MrBeast collaborator Kris Tyson comes out as transgender: 'I can finally be myself'

Kris Tyson, a YouTuber and frequent MrBeast collaborator announced she is a transgender woman and uses she/her pronouns.

The 27-year-old announced the news in a YouTube video with Anthony Padilla and shared her decision to transition, her journey with MrBeast — from being his “childhood bestie” to his first subscriber — and how she came to embrace the person she is now.

In her conversation with Padilla, Tyson explained that she had grown up with MrBeast, and the two had an early love of video and tech.

Tyson got her start by appearing in MrBeast’s videos, even jokingly referring to herself as “the guy in MrBeast’s videos.” But before long, she started to remove the line from her social media bios.

“That was the first step,” Tyson explained, referring to removing the “that guy” label from her online bios. “I was like, OK, let’s keep going.”

Padilla pointed out that Tyson had also slowly started to evolve on camera — both physically and internally.

“You were, like glowing,” Padilla said.

Tyson agreed and explained that she couldn’t fully feel happy on camera until she started to dress and act herself.

“I am a woman,” Tyson announced with a huge smile on her face. “I’ve never said that publicly.”

Going public

Tyson elaborated that she had been “fully confident” in her realization that she was a woman for well over a year but had taken more time to announce it publicly.

She told Padilla that her own evolution had started with a realization that she was “not cisgender” and explored ways to express herself and who she was. She also said she remembers being 6 years old, stealing her sister’s clothes and accessories, and feeling like she had to “hide it.”

She tried being cisgender, went to therapy and came to the realization that the role she played on MrBeast’s channel was tied deeply into what she thought her identity was. She was known as “the guy who started fires” on MrBeast’s channel, and she worried about losing that piece of herself.

“I was scared that people would think that I’m magically going to become a different person, but for me, I’m very proud of who I was and how I’ve gotten here. It took me a long time to get here,” she said.

The “Kris effect”

Tyson even joked about the “Kris effect” she had on MrBeast, referring to the YouTuber’s new “jacked” appearance. The joke is also a reference to the “Karl effect” comments that some followers made when Tyson first started to explore her gender on camera and thought it had to do with fellow MrBeast contributor Karl Jacobs.

Despite the swirls of rumors that had circulated due to her changes in appearance, Tyson explained the journey has been long for her. She suffered from depression, spent a lot of time in bed, went to conversion therapy and even struggled with self-hatred for not “understanding myself.”

She admitted that she even struggled with accepting that she was a woman and that coming out to herself has been the most challenging part of the entire journey.

It was also hormone replacement therapy (HRT) that she said “really saved her life” and allowed her to finally feel at home in her own body, something she said she had “never experienced.”

“I can finally be myself,” she said. “I’m a lot happier now.”

Following the news, users flooded the comment section with support for Tyson.

“I dont follow Mr.beast but i knew of his team and stuff and as a transgender youth, i think it so dope that Kris came on here and did this. I wish her a smooth transition into her becoming her true self,” one person commented.

“I’m so happy for you Kris! Absolutely love and respect you! Recently I discovered my true self too and I couldn’t be happier, you do babe!” another commenter wrote.

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