In 2008, Lazzarato began uploading video blogs onto streaming platform YouTube.[3] Her videos achieved popularity and established an online following. During the following years, Lazzarato uploaded regularly to the channel along with creating and starring in the reality programThe Avenue (2011–2013). Following a brief hiatus, she gained media attention after coming out as a transgender woman in 2013, and began going by Gigi Gorgeous.[4][5] During 2014, Lazzarato personally documented her gender transition through social media profiles, notably through videos revolving around cosmetic procedures, which obtained viral status. In 2016, an incident involving Lazzarato being deported from Dubai due to her status as a transgender woman resulted in widespread media coverage. Lazzarato was the subject of This is Everything: Gigi Gorgeous (2017), a Barbara Kopple-directed documentary that followed life going through gender transition. The film premiered at the Sundance Film Festival and went on to have a limited theatrical release and several accolades including a Streamy.
Besides personality work, Lazzarato has dabbled in acting and modeling work. Her performance credits include starring in fellow YouTuber Shane Dawson's short film I Hate Myselfie (2015) and its sequel, along with guest appearances in television series Project Runway All Stars, Me and My Grandma, Good Work, and Trailblazers, amongst others. Through modeling, Lazzarato has appeared on the covers of Paper and Fashion, been featured in spreads for Galore, Kode, Refinery29, and Out and served as a frequent muse of August Getty Atelier. In 2019, she authored the book He Said, She Said: Lessons, Stories, and Mistakes From My Transgender Journey.
Early life
Lazzarato was born in Montreal, Québec, to Judith Lazzarato (née Belding) and David Lazzarato, a media consultant at Yellow Media.[6][7] She is of Italian, Lebanese, English and French heritage.[8]
Lazzarato operated a makeup tutorial YouTube channel that began in 2008 while in the eleventh grade, when a friend mentioned seeing a makeup video by Michelle Phan on YouTube.[14] Lazzarato first came out as gay at age 19.[3][15] Since transitioning, her YouTube channel started to include more vlogs, fashion, and lifestyle videos.[16][17]
On January 18, 2011, Lazzarato announced The Avenue, a YouTube-based reality series. The show premiered on March 15 of that year on YouTube with distribution by Blip. The show's last episode aired on April 14, 2013.
2014–16: Gender transition and appearances
Lazzarato was awarded the LogoTV Trailblazing Social Creator Award in 2014 for being an advocate on behalf of LGBT youth. She frequently attends BeautyCon conventions to meet with fans and sit in on panels about makeup techniques and the cosmetics industry.[18] Lazzarato modeled for designer Marco Marco and walked in the 2014 and 2015 Marco Marco Fashion Shows.[19]
In early 2015, Lazzarato starred in fellow YouTuber Shane Dawson's debut short film I Hate Myselfie as Amber. Lazzarato later reprised the role of Amber in I Hate Myselfie 2.[24]
In June 2015, it was announced that Lazzarato had teamed up with singer Miley Cyrus and had joined Cyrus' Happy Hippie Foundation's Marie Claire "#InstaPride" campaign.[25] The campaign included a series of photos and an announcement by Cyrus that they were working on a secret project. The project later turned out to be a spread in the magazine Marie Claire featuring them both.[26][27] Gigi signed a partnership with 'Too Faced Cosmetics' in which she starred in the cosmetic commercial film "Better Than Sex" which premiered on July 9, 2015. At the 2015 MTV Video Music Awards, Lazzarato, along with a group of drag queens, introduced Miley Cyrus for the debut performance of "Dooo It!" from Cyrus's new album Miley Cyrus and her Dead Petz.
She appeared on Entertainment Tonight as a special guest that same month.[28] Gigi was featured in Kylie Jenner's app "Kylie", that features several make-up tip videos.[29] On September 18, she won the Streamy Award for "Best Beauty Series".[30] It was announced on October 7 that she would star in Adam Lambert's video for her song "Another Lonely Night".[31][32]
2016: Dubai incident
On August 9, 2016, Lazzarato was detained in the United Arab Emirates. Her passport was taken by airport officials and immigration officers at the Dubai International Airport. She was denied entry to Dubai for "imitation of women by men", despite the fact that, as confirmed by Lazzarato, "the gender on [her] passport states female and not male." The "imitation of women by men" is illegal in the UAE, and violators can face up to a year in jail.[33] She was released after being detained for five hours.[34][35]
The "#JusticeForGigi" hashtag surfaced on Twitter, with fans and supporters calling for her release and a reform in anti-LGBTQ laws.[36] It was not the first time a transgender person had been detained in Dubai. In 2014, two Brazilian transgender women were also detained and had their passports taken.[37] Before leaving Dubai for Sweden, Lazzarato responded to the incident by calling for equality and legal protections for LGBTQ people.[38]
In June 2017, Lazzarato was named to the Time magazine list of the 25 most influential people on the Internet.[40]
In 2019, Lazzarato published a memoir, titled He Said, She Said: Lessons, Stories, and Mistakes From My Transgender Journey.[41] In October 2019, she announced a makeup collection coming out with Ipsy in November 2019. The collection features various beauty products related to makeup.
In October 2014, Lazzarato began dating Cory Binney, the half-brother of drag queen Alaska Thunderfuck, after meeting at a club. The pair first broke up in May or June 2015, inspiring one of her most viewed videos titled "Single Life (My Break Up)", a music video to "What the Hell" by Avril Lavigne. They got back together in July 2015 before permanently splitting in November 2015.[44][45]
Lazzarato came out as a lesbian in a YouTube video on September 14, 2016.[46] She began dating Nats Getty, an heir and member of the Getty family, shortly after meeting him at Paris Fashion Week in 2016 while working as a model for Getty's brother, August Getty.[47] In March 2018, Getty proposed to Lazzarato at the Château de Vaux-le-Vicomte in France.[48] On July 12, 2019, Lazzarato and Getty married in a private ceremony at Rosewood Miramar Beach in Montecito, California.[49][50] On April 9, 2021, shortly after Getty came out as transgender, Lazzarato stated that she is pansexual, explaining that she "didn't fall in love with Nats because of his gender, I fell in love with the person that he is."[51] Getty filed for divorce from Lazzarato on July 2, 2025.[52]
Transition
Lazzarato came out as a transgender woman in December 2013. On March 8, 2014, she legally changed her name to Gigi Loren Lazzarato.[53]
In a September 2015 issue of People, Lazzarato credited "transgender model and performing artist Amanda Lepore and the death of my mother for sparking my transition."[54]
↑ Gorgeous, Gigi (2019), "Relationships Are Great Until They Suck", He Said, She Said: Lessons, Stories, and Mistakes From My Transgender Journey, United States: Harmony Books, pp.194–199, ISBN978-0-525-57342-5
↑ Gigi Gorgeous (September 14, 2016). "I'm a Lesbian – Gigi". Archived from the original on September 21, 2016. Retrieved September 14, 2016– via YouTube.
↑ "The Ontario Gazette"(PDF). The Ontario Gazette = Gazette de l'Ontario. Vol.147–10. Ministry of Government Services. Queen's Printer for Ontario. March 8, 2014. p.572. ISSN0030-2937. Archived(PDF) from the original on March 2, 2016. Retrieved February 11, 2021.
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