MrBeast is the most followed creator on YouTube. The influencer, whose real name is James Stephen "Jimmy" Donaldson, started posting on YouTube as a 13-year-old, creating video game playthroughs and videos where he would estimate the net worth of his fellow content creators. Today, MrBeast is a self-made billionaire, with an estimated net worth of at least $1 billion, per CelebrityNetWorth.com and other reports.
But, he doesn't do it all alone. Jimmy is engaged to fellow internet personality, Thea Booysen. Here's everything HELLO! knows about the 28-year-old set to help steward MrBeast's media empire.
© InstagramThea is a South African content creator
MrBeast's fiancée was born and raised in Cape Town. And like Jimmy, Thea is a gamer and YouTuber, though her account has far less followers. On YouTube, where she goes by TheaBeasty, Thea has nearly 40,000 followers. She is an esports commentator and a gamer.
Thea's career started in 2016. Soon after, she became a co-owner of a South African esports organization called Nixuh.
© InstagramShe holds three degrees
While building her gaming career, Thea also earned three degrees. She has a bachelor's in law and an honors in psychology from Stellenbosch University. And two years ago, she continued her education when she received her masters in human cognitive neuropsychology from the University of Edinburgh in Scotland.
Thea celebrated her graduation with a series of photos of herself and Jimmy posing in Edinburgh. MrBeast admires his fiancée's desire to keep learning, explaining on the Lex Fridman Podcast: "She has a genuine love of learning, and that's something that I have. I'm always learning and improving [with her]."
© Getty ImagesThea and Jimmy met in her home country
In 2022, Thea told the Wide Awake Podcast that she met MrBeast "by accident." She continued: "Jimmy was coming down to South Africa with Logan Paul and Casey Neistat and they had a video they wanted to film in Antarctica. Everybody got COVID so they had to cancel the video and stay in South Africa a little bit longer."
During his stay in South Africa, Jimmy dined with one of Thea's friends and she happened to stop by. And the rest is history!
"The fact that he could keep up with the conversation to me was very attractive because you have to have a certain amount of interest and intellect," Thea said.
© InstagramThea is a novelist
Outside of gaming and studying human cognitive neuropsychology, Thea is also a published author. In 2022, the same year she met MrBeast, she published her debut young adult novel, The Marked Children, which has a 4.18 rating on GoodReads.
Thea started writing the novel while in high school, and told the Expresso Show: "It feels surreal, in all honesty, having it go from the PC and the word documents to paper feels really nice."
© InstagramThea and MrBeast got engaged in December 2024
After two years of dating, with a good portion of their relationship being long-distance, the couple got engaged. Jimmy asked Thea to marry him on Christmas Day while they opened presents.
"For the very last present he asked me to close my eyes because it was a surprise," Booysen told People, with MrBeast adding: "I intentionally dropped a large box to make noise before presenting the real gift — with the ring inside — to her. And then I went down on a knee and proposed."
While they have yet to tie the knot, they both want the ceremony to be "very private" so that "not many fans [find] the location and [walk] up."
