Lil Tay is back in the headlines, and as usual, she’s not here to blend in.
After years of silence, the former child internet star is making noise again, this time with a comeback that’s turning heads for all the wrong and right reasons.
Once dubbed the “youngest flexer of the century,” Lil Tay gained viral fame as a nine-year-old, flaunting luxury cars, stacks of cash, and designer clothes. But her rise was overshadowed by family drama, exploitation claims, and a now-infamous death hoax in 2023.
Her social media presence went quiet for months after the death rumor — a hacked Instagram post claimed both she and her brother had died. The news stunned fans until she confirmed she was alive, telling TMZ,
“My Instagram account was compromised… My legal name is Tay Tian, not ‘Claire Hope’.”
Then, in September 2024, she made a brief return online, revealing she’d undergone open-heart surgery to remove a tumor. The post was emotional, but Lil Tay still kept her distance from the spotlight.
That is, until her 18th birthday.
The influencer hinted just days before turning legal age that something big was coming. In a video, she teased,
“Every male has been counting down to it… Girlies, what do you think? Should I do it?”
On July 29, just minutes after midnight, Lil Tay launched her official OnlyFans account. She later claimed she didn’t need any external deals or adult agencies to make it work.
“I am the bag,” she said. “I don’t need you to give me a bag.”
But the real shock came after she posted her results just three hours later.
The post showed a screenshot of her earnings on the platform: $1,024,298.09.
That included over $511,000 from subscriptions, $486,000 from pay-per-view messages, and more than $26,000 in tips.
“Not bad for 3 hours,” she wrote. “We broke the fk out of that OnlyFans record.”**
Online reactions were instant and intense. While many celebrated her financial success, others were disturbed by the idea that so many had waited for her to become legal.
One critic on X wrote,
“Grown men waited for this child to turn 18. That’s just disgusting.”
The controversy escalated when her brother, Jason Tian, appeared in a livestream seemingly trying to evict her during her OnlyFans debut.
She pushed back, telling him,
“I’m a woman now.”
He replied,
You just turned 18. You’re barely an adult.”
Some viewers believed the drama was real. Others suggested it was staged to drive attention and boost views.
Regardless, Tay’s return has sparked heavy debate over young internet fame, exploitation, and how fast teens are pushed into adult platforms.
But one thing is clear — at just 18, Lil Tay has already made her mark again. And this time, she’s doing it on her own terms.
Featured image Credit: (Instagram/liltay)
