Popular Mukbang YouTuber Tzuyang Reveals Years of Domestic Abuse

Content warning: This article mentions domestic abuse and suicide.

If you're familiar with the concept of a "mukbang" — a video in which the host eats large quantities of food in front of their audience — then you've probably seen the face of South Korean YouTuber Tzuyang. Tzuyang is a star in the genre, with over 10 million subscribers on her channel, and around 1 million views on each video. Fans love her kind personality and the exotic foods she tries.

However, Tzuyang recently made headlines for a different reason. In a livestream posted to her YouTube channel on July 10, 2024, the creator shared some heavy details of her personal life, leaving fans reeling. Here's what we know.

In her emotional livestream, Tzuyang starts by saying that she wanted to address something serious and that she had turned on the broadcast abruptly and wasn't able to prepare a script.

She then goes on to explain that her longtime partner had been physically abusing her. "He would hit me with objects, blunt objects, like an umbrella," she says. "He would hit my body because it would be too obvious in the face ... I was really weak at the time."

Tzuyang fights off tears as she continues to detail further instances of physical, verbal, and mental abuse. She talks about how she contemplated quitting her career because of her partner's actions, but that she has ultimately decided to move forward with YouTube.

Tzuyang also goes on to explain that her partner had been extorting money, which was stated during the livestream to have been around 4 billion won, or $2.9 million, according to her lawyers.

According to Reuters, "criminal cases had been filed against Tzuyang's former boyfriend but the cases were closed after he took his own life."