YouTube star Kris Tyson came out as transgender, and started living her best life
This profile is part of Queerty’s 2023 Out For Good series, recognizing public figures who’ve had the courage to come out and make a difference in the past year.
Name: Kris Tyson, 27
Bio: Kris Tyson is a content creator, best known for appearing in videos on MrBeast‘s massively popular YouTube channel, where she first appeared in 2012.
Since then, Tyson has been blazing her own trail on her journey of self-discovery.
Coming Out: In July 2023, Tyson proudly came out as transgender on Anthony Padilla’s YouTube channel. She ecstatically made the announcement after Padilla commended Tyson for showing up to the interview “fully presenting as a woman.”
“Because I am a woman! She/her!” Tyson beamed with unfiltered joy. “I’ve never said that publicly but I’ve been fully confident in that decision for over a year now.”
In the video, Tyson recalled how she was initially hesitant to come out due to her fame, and was unsure how the public would react.
“I wasn’t quite sure who I was yet, but I knew I was not cisgender. So I needed the freedom to be able to express myself and be able to figure out who I was,” she explained. “For a while, I was trying gender fluid. I was like, ‘What is making me feel like I’m bi-gender? What is tying me to this masculinity?’
“After a lot of talking with a therapist and a lot of self reflection, I realized it was really just this societal pressure of, ‘You’re Chris from MrBeast. You’re the guy that starts the fires. You’re the guy that builds the stuff.’ My whole life I’ve enjoyed doing those things, but I’ve never really felt like ‘the guy.’”
Ultimately, she credits hormone replacement therapy (HRT) for literally saving her life.
“For so long, every day I would go to bed and I would have vivid dreams that I was a woman,” she said. “And I would wake up in the morning and it was just like getting ripped out of a reality that I didn’t want to be taken out of.
“There were times where I would just sleep all day because it was more fun or more enjoyable to do that because the real world, I didn’t feel connected to it.”
Once she started taking HRT, she felt more “mental clarity,” and more connected to her body than ever before.
“It felt like a fog had been around me and just went away, and I could see things clearly and I felt confident in who I was. I knew who I was finally, surely, truly without a shadow of a doubt and that is what really saved my life.”
Since coming out, Tyson said she feels so much more freedom to use her voice and express herself.
“It doesn’t matter now whether I want to express (my thoughts or emotions) now,” she explained. “They just freely come out of me, because I don’t suppress myself anymore.
“And that’s truly the best part… what comes out of my mouth is me now. It’s nobody else influencing me. Nobody telling me I have to be this person. It’s me, coming out.”
On Instagram, days after her interview with Padilla, Tyson celebrated her six-month anniversary of taking HRT.
“The physical changes aren’t the only things that have made me feel so much happier,” Tyson wrote, alongside two side-by-side photos of her self.
“The ability to get out of bed, ready to start the day, the desire to live my life to fullest again, and just being able to look in the mirror and see the woman I’ve always known was inside me finally starting to make her way in the world. Every day living your life your own way is the best day every day.”
We couldn’t be more thrilled for Kris, and what lies ahead for her! Here’s to living your best life with continued joy and happiness.
