Lil Tay Opens Up About Life Since Viral Death Hoax (Exclusive)

Lil Tay is speaking out in a rare interview about her life since her viral death hoax in 2023.

The infamous child star, who flexed stacks of cash half her size, ranted on camera about “broke a– b——” and got into beef with fellow teenage viral stars like Bhad Bhabie and Woah Vicky, is all grown up. She just turned 18 in July, when she promptly joined the adult entertainment site OnlyFans.

Born Claire Eileen Qi Hope, Tay is obsessed with money — or as she calls it, “the bag.” She claims to have made over $1 million in just three hours on OnlyFans and reportedly made a jaw-dropping $20 million in her first week.

As with some of Tay’s statements, it is sometimes hard to verify, but impossible to ignore. “Without money, what [are] you going to do?” she asks. “Everybody wants money regardless of whether they admit it or not. Money makes the world turn.”

Fresh off a family fallout with her brother Jason and being kicked out of her mom Angela Tian’s Florida home over her OnlyFans account, Tay says she now lives solo in an Airbnb and is mansion and car shopping. “I’m looking at a couple [of] Bugattis. Do you think I should buy a pink one or orange one?” she asks playfully. “I can afford multiple, so why not get both?”

Tay speaks in slogans, in flexes, in prophecy. She also speaks in the third person. “Lil Tay rich and fixing to get richer, anybody who doubted me, here I am. First of all, not everybody can make that kind of money. That’s why I’m Lil Tay,” she declares. “And money helps people … I’m going to put my money to good use.”

Tay credits her OnlyFans “link drop” inspiration to two of today’s biggest stars: Sabrina Carpenter and Sydney Sweeney. “We are the big three blondes that are empowering women right now and paving the way for women to do whatever the hell they want to do,” Tay says. “They are literally getting s—— on, but they are paving the way forward for women. ‘Cause why should women be fighting to do things that they want to with their bodies and just in general? Why are we fighting to do that in 2025? People love to hate — that’s what they do.”

Critics haven’t deterred Tay — and she’s weathered more than her fair share. In August 2023, the internet melted down when a post to her 3.3 million followers on Instagram falsely claimed both she and her brother Jason had died.

“It is with a heavy heart that we share the devastating news of our beloved Claire’s sudden and tragic passing,” the statement read. “We have no words to express the unbearable loss and indescribable pain.” The Los Angeles LAPD and the coroner had no record at the time.

The day after, on August 10, Lil Tay’s father Christopher Hope told PEOPLE, “I don’t have any comment.” Obituaries ran. Influencers posted emoji-laden tributes. Then, in a twist straight out of a Black Mirror episode, Tay emerged — very much alive.

“I woke up to my phone being blasted with calls and texts. My mom was being spammed. Everybody was worried. I was like, ‘What the hell’s going on?’” she recalls. “It was really surreal and weird, and also there was a lot of people posting tributes to me, which is weird in itself.”

Tay maintains she had no role in the post, saying it was part of a nefarious hack. “I wasn’t behind it… there was malicious intent behind the post.” She claims it was her father Hope, something he vehemently denies. Tay also says the incident disrupted the rollout of her comeback single, “Sucker 4 Green.” “But a lot of people that were pretending to be my best friend or some, s—, too, and I’m like, ‘I do not know you that well,’ so really, the fake b—— came out during that time.”

Her absence from the spotlight wasn’t by choice, Tay insists. After becoming a viral sensation in 2018, she vanished amid an ugly custody battle between her parents. Her last post was a tribute to XXXTentacion — until a haunting “help me” story appeared, followed by hacked racist posts and disturbing allegations of abuse against her father.

In October 2018, her account resurfaced with more alarming posts — this time accusing Tay’s father Hope and his wife of abuse, including claims they locked Tay in a closet and her father allegedly behaved inappropriately around her. A 2021 GoFundMe petition echoed the allegations, sharing images of a younger Tay with visible red marks on her face and arms. Tay repeated these claims in a Sept. 30, 2023, Instagram Live, saying that her father had allegedly been physically and emotionally abusive to her as a small child. He has vehemently denied all allegations to PEOPLE.

“Regarding [the] 2023 ‘death,’ just ask yourself who [allegedly] profited from that ridiculous situation— it had nothing to do with me,” Hope tells PEOPLE. “Regarding allegation[s] of abuse, it’s already been proven that her brother [allegedly] plotted to create fake allegations and there never was any abuse by anyone, as far as I know.”

“I did not fabricate anything about Chris Hope,” Jason tells PEOPLE in a statement. “He is an absentee father,” he says, alleging that “for over a decade, he has withheld support the court required him to pay, refusing to provide for Tay’s basic needs,” and only reappeared “after she became famous.”

Jason also maintains that he was not behind Tay’s 2023 Instagram hack. “Yet Chris still falsely accused me, even as those posts cruelly claimed both Tay and I had died,” he continues.

“That’s really in the past,” Tay says now. “I mean nah, I don’t talk to my father anymore. I’m trying to move forward into the future. It’s never hard to talk about trauma, but it’s necessary. I had to speak from the heart, speak from my experiences and my memories. I know that I have come out strong and I’ll always have my family.”

The years in hiding were difficult, she explains. She says she was pulled off social media for five years and was sent back to Vancouver to live with Hope because she started missing too much school, which was verified in May 2018 court documents.

Then she claims she dropped out of Harvard for business and computer engineering. “I realized that this is not going to help me make millions, which is what I’m doing now. I’m making millions, and I dropped out of Harvard. I saw what my classmate Mark Zuckerberg did, and that was really inspirational,” she says.

“My family supports me because they know that I can do anything I set my mind to,” she continues. “My mom takes on the role of my mother and father. She goes above and beyond for me and always has. It’s amazing because I know a lot of people don’t have that.”

Then in September 2024, Tay disappeared again — this time, she was in the ICU. She claims she had a heart tumor that required open-heart surgery, in which doctors stopped her heart for 70 minutes.

“I was getting irregular heartbeats, heart palpitations for a while, but it really wasn’t that long of a time period that I knew about this. And I definitely did not know that I was going to need heart surgery to remove a f—— tumor,” she says. “There’s this one Taylor Swift lyric from the song “The Alchemy,” she sings, ‘The hospital is a drag. Worst sleep that I ever had,’ and that is the truest thing I’ve ever heard in my life.”

Today, she says she’s recovering well. “I’m just glad I’m okay… I bounced back way quicker because I’m young, active and healthy, but it was hard because I couldn’t dance for a long time. But I’m still standing, I’m here.”

Now, she’s getting back into music with the release of songs like “Stuck in July” — a soft, reflective track that isn’t about romance, but a close friendship. “A boyfriend? Hell no, I’ve never had a boyfriend,” she says. “Honestly, to me it’s about a really deep friendship. That’s what it’s about.”

For all her bravado, Tay reveals a surprising personal detail — she’s celibate. “I am a virgin. I’ve never done anything with a man before,” she says. “If I found the right person, then sure. But I’m just not interested. I’m interested and really focused on money, the bag, which is exactly what I’m doing, and celebrities in the DM. I can’t disclose who, but they’re there.”

Beyond the headlines and Instagram feuds, Tay still connects with the creative kid inside her — a classically trained pianist, guitar player and ballet dancer who once dreamed of Rodeo Drive from her Vancouver bedroom.

“What people don’t know about me is that I’ve literally been talented my whole life,” she says, noting it all began when she was just four years old. “Thanks to my mom, she saw that I was talented and smart, that I loved art and music and that’s how it all started.”

Tay asserts she doesn’t party, doesn’t drive and doesn’t cook. She loves Y2K fashion and K-pop—especially Lisa from BLACKPINK and Jung Cook from BTS. She loves Harry Potter. “Me and Harry are really f—— similar. We both got famous at a young age. We both had our deaths falsely announced. Isn’t that crazy?” she says, laughing. “And we both have had our names dragged through the mud in the press as children. I’ve read all the books multiple times. Me and Harry are the same person.”

Now, she wants to fight. Literally. Her latest headline-making move is challenging Bop House founder Sophie Rain to a $60 million boxing match. “She’s scared to fight me,” Tay says. “How are you going to talk about me, name-drop me and you can’t even back that up. Come on now. And then you want to backpedal?” she contends, heated.

“But I am training to box. So s—, let me box somebody else then… I’ll box Bhad Bhabie. I beat her OF record, I could beat her in a boxing match because she’s still harassing me to this day,” she alleges. “That’s inexcusable behavior. There’s a video of her saying she wants to fight me since I was a kid. Now we’re both over 18, let’s do it then.”

By the end of the hour Zoom call, Tay’s face finally emerges fully into view. She’s calm, clear-eyed and confident. With new music, boxing plans, luxury cars and a fresh lease on life, Tay is determined to take her story back.

“Really, it doesn’t matter what anybody else says about me. That’s what it comes down to. Everybody’s scared of judgment, of who’s going to talk to you, whether it’s their family or their friends or strangers on the internet. Who gives a f—? It’s your life,” she says.

She leans into the camera for the final word. “And when they’re mad, it’s because they don’t have what you have, which is money and talent. I’m going to always s— on these b—— with my talent. I’m one of the greatest pop stars of this generation and that is waiting to manifest right now.”