Who Are Lil Tay's Parents? Here's What We Know About Christopher Hope and Angela Tian

The Gist:

• Lil Tay was born on July 29, 2007, and rose to fame in 2018 for her controversial videos.
• The internet sensation and rapper was part of a viral death hoax in August 2023.
• Her parents, Christopher Hope and Angela Tian, have been involved in a bitter custody battle.

In August 2023, it was announced on social media that teen influencer Lil Tay had reportedly died at 14. A message appeared on Lil Tay's Instagram page claiming that Lil Tay (real name Tay Tian, but previously reported as Claire Eileen Qi Hope) and her brother had passed away.

However, her death was quickly revealed to be a hoax.

So, who are the parents who raised the teen rapper who amassed a huge following by sharing expletive-laced rants and showing off her lavish lifestyle? Here’s everything we know about Lil Tay’s parents, Christopher Hope and Angela Tian.

After being thrust into internet fame in 2018, Lil Tay’s parents faced immense criticism for their daughter’s use of explicit language. The rapper appeared alongside her mother, Angela, on Good Morning America that year and responded to the backlash.

"I’m a proud mom. I’m a great parent,” Angela said. “Also, my daughter has accomplished so much by herself.” For her part, Lil Tay emphasized that her parent were not “forcing” her to create online content.

Lil Tay was born and raised in Vancouver. According to The U.S. Sun, Angela worked as a real estate agent prior to Lil Tay’s rise to popularity. Angela moved Lil Tay and her brother to Los Angeles to further the rapper’s public career.

However, reports suggest Angela was fired from her job for allowing Lil Tay to record Instagram videos on her client’s properties. Angela has denied the claims, suggesting “I resigned for my daughter’s career and her bright future.”

Meanwhile, her father, Christopher, works as an attorney and author. Christopher and Angela were engulfed in a bitter custody battle, which saw the two make shocking allegations about each other.

Lil Tay disappeared from social media in 2018. Shortly after, Lil Tay’s Instagram account began posting messages that claimed that her father was abusive. In an interview with Hollywood Life, Chris denied the allegations, suggesting instead that Angela was complicit in allowing Lil Tay to participate in dangerous stunts.

“I disagreed with most of the social media activity,” Chris said. He was ultimately granted custody of the teen star, and she was ordered by the court to return to Canada.

For her part, Angela claimed that Chris never wanted a relationship with Lil Tay prior to her viral success and was only interested in gaining custody in order to control the rapper’s wealth.

Following her August 2023 death hoax, Lil Tay claimed it was her father who was behind the hoax.

"My abusive, racist, misogynistic woman beating father faked my death," Lil Tay wrote along with a photo of her dad.

Once again, her father denied the allegations, telling TMZ, "The person who is responsible for that Instagram post, as well as anyone repeating the completely false and libelous accusation within it, are virtually certain to become defendants in a defamation lawsuit."

He continued, "Everything stated is 100 percent false, and I trust that this should be obvious to anyone who knows me or the long history of absurd and untrue statements made by the various people who have controlled the Instagram account."

Lil Tay also took to Instagram in August 2023 to post a message from her lawyers claiming that her mother had full custody of her.

In October 2023, Lil Tay released a video for her new single "Sucker 4 Green." Around the same time, she also went on Instagram Live and reiterated her abuse claims against her dad.

"He is not the f---ing good guy here," she said (per Entertainment Weekly). "He wanted control over my career and my money, and … me and my family had to go through even more years of abuse through the court system because of him. But in the end we won. I am free now. I thank God every day for it. I thank my mom for it."