- Tana Mongeau and Noah Cyrus have been hinting that they're in some sort of a relationship for months.
- Between flirty social media posts and Mongeau's "husband" Jake Paul saying he approved of Mongeau and Cyrus hooking up, it's been clear that something is going on between the two.
- Mongeau seemingly confirmed that she and Cyrus were dating on December 3, when she uploaded a vlog titled "I took my girlfriend's phone and flirted with my best friend," referring to Cyrus' phone.
- But Cyrus posted on her Instagram story that the two were "just friends," and Mongeau changed the title of the video to "I took Noah's phone." In late September on "The Zach Sang Show,"Cyrus also said she and Mongeau were just friends, but that the two "could be" in an official relationship in the future.
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If you've been following YouTuber Tana Mongeau and singer Noah Cyrus for the past few months, it's clear that something is up between the two. Constant innuendos, hangouts, flirting, and hinting at something more than friendship reached its peak on December 3, when Mongeau uploaded a vlog describing Cyrus as her girlfriend.
But Cyrus then posted on her Instagram story that the two were just friends. So what is the truth?
It's unclear, but here's a thorough breakdown of the "friendship" between the YouTuber and the Cyrus sibling.
Tana Mongeau didn't immediately respond to Insider's request for comment.
Earlier this year, Mongeau accused Cyrus of hating her in a "storytime" video about their mutual ex, the rapper Lil Xan.
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At the beginning of 2019, Mongeau and Cyrus weren't close. They weren't even friends. In fact, Mongeau uploaded a 46-minute "storytime" video about Cyrus hating her.
To summarize, Mongeau spent most of the video describing a dramatic, secretive fling with the rapper Lil Xan, who Cyrus very publicly dated and had a messy breakup with. But she noted that she saw Lil Xan with Cyrus at the 2018 Video Music Awards (where Lil Xan and Cyrus took that iconic, awkward red carpet photo).
Mongeau said Lil Xan ran over to her at the event, and Cyrus approached them looking very unhappy to see the two together. Mongeau also said she had heard that Cyrus hated her from unnamed sources.
Cyrus then tweeted at Mongeau to tell her she didn't hate her, and that she wanted to hang out.
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lol this is hilarious i deff dont hate you and for sure turned the opposite direction of you no shoulder check. lets hangout and talk about how bitchy girls are to other girls @tanamongeau dm me 👅👅👅
Luckily for Mongeau, Cyrus quickly cleared the air. After the video debuted, the singer tweeted "lol this is hilarious i deff dont hate you and for sure turned the opposite direction of you no shoulder check."
Cyrus added that the two should "hangout and talk about how bitchy girls are to other girls @tanamongeau dm me."
As a side note, this isn't the first time Mongeau has accused another woman of hating her for having a mutual fling or ex, only for that woman and her to become some sort of item. That was also the origin story of her friendship-turned-relationship with Bella Thorne.
For a few months after that, Mongeau was preoccupied with her whirlwind romance, engagement, and "marriage" to Jake Paul.
It's unclear whether Mongeau took Cyrus up on her offer immediately, but any romantic prospects were overtaken that summer by the YouTuber's whirlwind, and at least partially staged, relationship with fellow influencer Jake Paul.
Mongeau and Paul got engaged in late June and got "married" a month later, although the wedding wasn't legally binding, so they're not technically married. The two are still calling each other husband and wife for now, but the so-called marriage has been rife with cheating rumors.
In a recent Q&A video, Mongeau said Paul decided their "marriage" was open, although that wasn't what she wanted. She said she would want to be exclusive with Paul if he wanted that too, but she doesn't think it will ever happen.
In early September, Mongeau and Cyrus started to hang out and post flirty social media updates about each other.
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Perhaps spurned on by the cheating rumors, Mongeau started posting innuendos about her relationship with Cyrus pretty soon after the two started publicly hanging out.
In September, Cyrus shared a flirty video of her and Mongeau with the caption "tana tastes like skittles.. what?" The line is a play off the song "Betrayed" by Lil Xan." Cyrus also captioned an Instagram story of her with Mongeau with "sorry jakey."
The general understanding of the posts was that Cyrus and Mongeau had started hooking up, which had some fans asking whether it was hypocritical of Mongeau to call Paul out for cheating that summer.
Paul even endorsed the pairing in an interview, clarifying that his marriage with Mongeau was open.
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In an interview with "Entertainment Tonight" a few days later, Paul addressed the relationship between Mongeau and Cyrus and said he would be totally fine with them hooking up, because his marriage to Mongeau was "open."
He even suggested that the three could be in a throuple (three people dating each other) of sorts. While Mongeau says she doesn't like that her marriage is open, she's not opposed to open relationships in general. When Mongeau dated Thorne, Thorne was dating the artist Mod Sun at the same time.
In an interview on "The Zach Sang Show," Cyrus addressed the rumors and said she and Mongeau weren't dating.
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After Paul issued his blessings, Cyrus had her own response to the rumors during an interview on "The Zach Sang Show." She first shot down Paul's suggestion that there would be any kind of a throuple, as well as his assessment that she was the one trying to initiate a hook-up with Mongeau.
Mongeau actually FaceTime called her way into the interview at one point, and the two said "I love you" to each other. When Sang pressed for more details, Cyrus clarified that they weren't dating but acknowledged that "it could be" more serious in the future.
But within days, Cyrus confirmed that her and Mongeau's pairing was called "nana" and "not toah."
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Despite being "just friends," Cyrus has still fed into the fan theories that she and Mongeau are hooking up and even that they're secretly dating. Fans of the pairing were referring to it as "Toah"– a mash-up of their names – and Cyrus clarified on Instagram that it was "Nana."
And the pair were photographed holding hands in early October, sparking even more rumors.
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Things seemingly got even more blatant in early October, when Mongeau and Cyrus were photographed holding hands out and about in LA.
Mongeau posted an eyebrow-raising Instagram caption about her and Cyrus at the Knott's Scary Farm Halloween event.
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Around this time, Cyrus and Mongeau began appearing regularly in each other's social media posts, especially Instagram stories. They were clearly spending a lot of time together, with Cyrus in particular getting to know all of Mongeau's friends.
On a visit to the Knott's Scary Farm Halloween event at Knott's Berry Farm, Mongeau posted a set of photos with Cyrus, including one of them in the bathroom together – but nothing that made it clear whether they were dating or still just friends.
The caption read "we might've had the most fun in the bathroom tho hahahahahahaha," which again, could really be interpreted either way, although it was definitely cheeky. Paul, for what it's worth, commented "hot."
Then, on her second Instagram account, Mongeau posted a photo of the two kissing, sort of.
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A few days after her main Instagram post, Mongeau posted a different picture of her with Cyrus to her second Instagram account, @tanatookthese, where she posts film camera photos.
That picture showed the two kissing – sort of. They're not fully kissing. It's again similar to how Mongeau's relationship with Thorne progressed. She posted a picture of her and Thorne doing the exact same thing shortly before the couple confirmed that they were dating.
The two continued to spend a lot of time together publicly.
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Cyrus posted her first Instagram photo with Mongeau on October 14, and the two continued to make frequent appearances on each other's social media profiles.
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"stop being such a yeast infection tana. just get the fuck over to my house already". -me just now on the phone with @tanamongeau🥰🥰🥰🥰🥰
On December 3, Mongeau posted a vlog titled "I took my girlfriend's phone and flirted with my best friend," referring to Cyrus.
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Most recently, it seemed like Mongeau confirmed her relationship with Cyrus for real, in the form of a YouTube vlog titled. On her vlog channel, Mongeau uploaded"I took my girlfriend's phone and flirted with my best friend. prank????" in which she uses Cyrus' phone to text one of her good friends.
Since she acknowledged that Cyrus was her girlfriend in the video's title, fans ran with it.
Cyrus clarified on her Instagram story that the two were "friends."
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But the relationship definition quickly deteriorated. Cyrus posted an Instagram story shortly after clarifying that "guysssss. we are FRIENDS relaxxxxxxxxx."
The "relax" part may have been directed at fans who were angry that Mongeau was going to have a girlfriend while still married to Paul, especially after criticizing him for hooking up with other women.
Notably, Mongeau also changed the title of the vlog to "i took Noah's phone and flirted with my best friend. prank????"
Whether it's a stunt, a miscommunication, or an attempt to avoid a scandal, Mongeau and Cyrus have yet to officially define the relationship.
It can be difficult to suss out what's real and what's fake in the love lives of prominent YouTubers – especially with YouTubers like Mongeau and Paul, who openly exaggerate or otherwise distort their relationships for dramatic effect.
A lot of people thought Mongeau's relationship with Thorne was staged, although she adamantly denied that. She also denies that she's not married to Paul, while admitting that the two never signed a marriage license.
It's definitely possible that Mongeau and Cyrus are pulling off a publicity stunt. But based on Mongeau's past relationships, it seems more likely that there is something going on behind-the-scenes and they just have yet to agree on how to define the relationship.
It's even further complicated by the fact that Mongeau and Paul don't seemingly have "divorce" or breakup plans, as per their most recent relationship update. Mongeau and Cyrus may be avoiding telling fans the full extent of their relationship to avoid controversy.
Either way, the two are still clearly very close – at least, for now.