- Entertainment
ByRachel Cash
John Phillips/Getty
Anyone in the public eye is likely to be the target of a conspiracy theory at some point or another. Several members of the royal family, in particular, have experienced this firsthand. For instance, Meghan Markle was at the heart of a royal-related conspiracy theory following the queen's funeral. Elsewhere, a secondconspiracy directly related to Her Majesty'spassing involved American YouTuber and influencerTrisha Paytas (who uses both she/her and they/them pronouns).
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Queen Elizabeth II died on September 8, 2022. At the time, Paytas was pregnant with her first child and very close to giving birth. Despite being outwardly unrelated, the super popular content creator's name trended on X, formerly known as Twitter, along with the news about the queen's passing as multiple users on the platform spread the bizarre rumor that Paytas gave birth the same day she died — and that hernewborn baby was therefore the queen reincarnated. Wild? Yes, it certainly is. Not to mention impossible, because Paytas didn't give birth on September 8.
The day after the theory caught fire on social media, she cleared the air on Instagram, confirming the baby hadn't arrived yet while admitting to having no idea where the conspiracy theory originated. "Sorry to the royal family and my baby," Paytas added in the caption, noting that the theories caused many of her concerned friends to contact her. The podcaster also shared: "Condolences to the royal family. It's very disheartening to hear of the queen's passing."
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Paytas welcomed her daughter on September 14
On September 9, 2022, Trisha Paytas shared a TikTok explaining her feelings on the situation in more detail (with the perhaps unintentionally hilarious title: "Storytime: I did NOT rebirth the Queen of England"). She was admittedly uncomfortable with the jokes people were making about Her Majesty's death, feeling that it was in "poor taste." Paytas also apologized to the royal family and acknowledged "I was so embarrassed" by all the attention. The YouTuber was still unsure how the rumors got started, but she did tweet that she was "1 cm dilated! Woo hoo!" on September 8, which could have been what sparked it all.
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Regardless, as Paytas pointed out, "I still don't really get the correlation between the two," adding, "But I did not have my baby and there is no reincarnation of the queen in my baby." She also expressed disappointment that her child had been turned into a meme before even being born. "Please be kind to my baby," Paytas implored. The prolific content creator has found herself in the midst ofa variety of wild scandalsover the years and been turned into a meme often, but this may be the craziest thing that's happened to her yet.
Paytas and her husband, Moses Hacmon, welcomed their daughter, Malibu Barbie Paytas-Hacmon,on September 14, 2022. A little over a year later, in November 2023, she announced her second pregnancy on Instagram, with the baby due May 2024. The comments section was instantly flooded with references to the conspiracy theory. As one person quipped, "Which royal family member is about to die."
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Paytas' baby name has a strange royal connection
Michael Ochs Archives & Wpa Pool/Getty
Those comments continued on Trisha Paytas' gender reveal post, which confirmed she was having a second daughter. Following King Charles III's heartbreaking cancer diagnosis in February 2024,Paytas tweeted, "Literally no comment," proving she's likely tired of the conspiracy. But X users couldn't help themselves andcontinued pushing it. Some mentioned how Paytas wanted to name her baby Elvis (via TikTok), and Elvis Presley was famously nicknamed"The King."
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On her"Just Trish" podcast, she lamented being repeatedly connected to royals passing away. Paytasdidn't wish anything bad on anyone but joked that she would prefer if her child was the reincarnation of Kate Middleton instead. The YouTuber also discussed her belief in speaking things into existence and confessed that her daughter sometimes "does give me Queen Elizabeth vibes, you know?" However, Paytas gets overwhelmed by the wild comments this theory generates and wishes only the best for Charles and his health.
"I guess if anyone were to rebirth them, it could be me," she mused. "'Cause I can raise them right, you know what I mean? Instead of having tea and crumpets, they're gonna be having Wendy's spicy nuggets." The podcaster also pondered if rebirthing reincarnated royals was her "higher purpose,"joking, "Like Mary birthing Jesus, or something." The theories surrounding Paytas and the royal family are likelyapophenia, a phenomenon where people connect completely unconnected things in an effort to find meaning. Hopefully, Charles' cancer treatments go well and Paytas' children can avoid future theories about royal ties.
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