How Logan and Jake Paul built a $200m empire… and how suicide scandals and pregnancy stunts actually fueled their success

Minutes into their new fly-on-the-wall HBO reality series, the authentic emotions behind brothers Jake and Logan Paul’s notorious online personas quickly become apparent.

Logan, 29 and one of the biggest superstars in WWE today, has just wrapped up a fiery match against Randy Orton which ended with wrestling legend Orton confronting the younger Paul brother, Jake, who was watching on from ringside.

After getting involved in the pantomime-esque war of words, a pumped-up Jake, 28, is still seething about the encounter when he heads backstage.

‘Bro, he was a weirdo,’ he fumes about Orton back in the locker room. ‘What the f**k is his deal?’

Forget the fact Randy was merely playing a character in the scripted world of wrestling’s billion-dollar soap opera. To Jake, there was nothing artificial about his spat with a fictional villain. This was a personal attack from a ‘full-grown adult wearing a diaper’, he says.

While they are undoubtedly two of the most savvy salesmen on the planet, and 80 percent of their day-to-day lives is consumed by either planning or executing clickable content, the Paul brothers are not faking any feelings for the cameras. They are just obsessed with dominating everything they do.

Logan and Jake Paul’s relentless drive for attention has turned them into global superstars

The Paul brothers have both found love, with Logan engaged to Nina Agdal (left), and Jake set to wed speedskater Jutta Leerdam (right) 

The Paul brothers and their family are the stars of new HBO Max reality series ‘Paul American’

They live and breathe every business venture or sporting challenge they throw themselves into, even if it divides public opinion and defies logic.

When Logan publicly mocked his fight with a 58-year-old Mike Tyson on a podcast last year, Jake instantly called his older brother to express frustration. 

‘You are the closest person to [the fight] and you’re undermining it,’ he says over the phone in the opening episode of Paul American (which is out today). ‘You’re so lost to me brother.’

‘Who is your “yes man”? I’m not that,’ Logan responds. ‘Get other people to tell you it’s gonna be a good fight against Mike Tyson.’

Perhaps not unusually for two brothers of a similar age, the heated discussion then turns spiteful. 

‘You don’t even have a single f****ng friend bro,’ Jake brutally tells Logan.

This intense and at times overwhelming passion for their work largely explains why the Pauls have enjoyed a staggering ascent from dopey, knucklehead kids mucking around with video cameras to online sensations and box-office athletes. 

And it is something their inner circle – spearheaded by stunning fiancées Nina Agdal (Logan) and Jutta Leerdam (Jake), plus mom Pam and dad Greg – are fully on board with. 

With almost 150 million combined followers across their Instagram, YouTube, TikTok and X channels, as well as respective net worths that exceed $100 million, Logan and Jake stand tall as two icons of the social media age – and their thirst for more is clearly insatiable.

Yet the duo’s meteoric rise has certainly not been without controversy along the way. 

In fact, it has almost thrived on it.

After first gaining popularity as teenagers on YouTube and Vine, a Twitter-owned video-sharing app that was eventually discontinued in 2016, Jake enjoyed a short-lived acting stint on Disney Channel show ‘Bizaardvark’. 

He was fired midway through filming the second season after complaints from his neighbors over wild pranks and parties that were taking place at his rental unit just outside Los Angeles.

Logan and Jake first gained popularity on YouTube and Vine, a Twitter-owned video-sharing app that was eventually discontinued in 2016

Jake enjoyed a brief stint on Disney Channel before being fired amid complaints from neighbors about wild pranks and parties at his rental unit just outside LA

The 20-year-old bounced back in 2017 by shifting focus towards his own personal brand and YouTube channel, which included a move into music and the release of number of highly viewed singles on the platform.

However, shortly after Jake’s shameful Disney exit, Logan found himself in the headlines for even more damning reasons.

The elder Paul brother became embroiled in a scandal which threatened to damage his YouTube career beyond repair when he inexplicably chose to upload a vlog from Mount Fiji in Japan showing the recently deceased corpse of a man who had died by hanging himself in Aokigahara, also known as ‘suicide forest’, in December 2017.

The disgusting video, which infamously showed Logan and his group of friends making jokes about the corpse before calling the authorities, sparked major backlash due to its insensitivity.

A Change.org petition calling for Logan’s YouTube channel to be taken down received over 720,000 signatures, before he released two separate apologies within a matter of days.

‘I should have never posted the video. I should have put the cameras down and stopped recording what we were going through,’ he said in an emotional video.

‘I’m ashamed of myself. I’m disappointed in myself.’

YouTube released a statement condemning ‘the actions of one creator’ and Paul subsequently paid the price. His channels were removed from the ad-program Google Preferred, dealing him a major financial blow. A number of his upcoming film appearances on YouTube were either put on hold or scrapped altogether.

Logan then encountered the biggest scandal of the lot when he uploaded a vlog showing the recently deceased corpse of a man who had died by hanging himself

The 22-year-old released an emotional video apology after sparking major controversy

But he didn’t seem to learn his lesson. Weeks after his emotional apology, Logan provoked more outrage with further stunts. These included tasering a dead rat and encouraging his followers to take part in a dangerous ‘challenge’ where social-media users ate toxic detergent capsules on camera.

The subsequent advertising suspension across his channels eventually lifted after two weeks, and the disgraced influencer, who was 22 at the time, slowly went about rebuilding his shattered image.

It only took him a few months to bounce back, with Logan almost using his moment of shame as a springboard when he took on the role of the villain in a lucrative amateur boxing match against bitter YouTube rival KSI.

Sensing a money-making opportunity, KSI – a British content creator with a similarly large following – urged Jake to join them and battle it out with his own younger brother, Deji,on the same night.

It was an astronomical success and paved the way for Logan, KSI and particularly Jake to make astonishing waves in the boxing world. And just like that, the divisive trend that is influencer boxing was born.

Roughly 750,000 viewers tuned in live to the pay-per-view stream on YouTube as Logan and KSI fought to a draw after Jake had battered Deji into submission.

Logan went on to face KSI again in the professional ranks, suffering an agonizing split-decision points defeat on a show promoted by Eddie Hearn’s Matchroom company in November 2019. Both men were guaranteed a minimum of $900,000 from the fight, which generated two million PPV buys. 

Logan bounced back from that scandal by attracting huge attention in a boxing match with KSI

After a contentious draw, the pair went head-to-head again as pros – with KSI claiming the win

The former rivals later teamed up to launch ‘Prime’, which was valued at $3.2bn in 2023

And as it turned out, after putting their rivalry to bed and becoming friends, Logan and KSI later went on to launch the popular ‘Prime’ energy drink together, which was valued at an eye-watering $3.2 billion by the end of 2023.

As his brother dominated the limelight in boxing, Jake continued to hone his craft away from it before eventually agreeing to turn pro himself – his debut coming against fellow online personality ‘AnEsonGib’ two months after Logan’s painful loss to KSI.

It was a bout he won in devastating fashion after dropping AnEsonGib three times before forcing the stoppage inside the opening round. And while it may have come against a complete novice, Jake’s embarrassingly straightforward boxing debut lit the fuse for an explosive rise in the sport nobody saw coming.

In the near-five years since, he has contested 11 more professional bouts; winning 10 of them, sharing the ring with some high-profile names and raking in plenty of cash in the process.

Across three bouts in 2021 Paul is believed to have earned an incredible $40m. They included two victories over ex-UFC welterweight champion Tyron Woodley and one against former MMA star Ben Askren. Even when he tasted defeat for the first time against Tyson Fury’s little brother Tommy two years later, he reportedly made close to $4m.

Nevertheless, the most significant and contentious night of his boxing career so far came when he stepped into the ring with an elderly Tyson back in November.

In front of more than 70,000 people at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas, and an estimated 65 million across the globe, Jake outclassed the heavyweight legend in an event which left a sour taste given the alarming age gap between the two.

It had been almost 20 years since ‘Iron’ Mike, who pulled out of their original fight date after suffering a medical emergency on a cross-country flight, had taken part in a professional contest. It was therefore no surprise that he spent the majority of the ‘fight’ staggering around the ring and failing to get close to his younger rival.

After defeating KSI’s brother Deji, Jake made his pro debut against AnEsonGib in January 2020

Victory over his fellow online personality proved the start of a remarkable ascent in boxing

Back in November Jake’s controversial bout against a 58-year-old Mike Tyson proved one of the most-watched boxing events of all time

Regardless of the vulnerable veteran he was up against, for Jake the proof is in the pudding when taking into account the show’s record-breaking appeal. His underwhelming battle with Tyson brought in a whopping $18m in total revenue, meaning it went down as the ninth-highest combat sports gate in US history. It was also the largest outside of Las Vegas – and was one of the most-watched sporting events of the year. That is all that matters.

Even Logan’s 2021 exhibition with another fighting great in Floyd Mayweather – albeit who is 10 years younger Mike – produced a million PPV buys and $80m in revenue despite the damp squib that eventually played out in the ring. Like it or loathe it, their marketing powers and global star-power cannot be downplayed.

The Paul brothers are driven by their ability to smash down conventional barriers and capture attention like never before. So what if Mike Tyson was 58 years old? So what if Floyd Mayweather was well past his prime? The unprecedented number of eyeballs speak for themselves.

This relentless quest for virality and notoriety is clear for all to see in their new HBO Max reality series Paul American, which documents their whirlwind lives as digital kingpins. The show also sheds light on their relationships with fiancées, Nina and Jutta, parents, Pam and Greg, and their large group of friends.

Their tireless drive is clearly infectious, too. After falling pregnant with their first child, long-time supermodel Nina broke the news to Logan by putting her pregnancy test inside a bottle of ‘Prime’ and filming his reaction in a bid to plug the energy drinks. Even at such an intimate and personal moment, a potential marketing opportunity could not be passed up.

The resulting gender reveal party proved an even bigger publicity stunt, with two wrestlers wearing blue and pink outfits locking horns inside a ring in the couple’s back garden – and the latter prevailing to signal they were having a girl. 

Clearly, Logan and Jake’s craving for clicks and cash is what drives them on a day-to-day basis. It has been that way since their late teenage years. 

Nina, a long-time supermodel, gave birth to Logan’s first child, a baby daughter, in September

Jake recently proposed to Jutta Leerdam, the Dutch speed skater he has dated since 2023

Yet after numerous high-profile relationships and acrimonious splits, both men have also found love away from the madness of their online fame.

Jake recently popped the question to Dutch speed skater Jutta after close to two years together – while Logan has been engaged to Nina since July 2023, with the welcoming their baby daughter in September last year.

Both men are ready to settle down. Though while one sets his sights on the outrageous ambition of becoming a boxing world champion, and the other continues to flourish as a WWE wrestler, the Paul brothers may only be at the tip of the iceberg from a commercial standpoint.

There has even been talk of a brotherly showdown in the ring one day, something that has never been done in boxing before. 

And it would take a brave man to bet against them becoming the first.