Those who are familiar with Lil Tay – aka Claire Hope – would already know that this viral personality isn’t afraid to flaunt her lavish lifestyle (or the appearance of a lavish lifestyle, at least).

Tay rose to fame around five years ago when videos of her bragging about how her “kitchen is bigger than your entire living room” and her “toilet costs more than your momma’s rent” broke the internet, per The Cut. The youngster also donned Gucci and Louis Vuitton belts strapped across her body.

So, who is the now 16-year-old exactly – and how did she get here?

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Lil Tay’s background

According to People magazine, Lil Tay was born Claire Eileen Qi Hope in 2007. She was raised in Vancouver, Canada, by her parents Angela Tian, a property agent, and Christopher Hope, a lawyer. The couple, who split in Tay’s younger years, shared custody of their daughter. Tay also has a half-brother, Jason Tian, who was seemingly coaching some of his sibling’s outrageous viral videos, as seen in one clip back in May 2018.

The road to fame

Although Tay started posting her videos in late 2017, it wouldn’t be until a few months later, in 2018, when the youngster started gaining traction online for her seemingly OTT luxury lifestyle.

In the videos, she posted snippets showing off expensive cars, mansions and cash. As her follower count increased, she started working with other content creators like Jake Paul and Diplo.

Lil Tay, exposed

Ever since Lil Tay sprang into the spotlight, many netizens questioned her origins and the source of her wealth. An 11-year-old with a sports car? Really?

Well, it all came crashing down when news surfaced that Angela, Tay’s mother, was reportedly fired from her job as a property agent. Her former boss revealed that the cars and houses used in Tay’s videos did not actually belong to her, stated CapitalXtra.

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Her “mysterious” disappearance from the internet

Tay seemed to disappear off the face of the internet during the summer of 2018, the same year she went viral, per Distractify.

Insider stated that Harry Tsang, her manager at the time, claimed that there was a rebrand underway. Later, claims of alleged abuse from her father were posted to Tay’s Instagram account, but her mother stated that the account had been hacked, per Insider.

The “fake death”

In August, the world was shocked when Lil Tay’s Instagram account announced that the youngster had passed away. When publications like People magazine tried to reach out to her parents, her mum replied with: “Given the sensitive nature of the situation, we have no comment at this time,” while Tay’s father stated, “I don’t have any comment.” The LAPD said that they had no record of the alleged death, per People.

One day later, after the post was deleted, TMZ confirmed that she was very much alive, claiming that her Instagram account was “compromised by a third party”.

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The resurrection of Lil Tay – and her K-pop era?

Whether it was a PR stunt or not is hard to say, but one thing’s for sure: Lil Tay is back. Or as she puts it in one Instagram post, “Y’all b****es thought the show was over.”

In her latest music video, the 16-year-old flaunts her dancing and singing skills while posing next to – surprise, surprise – more luxury cars, cash and mansions.

As Koreaboo puts it, the self-proclaimed “youngest flexer of the century” might be in her K-pop phase – and she’s here to stay.