When YouTube vloggers Jake Paul and Tana Mongeau announced earlier this year that they were “taking a break” from their five-month-long open marriage, which may or may not have been fake, I let out a long, purifying sigh. For nearly eight months, knowledge of this troubling relationship had festered in my mind. While both give off deranged energy on their own — Jake is best known for terrorizing West Hollywood with elaborate video pranks, and Tana for throwing a disastrous vlogger convention called TanaCon — together, their chaotic energy was off the charts. So in early January, I rejoiced over the revelation that I could expel this nightmarish couple from my mind palace. But, distressingly, my celebration was premature.
On Monday, Tana was spotted on what Hollywood Life called an “intimate lunch date” in Los Angeles with a person who has taken this relationship to historic levels of cursedness: Logan Paul, as in Jake’s older brother, who also happens to be a YouTube star. While the two seemingly didn’t engage in any sloppy lip-locking or hand-holding — typically incontrovertible proof of a budding romance — this shared meal certainly looked romantic. In photos of the lunch, Tana can be seen hugging Logan’s towering body, while he hunches to give her a kiss on the head.
And that’s not the only disturbing photo of Tana and Logan that emerged this week. On Wednesday, Jake posted his and Tana’s wedding-ceremony photo, with his brother’s face Photoshopped unsettlingly onto his.
Let me openly process my feelings, starting with the lunch outing: Were other celebs to partake in the low-level of PDA exhibited on Monday, I would perhaps be more skeptical of claims that they were into each other. Surely, a kiss on the head can be a platonic display of intimacy. But Tana and the Paul brothers are no normal celebs — in fact, it would be par for the course if Tana were to date Logan after dating Jake. (Or perhaps to pretend to date Logan after pretending to date Jake.) As for that second edited Instagram, it rendered me speechless. I wondered, Is Jake playing into the speculation that Logan and his ex are kissing, knowing it to be untrue? Or is he furious with his brother, and choosing to express his anger in such a public, childlike way?
And, well, it seems I may finally have my answer. Soon after Jake posted that haunting Instagram, Logan uploaded a video to YouTube titled “Dating My Brother’s Ex-Wife…”, in which he convinces Tana to “get into a fake relationship in front of the paparazzi and troll the entire Internet.” And then the video devolves into a horrible series of pranks involving Tana and the brothers, ending with the Pauls commending each other on their commitment to getting “views.”
So, there we have it: The Tana-Logan relationship is fake … I think? At this point, I sincerely do not know anymore, as knowledge of this cursed mess has irreparably severed my touch with reality.
This post has been updated.
