Is Influencer Tana Mongeau Really Adopted? Find Out What Happened to Her Family

Internet personalities are known to embellish or sometimes flat-out lie in order to create new and interesting content. It's because of that unflattering reputation that many honest influencers get caught up in that perception, even when they're telling the truth.

Tana Mongeau is an example of one of those incidents, and we're about to find out which one. The influencer has claimed she is adopted, but many people say that's false. Here's the truth...

It seems that Tana wasn't lying, but she perhaps could have clarified a bit better. The influencer has not been legally adopted, but considers her best friend, Imari Stuart's family, to be her adoptive family. Tana has often spoken about the fact that, although no legal action was taken, she spent all her time with Imari's family since her early teen years.

In a sweet Easter social media post referencing the family in question, Tana showed clips of herself and her "adoptive" family enjoying the day's festivities. The text overlay reads, "Holidays used to mean fights and fast food, if I was lucky. Getting adopted was the best thing to ever happen to me."

As one supportive commentator pointed out, "Family isn’t always blood. This makes me so happy." Someone else shared their own story with, "I feel this in the deepest parts of me. Adoption saved my life."

Unfortunately, per Tana, her biological family created a volatile upbringing, which is why she spent so much time in the Stuart household. According to the influencer, her parents, Rick and Rebecca, sued her for slander after she shared some childhood stories and remarks about their parenting with her audience.

Tana revealed that, in a decision to prioritize her mental health and emotional well-being, she chose to settle out of court and pay her parents off. After that, Tana cut off contact with them altogether.

As one YouTube commentator put it, "Resenting your own child for surviving your bad parenting and then doing well for themselves is on another level. Hope karma is anything but kind." Interestingly, it seems they got their wish, as Tana recently learned that her mother is ill.

When Tana's parents called her with the news, the influencer responded perfectly with, "You don't know me, and I don't know you anymore." She went on to describe her feeling of "devastation" on her mother's behalf for the choices her mom made and the consequences that have come from them. Generously, Tana also hoped her mother would get a fresh, happier start in another life.

She further shared that her father asked her to come see her mother and try to reconcile one last time. However, Tana put up a boundary and insisted that she would not go see her parents. In fact, Tana had an unrelated trip to Las Vegas, where her parents are located, scheduled just a few days after the call, but chose to protect her peace rather than see them.

In a particularly poignant statement, Tana revealed that she told her parents, "I want both of you to know that I genuinely forgive you from the bottom of my heart. There's not a part of me now, at 27 years old, that holds any anger and resentment." She further clarified, "I hold a lot of reality. I know what the reality is. But I don't hold any anger or resentment towards you. ... I want to let you know that I'm so happy with the woman I've become and the life that I've made for myself."

While Tana chose herself over the parents who allegedly harmed her, she certainly has Erashe and Debra Stuart by her side. As for siblings, Tana is an only child in the biological sense. That said, she often refers to Imari as her brother and has called other close friends, Ashly Schwan and Isabella Fusco, her sisters. Far from being alone, Tana has a beautiful chosen family.