ll never be them.” So Anna Nicole, I saw myself in her. She was funny and ditsy but herself, and true to herself. I loved her so much, she’s my favourite, always.
Did that inspire some of the Trisha in the early YouTube days?
Oh my God yeah.
Your voice was higher back then!
I loved the bleached blonde hair, I just loved her because she was so herself, but she was bigger and she wasn’t perfect and she wasn’t always put together. And I liked that because that was me, you know? She inspired so much that I wanted to be. She was inspired by Marilyn. People loved her, and they really did hate her when she was alive, and so many people came for her. But now people realise what an icon she was.
Would you have a reality show that was on TV? I heard your podcast with Julia Fox and Niki [Forbidden Fruits] which I loved by the way.
They were great! It was actually very intimidating. I’ve gone on so many podcasts this year and that was the most intimidating one. Something about it. I think it’s because they were at Spotify, it’s very produced, they have a huge crew. As opposed to, you go to like, Meghan Trainor and it’s at her house and her family, you know.
But they loved you! You could tell they like, love and worship you.
They were great, I loved them so much. It was cool. I didn’t know how they were gonna be, especially east coast. East coast girls, you never know if they’re going to like you or vibe with you but they were girls’ girls, which I loved.
You were talking about wanting to make a movie on there. If you never had to worry about money ever again, what would be like the dream scenario?
I would love to make a movie. I would love to make a Bollywood film, I’m really into Bollywood. I would love to have like, a Trish museum, like a Dollywood museum. I would open it here, too, local to our place. There’s a huge building on this lake that we want. It’s really old and it could be a motel, it could be a Trish museum. I would do the whole Trisha experience. It’s such a cool building and it’s right on this lake that we always go to, it’s right down the street. You could get all my favourite foods, like Korean fried cheese and butter noodles and then have a cute motel, themed rooms. There’d be like a Beetlejuice room or a Malibu Barbie room.
That makes so much sense for you. You’ve always been able to make your own little world out of… I won’t say “delusion” is the word…
Yeah, like, nothing. I think it’s cool now to be… what do they say? “Delulu”.
It’s the only way to actually get anything done.
Yeah, like, if you’re the only one who believes in it, and people are like, “Mm you’re kind of crazy,” but then you can make it happen. I truly believe people can make anything happen, I think they just don’t have the confidence. You don’t, if someone tells you “No” or “That’s stupid.” That’s why I just do it, because I’m like, “They can’t see my vision!” I have to show it.
And that’s where haters are born too. People are just mad that they can’t do the things they see other people doing.
I was like, a silent hater back in the day. I was so jealous of so many people, and I would like, hate on people, and it was literally because I wasn’t doing that. Like if they had a boyfriend or they were getting married, I was like, “Oh that could never be me” and I would be so… I’d be like, “Oh they look unhappy” and all this. The weird hater culture. It’s 100% that. I always call the haters out, and they’re like “Ah she thinks she knows.” And I’m like, “I do, because I was like you! I understand why you’re upset.”
Do you know your core audience now? Are the gays on the newer side? Were they always there?
The gays have always been there. I love. My tours… it was half and half. It was like 50% gay guys and 50% young girls. Young, my age. Like 18 to 24 or something, not too little. And that’s the best audience, it really is. I don’t know how you cultivate a gay audience. I was talking about this to Julia Fox and stuff like that. I don’t know how that happens.
[Gravely] They have to choose you.
I think that’s what it is. Because even Britney, she’s not ultra outspoken about gay rights or something, but the gays just love her.
I don’t think she’s ever said anything about gay people.
And they’re like “This is our queen!” Isn’t that so funny. It feels almost more special. I guess also because I’ve surrounded myself with gay men. And when I did the transgender video too, I really thought… I was only attracted to gay guys for a long time, and dated this guy who… who is fluid, I don’t know what it is. But he was definitely on that spectrum. And everyone was like, “He’s gay.” I was always attracted to gay guys, I don’t know what it was. I heard Pamela Anderson say one time, “I’m a gay guy trapped in a woman’s body!” And I thought “Maybe that’s me!” So when I said it it was offensive obviously, because it’s me. But I just engulfed myself in that world because I didn’t grow up with any gay friends, and once I moved to LA at 18, I was like, “Oh my God this is like a whole new world.” And it was kind of like getting that female friend experience but not females. And like you said, the gays and gays have their own thing, but gays with girls are different.
They blindly worship you, and I’m sure as a young girl that looks like you coming to LA, straight men were probably scary and violent.
They still are! I’m still in my anti-straight men era. I’ve been trying not to be that way but I’ve never liked like, bro straight guys. They’ve always scared me.
So you find the comfort of a not threatening man, and realise men don’t have to be scary, probably in gay men. They’re only scary to other gay men [Laughs]. For me, I love straight guys. Because they’re just like, “Dude you’re so crazy.”
Right. And it’s funny because now the straight guys are getting very into gay culture, they want to be engulfed in it. They go fluid, they’re wearing dresses, which is good. That’s interesting, I never thought about it like that. It’s like the safety of a guy but not a threat with the sexualness and stuff.
Are you liking doing the new podcast? You do have a co-host, but you’re Wendy.
He’s the co-host on my Hot Topics [a segment on Trisha’s podcast JUST TRISH PODCAST]. My interview days I do by myself. It works because I do love Wendy so of course I had to get a Norman. And Oscar I’ve known for so long and I’ve known him for maybe like 15 years or something. And he’s always interviewing me for like, Entertainment Tonight! He’s always just been really supportive, through all my cancellations, through being in popular groups and then being out of them, he’s always, always, always supported me and interviewed me and stuff. So he was kind of perfect. He’s also just like, the smartest person I know. He produces, edits and co-hosts. He’s literally the only other member of our team. It’s me, Moses and Oscar.
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I wanted to ask about your love of Quentin Tarantino. I feel like it’s random for you! Because those are boy movies.
I was a little bit of a pick me. I do like those movies but I do think back then I was trying to be cool for sure. But I did like them. I love LA, and he always made LA the centre of his films. So for me as someone who grew up in Illinois and watched his films, I was like, “I wanna be in LA.” That’s the reason I moved to LA, was his movies. I came here and I went to the Torrance Mall from Jackie Brown. I even tried to go look up Jack Rabbit Slim’s, there’s like a little address in the DVD, but it was just like a parking lot. Reservoir Dogs, I think in Echo Park there’s the restaurant. It’s such a good place. In Silverlake, what is that really old cinema?
The Vista?
That was in True Romance. So I would go.
You just always loved Hollywood. Do you like old stuff? Like 50s, 60s, movie musicals? I know you love musicals.
I love musicals and I do love old stuff. I love Mel Brooks, he’s more 70s, he’s so good, I would love him on my podcast.
What’s your favourite musical?
Well. It’s kind of obscure… well it’s mainstream, but if you don’t know you don’t know. It’s called Joseph and His Amazing Technicolour Dreamcoat.
[They both break out into a word-perfect rendition of “Any Dream Will Do'“ from Joseph and His Amazing Technicolour Dreamcoat]
I just interviewed Donny Osmond in September. And he was so great, he knows every single song he’s ever sang, and there was this really obscure one in Joseph, he knew every word and he started singing with me.
I used to love that show. I was a theatre kid, I’ve done everything. I’m trying to erase that history. Maybe I’m too obsessed with the way I’m perceived. I feel like once people know it makes you less cool!
No!! Ariana’s a theatre kid.
One day I’ll come out.
Which musicals were you in? Were you starring, were you in background?
Oh girl, I was starring.
I was always background. I was background every show.
But did you get the one line?
No. Never. I wasn’t even like one line in Annie. I was just like, a background orphan. In Christmas Carol I was a background caroller. Joseph I was a kids’ choir person.
Well that’s why you’ve had to make them yourself. You should do a full scale production of Joseph.
It’s very obscure though! Most people don’t know it.
But people would come to see Trisha Paytas. You have the power now that you can do everything that you didn’t get in your life.
Yeah that’s true. I did “Suddenly Seymour” [from Little Shop of Horrors] and I played all the parts. I was Audrey I was Seymour I was all the girls in the background. That’s my dream, because that’s on Broadway right now.
I would pay to see an all-Trisha Joseph.
Maybe I’ll produce it.
Yeah, rent out a theatre.
There’s a really old school movie theatre I went to when I first came here, and it looks like it’s from the 80s or 90s, and it just closed. And I really want to buy it because I always tell Moses, I would just do like, Saturday night, Cabaret night. Everybody could just come and sing all the showtimes. And it’s small, it’s down the street, it’s like 100 people. It would be so fun.
Do you like interacting with fans? You live far, you feel private. You feel hard to get to. If I wanted to get to you I don’t even know how I would do that.
I love being private, I love being home. Sometimes I get a little social anxiety going out. I never had a bad encounter in public, but you just never know. A lot of high school boys are in this era… there’s a high school round this area, and they’ll like laugh from far away. And I’m like, “I don’t know if you’re making fun of me or trying to be cool with your friends, but that shit annoys me. If it’s like a meet and greet or a tour, I love that because I know people who are there like me. It makes me feel cool. I just always wanted to be famous so I think the idea of people knowing who you are is just very cool and I like that.
So you don’t get overwhelmed by a crowd of people who want to meet you?
No! Unless it’s somewhere where I’m not expecting it. Like Disneyland or something. Then it can be a little overwhelming, but not in a bad way. It’s very cool. I love it. If I had a cabaret once a week, I’d love to see everyone there, it’d be so much fun. I feel like it would be very casual, because it’s like a casual, insider thing where people know to come.
“I just always wanted to be famous so I think the idea of people knowing who you are is just very cool and I like that.”
If you have one I’ll come sing a song.
Oh my God that’s so fun. What song are you singing?
Oh my God. What’s a good duet?
What musicals were you in?
I was in Cabaret – Emcee.
I would love to play that part.
That’s an amazing part. You’d be a good Sally too.
I would love Sally. But they did do a gender bending one.
I could do a really good “Maybe This Time”.
Yeah! So you’d be Sally. That would be everything. .
Sondheim? Any Sondheim. Like Company, Follies?
You know so much!
When I say I have to hold it in…
Don’t hold it in! I don’t even know that much about theatre, I only like a certain amount of shows.
I’ve worked so hard on becoming cool!
No! Don’t!
I’m like “Oh my God this will destroy everything!” But it’s part of me so I’ll get there one day, but I’m not ready yet. And the movie I did is like, very cool. So it doesn’t align with musical theatre right now.
You gotta embrace it. I love musical theatre, it’s so fun.
What a musical can do is something that no other art form can do. A movie, you can obviously get emotionally stirred up in a movie. But something about sitting… especially Broadway. Broadway can really do something.
Yeah, The Color Purple is coming and I’m so excited, Fantasia’s in that. And then Mean Girls: The Musical. I love Mean Girls: The Musical. I think the movie is OK but I love the musical.
OK. If everything were legal and moral what would you do?
Oh my God. I have no idea. I would be one of those looters. I would go steal everything on Rodeo Drive maybe. I love designer bags and purses, so I’d probably go rob Louis Vuitton and Cartier. I see that on the news and I’m like, “Oh they really get away with it, they’re so lucky.”
I love when the TikToks come up on my feed, I love watching people steal from TJ Maxx.
Oh my god!
And the guards kind of don’t care…
They never care. Even Nordstrom, they let them walk out. I’ve never stolen in my life. I never have.
Do you believe in free will?
Free will, what is that?
[Both laughing]
No I’m being serious, what is that…
Do you believe we have choice over our life? Are things predestined or do we choose our life?
That’s such a tricky one. I would like to say, I guess free will.
Yeah you were talking about manifesting in that way.
I can be a little like, Hindu-y, like “It’s written in the stars, what’s meant for you will be yours.” But when people like, kill, I don’t believe it’s God’s plan for them to like, murder people. So I’m going to say free will.
Trisha Paytas believes in free will!
Top five fruits?
Ugh.
You don’t love fruit?
I don’t even know what fruits I eat. Watermelon. I think that’s it. I eat no fruit.
Fruit is so good. It tastes like candy. You know candies are based on fruit?
I don’t like candy, I’m more chocolate. Reese’s, I don’t think that’s based on fruit.
Trisha Paytas does not like candy that’s based on fruit.
What kind of candy do you eat that’s based on fruit?
Like every candy, like cherry flavour, watermelon flavour, anything gummy.
Maybe Sour Patch Kids? I’m always gonna go for like, Bunch-O-Crunch, Reese’s, Butterfinger.
Do you do the Bunch-O-Crunch and the popcorn at the movie theatre?
Oh my God that’s my favourite. Or M&Ms in the popcorn. I love going to the movies.
Are you going to see the new Scorsese? Three and a half hours?
No! It’s three hours? And it’s DiCaprio right? I’m just not a fan. I saw Revenant and I was like, “eh.”
I don’t get it either. Brad I get. I kind of think of them in the same vein, they’re kind of like the last movie stars.
Yeah, and it’s like Quentin Tarantino… did you see Once Upon a Time In Hollywood with both of them? Brad Pitt stole it.
When Brad Pitt goes onscreen you’re like, “movie star,” And Leo, I’m like, “First of all, you’re not hot any more.”
And they put him in that role too, like, ageing out of Hollywood…
I love that movie, it might be my favourite Tarantino.
We have a poster of it downstairs. It’s my favourite Quentin Tarantino.
To me that movie is about like, it’s so relatable to people who’ve been in LA for a while. Because it’s about the slog of LA and how it feels like nothing is moving and nothing is happening. And then you look at how all the moments led to the last moment. Like I love that the end of the movie is him maybe getting an opportunity.
Yeah! And that’s LA, an LA love story.
You share this trauma with people who have lived here for a while and can end up creating something magical.
I love anything LA-based like that. I loved The Idol.
No!!!
That’s what we were doing today. We got the exact car that The Weeknd and Lily Rose was in.
One of my best friends is Rachel Sennott! She’s the assistant on the show.
Oscar knows her too! How does everyone know this girl?
She’s the best!
First of all, love her on that show. I love that the show is so LA! I even put [our songs] together, there’s “World Class Sinner” [on The Idol] and I had “Get Freaky”. I was like, “Wait did they take this from me...”
Sam Levinson definitely knows who you are.
OK thank you. Because Troye Sivan reminds me of my producer, they look exactly the same, and I was like, “Hmm”. I fell in love with The Weeknd on that show. I didn’t know who he was, and I’m obsessed with him now.
The Idol introduced you to The Weeknd?
Yeah I had no idea who he was.
Incredible. I posted on my close friends that this is like a dream for me to even meet you. Everyone who knows me knows it is. I’m literally just like… Robert Pattinson produced the movie that I’m in, and he interviewed me for Interview magazine a couple of weeks ago. But I’m like, “Meeting Robert Pattinson, don’t care at all.” Meeting Trisha Paytas – everyone knows how much I love you!
Most of my interviews are just over the computer, I didn’t know! I need to get better when people tell me that so I don’t feel so intimidated.
I’m sure a lot of… I wanted you to know that you could trust me to come in because I’m sure a lot of people in your past have just not gotten it. With the last cycle of press, I feel like something messy happened?
Something messy… where you talk to someone and then it’s just like, spin. But then looking at your profile, obviously you have your own thing going on, so I was like, “Oh maybe this is a thing where they’re trying to pair us together but he doesn’t care, he doesn’t like me.” I had no idea!
No I’m a big fan. I think you don’t realise how many fans you have that are huge superstars.
I don’t think I have any except for you!
No I promise you. Everyone loves you.
I’ve never met a famous fan, you’re literally the one with the most followers.
They might not come out and say, but everyone is watching you. A lot of famous people love you.
I love famous people, even Z list. I think it’s so cool.
We’ll set up a dinner.
You’re so connected. I’ve been here like 16 years and know no one. Do you network? Do you go out to events?
I’ve always been a very social person!
What’s your sign?
Cancer.
Interesting.
ASMR or mukbang?
ASMR at the moment because I love being home and peaceful.
Do you love doing the ASMR?
I love it, I just haven’t done it in a while because of the podcast.
I love the new character.
The tavern! I love doing that one! I just did that one like two days ago. I feel like, medieval in it.
I love that you can just be like, “Moses build me a tavern.”
I know. He really knows how to do everything. I didn’t know that when we got married. I just told him that the other night, I’m like, “Now that I know you can do everything” – you know he made me the Ice Spice necklace – “I’m just going to ask you to do everything.”
That’s what you want in a man. Someone who can build something? The best.
I had no idea he was that capable.
In conversation with: Jordan Firstman
Photography: Savanna Ruedy | Creative Direction: Ione Gamble | Set: Drip Dome | Styling: Tatiana Waterford | Makeup: Eden Lattanzio | Hair: Gabriella Mancha | Photography Assistant: Dara Feller | Styling Assistant: Raul Magdelano | Videography: Charlotte Landrum
Pre-order our 2023 Annual print zine including Trisha’s cover here.