Welcome To Tana Mongeau's New World

Tana Mongeau has two words for her reinvention: brand safe.

We’re chatting while trying to get comfy on a leather couch in the lobby of a Central Valley studio in Los Angeles, on a Wednesday in March, right after her photo shoot. She’s wearing a green jacket, her own Tarte lip kit, a white activewear top, light-wash jeans, and a silver Lucky cherries belt buckle her stylist picked out — which she loved so much that she considered buying it for herself, before checking its expensive price tag.

The 27-year-old has a new outlook on her career, fame, and, well, life. After a decade in the public eye, the content creator and podcaster, known for her unfiltered story times and wild nights in L.A., is setting boundaries around what she puts online. “I cared so much about money and all the wrong things. I didn’t care why people were viewing, and I didn’t care what they were saying,” she says of her early days in the spotlight. “I thought success was any attention, whether it was good or bad.”

Her fresh start all began with getting Cali sober in 2024, which she says she had no choice but to do. “It was sober era or die,” she says. Mongeau feels like a new person now, and she’s honoring her new chapter with the May 9 launch of her podcast, Brand Safe.

Mid-chat, Mongeau shows me photos of herself on the set of the Hannah Montana 20th-anniversary reunion in Miley Stewart’s fictional Malibu home. Even though she has starred on her own reality show, won Audience Choice Creator of the Year at the Streamy Awards, and sold out theaters worldwide during podcast tours, setting foot in the house from Hannah Montana was her ultimate pinch-me career moment. This isn’t the first time Miley Cyrus’ character has been brought up today — and it makes sense. Mongeau also spent her teenage years in the spotlight.

I, at the ripe age of 27, just learned about boundaries.

In 2015, she started posting on YouTube to “feel seen and heard.” Mongeau has been open about her strained relationship with her parents while growing up in Las Vegas, which ultimately led her to drop out of high school in 10th grade and move out. “I was not raised normally,” she said in a 2018 YouTube video, and later shared on Therapuss that she fully “fell out” with them. Posting on social media became a form of escapism and a chance for Mongeau to succeed. “It wasn’t until I found YouTube that I ever thought I would be in the limelight,” she says.

Since finding virality at 17, Mongeau has been living her own version of Hannah Montana, reveling in that spotlight she once thought was out of reach while remaining unapologetically herself. As a self-described “chronic yapper,” Mongeau drew fans in with her raw stories that were almost always over 10 minutes long. She’d leave no detail behind, even if it was embarrassing or would later make her a meme. (See: her “bleach and tone” hair salon mishap.)

That “no f*cks given” lifestyle followed her to L.A. in 2017, marked by public relationships, messy feuds with fellow influencers, and a party-hard mentality that the internet ate up. It continued when she started the Cancelled podcast with her bestie Brooke Schofield in 2021, where the two detailed their drunken escapades and influencer drama — until they called it quits last year.

In 2024, rumors of a falling-out between the two BFFs began to circulate. A year later, Schofield shared on The Viall Files that, 40–50% of the time, while working on the podcast, they weren’t getting along. For the “expense of our mental health,” Mongeau says, she and Schofield made the decision to close that chapter. “I had a lot of fun during the Cancelled podcast and sharing absolutely everything on social media my whole career, but I really lost my peace for the last time.”

Now, she sees things differently. “I thought I needed to rely on the chaos to be successful, but my fans showed me that they would be there no matter what — even if I dialed it back and enjoyed having more personal thoughts rather than firing at all cylinders all the time.” Don’t worry about Mongeau and Schofield’s friendship, though. It’s in a much better place post-podcast. “I’m so proud of both Brooke and I for coming out of this mentally healthier and moving on.”

Mongeau still delights in sharing her day-to-day life with her 20 million followers across platforms, but now she’s picking and choosing what goes out into the world. “I learned the importance of my platform, and that not everyone and everything needs to be aired out for attention,” she says. “I, at the ripe age of 27, just learned about boundaries.” Basically, she’s getting more comfortable being Miley versus Hannah.

Her boyfriend Makoa, who’s private, also taught her about separating her personal life from what goes online. “Makoa was the first person who’s like, ‘Maybe don’t post that. Maybe we keep that photo for us,” she says. “He has definitely taught me the value of integrity, discretion, and protection.”

Mongeau’s Brand Safe podcast will not only have her flying solo but also feature less salacious topics. “Cancelled was very special in the regard that I was detailing and spilling all of the wild secrets of my life in Hollywood with my best friend,” she says. “We had a great time, but my life has changed so much now.”

For one, social media stats used to run Mongeau’s life. “A lot of people see you as a number, as a metric, as a thumbnail, and nothing more than that,” she says. “Someone will be there every time to exploit you, and then not be there for you when you need them. I used to be much more OK with surrounding myself in those environments.”

“It’s so easy to place your self-worth in metrics with the job that I have,” she continues. “Now I'm at a point where I care so much more about substance, doing good, and taking the lessons from all of the times that I fell to help young girls and be a role model. People might not believe you at first, but you can get there.”

Her days are often split between Los Angeles, Las Vegas, and Hawaii (where Makoa is from). When she finally gets a bit of time to herself, Mongeau says, “I want to just sit down and yap in my bed about the things I’ve learned.” On Brand Safe, Mongeau will candidly detail her sobriety journey while also interviewing people who interest her (“even if it’s not for numbers”).

I want this new era to feel like you’re curling up in bed with me and we’re having a deep life talk at 2 a.m.

She shares that she’s already recorded “a lot of episodes” with some of her best friends. “There are some that may never see the light of day,” she says. “I’ll find myself saying some wild sh*t, and I’m like, ‘Hold on, OK, this isn't Cancelled, relax.’ But I want people to feel like they’re entering my phone, Notes app, group chat, and Instagram DMs. I want this new era to feel like you’re curling up in bed with me and we’re having a deep life talk at 2 a.m.”

Trisha Paytas may even make an appearance on Brand Safe. The two have grown close in recent years, cohosting the weekly podcast Not Loveline, which covers love, sex, and dating. “She is everything I ever needed, and our friendship makes me believe in the universe,” Mongeau says. “If we had come into each other’s lives at any other time, it wouldn’t have been as necessary and incredible as it is right now.”

Mongeau jokes that she loves being able to enter the “Trisha Paytas bubble.” If Mongeau is like a real-life Hannah Montana, Paytas is Glinda from Wicked. (“Everything is pink and bedazzled and positive.”) The two are oftentimes polar opposites. “I lean naturally pessimistic, and Trisha is the biggest optimist,” so Mongeau is reminded to look on the bright side when she’s around Paytas. “She is just my ultimate hype woman, and I’m very grateful.”

Despite her self-proclaimed cynicism, Mongeau brings a lightness to the room. At one point, while getting ready, she looked around at her all-woman entourage and proudly said, “I love you all so much.” Even as we chat on the couch, she beams as we get sidetracked talking about Hannah Montana, Vegas recommendations for my trip in May, and Chili’s — which is the brand Mongeau wants to work with the most in her new era.

“If I ask for Chili’s one more time, it’s just pathetic,” she says. She doesn’t really need to beg for partnerships anymore, though. Recently, Mongeau has worked with brands like Tarte, Medicube, Jack in the Box, SeatGeek, Palmers, and White Fox.

“I never thought that even one of these brands would claim me, let alone all of these brands,” she says. “I wake up every day and feel a little bit of impostor syndrome, but I’m so grateful that people are giving me a new chance.”