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MrBeast has found his MrsBeast.
The world's most popular YouTuber — real name Jimmy Donaldson — has announced his engagement to his girlfriend Thea Booysen.
In an Instagram post on New Year's Day, the 26-year-old shared images of his proposal, writing: "Ya boy did a thing."
A carousel of photos shows Donaldson, dressed in a Christmas sweater, down on one knee, as well as a close-up of Booysen with her new ring.
With over 341 million YouTube subscribers, MrBeast has become a household name in recent years.
But Booysen — a fellow YouTuber with almost 40,000 subscribers on her channel TheaBeasty — may be less familiar. Here's what we know about her and the proposal.
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According to People, the pair crossed paths for the first time in 2022 while Donaldson was visiting Booysen's home country of South Africa.
A mutual friend had invited Booysen along to dinner with Donaldson, and it seems the pair quickly hit it off, with Donaldson saying they "vibed instantly."
"When I met him, I was quite surprised how down-to-earth he was, and also how intelligent he was," Booysen told People, adding that she was "surprised to see that he's actually a nice guy."
Donaldson added: "I knew within the first few minutes of meeting that I wanted the chance to date her. Thankfully, she also felt a strong connection."
Like Donaldson, Booysen, 27, is also a content creator.
She typically posts gaming playthrough videos of action role-playing games like "The Witcher" and "League of Legends," going by the online moniker "TheaBeasty."
Booysen also has another YouTube account titled More Than Human, where she posts videos on psychology. She announced in November that she had graduated from the University of Edinburgh with a Master's degree in Human Cognitive Neuropsychology.
Dave Kotinsky/Getty Images and Thea Booysen via YouTube
Booysen also launched her debut young adult fiction novel, "The Marked Children," in August 2022.
After Donaldson's trip to South Africa ended, he reportedly began speaking to Booysen online.
What began with an inquiry about the book she was writing turned into a three-hour phone call, People reported.
Following that, Donaldson returned to South Africa, and the two "started dating the moment he arrived," per Booysen.
"I fell in love with his brain. To me [that's] everything — your brain, your drive, your discipline, your character, that's everything to me," she said.
Speaking on the "Wide Awake Podcast" in 2022, Booysen said that she eventually decided to apply for a US visa to visit Donaldson in Greenville, North Carolina, where the YouTuber is based.
The couple made their first public appearance at the Kids' Choice Awards in 2022, where Donaldson was awarded a prize for "Favorite Male Creator."
Booysen later shared a picture of herself with Donaldson at the event on Instagram, calling it an "amazing night."
Donaldson became embroiled in a string of controversies last year.
In August 2024, The New York Times reported on safety concerns surrounding the production of his Prime Video show, "Beast Games."
Clips of Donaldson using insensitive language also resurfaced online, and he separately cut ties with an employee who was accused of sending inappropriate messages to a minor.
Booysen stood by Donaldson's side amid the uproar.
Indy100 reported that Booysen responded to a comment on one of her YouTube videos that told her to "get away from the Beast as soon as you can," writing: "I appreciate the message. There is so much that is not being said, I wish I could talk more about the situation. Half the things that are said are not true. I wouldn't be with him if they were. It is so important to me to be a good person."
Speaking to People, Donaldson said that he planned a "really private and intimate" proposal.
"My friends thought I would want to propose in a very public way, like some sort of spectacle at the Super Bowl or somewhere else really big like that, but I knew that I wanted it to be the opposite," he said.
Donaldson proposed to Booysen on Christmas Day while the pair were at home surrounded by family.
"My family flew out from South Africa for Christmas and we were going to do Christmas in our house so both families were here. We were opening presents, and then for the very last present he asked me to close my eyes because it was a surprise," Booysen said.
The couple are now considering an island wedding "far away from just about everybody," she continued. "We're not going to try and have a big, extravagant wedding. It's going to be nice, but it's certainly going to be intimate [with] close family and friends."
