Tila Tequila is an American model and television personality who first rose to fame after establishing herself on MySpace. She gained further recognition for her regular appearance on several hit television shows.

Tequila is multitalented and has made a name for herself in many professions. In addition to being a model and TV star, she is also a singer, songwriter, actor, social media influencer, blogger, and writer.

Her popularity grew in 2007 when Tequila began appearing in the hit show “A Shot at Love with Tila Tequila.” That series lasted for two seasons and became MTV’s second-highest-rated show premiere of 2007. Following the success, Tequila started participating in some major projects.

Tila Tequila Biography

Early Life

Tila “Tequila” Nguyen was (born on October 24th, 1981) to Vietnamese parents in Singapore. Her family immigrated to Houston, Texas, when she was one year old. Tequila grew up in the gated Buddhist community alongside her two older siblings, her brother Daniel and sister Terri.

Her father worked as a dishwasher, while her mother worked as a seamstress. The family spent the next few years in Houston until Tequila turned eight. While studying in high school, she found herself joining a gang as well as using drugs.

At 16, Tila ran away from home and wound up in Queens, New York City, for several months. Eventually, her family was able to convince her to return to Houston. In 2000, she graduated from Alief Hastings High School.

Career

Upon graduation, she developed an interest in modeling and then moved to California to pursue her career. She briefly attended college but later dropped out. While spending some time in one of Houston’s shopping malls, she caught the attention of a Playboy talent scout at 19.

She participated in a test shoot for the publication. Soon, Tila headed to LA and became Playboy’s Cyber Girl of the Week in April 2002. She earned herself the honor of becoming the first-ever Asian Cyber Girl of the Month.

Tila formed a rock band, “Beyond Betty Jean,” at age 20. She continued to act as a songwriter and singer for the band, but that band eventually disbanded. She began working on her singing and writing skills in the recording studio.

Tila then moved on to the band “Jealousy” where she became the lead artist. That group didn’t exactly last, so in 2003, she joined VH1’s reality show “Surviving Nugent” alongside rockstar Ted Nugent.

In the fall of 2003, she turned herself into a MySpace sensation. She began uploading her content and soon earned herself millions of friends on the platform. She was also given the nickname “Queen” of MySpace in 2006.

Before this, she also appeared on the covers of magazines and at car shows with the help of the import racing scene. In April 2006, Tila got an opportunity to host the first season of the dance show “Pants-Off Dance-Off,” which aired on Fuse TV.

The following year, she dropped her first song, “I Love U,” on iTunes. From that point forward, Tila continued to release more music, including five songs and two solo extended plays. 2007 was the big year for Tila when she appeared on the NBC show “Identity.” “The War at Home.”

That same year, she played in the film “I Now Pronounce You Chuck and Larry.” She was able to anchor her very own reality series, MTV’s “A Shot At Love with Tila Tequila.” The tila tequila dating show was a daily competition with a bisexual twist. The series attracted as many as 6.2 million viewers at its peak.

The show was canceled after its second season when winner Kristy Morgan declined her Shot At Love with Tila Tequila. She continued to release the occasional new songs like “Stripper Friends” and “and “I Love My DJ.”

Tila published her book, “Hooking Up with Tila Tequila: A Guide to Love, Fame, Happiness, Success, and Being the Life of the Party” in 2008.

In 2010, she dropped her last name and changed her name to Miss Tila. She launched her record label, “Little Miss Trendsetter,” and released her new single, which didn’t receive positive reviews.

In May of that year, she found a new work for herself, “MissTilaOMG.com,” a celebrity gossip blog. Along with launching this blog, she released her new EP, “Welcome to the Darkside.” The project needed to gain positive reviews.

In 2017, Tila legally changed her name to Tornado Thein and founded a YouTube channel. Under her new name, she started selling artwork online in 2018.

Personal Life

From 2007 to 2008, Tila was in a relationship with internet personality Bobby Banhart. However, Bobby denied their relationship by saying on MySpace that the two had never dated.

She also briefly dated Courtenay Smell, the daughter of the former CEO of Yahoo! Inc., Terry Semel. In 2009, Tila got engaged to heiress Casey Johnson. But Casey passed away in 2010 after battling with diabetes.

In 2013, Tila started dating a musician, Thomas Paxton Whitaker. In November 2014, she gave birth to her first daughter, Isabella Monroe. However, Tila’s relationship with Thomas ended earlier that year. She also welcomed her second child, Annabelle, in September 2018.

Tila Tequila Net Worth

Tila Tequila is an American model and TV personality with a net worth of $700,000. She gained fame through her presence on MySpace and regular appearances on hit TV shows. With most of her income coming from the television industry, Tila Tequila is a well-known figure in the entertainment world.

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