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Paige Spiranac Opens Up About Her ‘Polarizing’ Online Persona: ‘I Know Who I Am’

The athlete delved into her new approach to content creation in a YouTube video this week.

Bailey Colon

Paige Spiranac
Paige Spiranac / Arturo Holmes/WireImage/Getty Images

Paige Spiranac ended 2025 with a lesson learned and is now beginning 2026 with a new mentality when it comes to her content.

The former professional golfer turned social media mogul told her 466,000 YouTube followers how she is approaching the new year in a new 28-minute video shared yesterday, Jan. 15. Her message was prompted by the following question: “How do you deal with the internet’s perception of you?”

Spiranac first responded with how she previously handled controversy surrounding her online persona. “I have a very polarizing personality and brand online, and I often feel very misunderstood,” she explained. “This person that people assume me to be feels so vastly different than who I actually am as a person. So I have this deep-burning desire to defend my character and overexplain things.”

Then, she pivoted into what she has come to realize through her growing social media platform: that despite her attempts at rebutting false narratives, “at the end of the day, no one actually cares.” “I learned that lesson the very hard way," she admitted before later adding, “The people who dislike me will always dislike me.”

In the video, Spiranac also provided her own solution to combat her discouragement when she feels misjudged online. At the end of the day, she is going to present herself as who she knows herself to be.

“I think that I get frustrated by how people view me, but at the end of the day, I can also control that,” the athlete declared. “And I need to do a better [job] of showing different aspects of myself because, of course, I know who I am, the people in my life who’ve spent so much time with me know the person that I am [...] but when you’re doing a slow motion, ten second video of your golf swing on Instagram, people aren’t gonna know who you are.”

Paige Spiranac
Paige Spiranac / Mike Mulholland/Getty Images

And while Spiranac did not state if there would be a specific shift in the content that she’ll be releasing in the new year, the Colorado native often posts clips of her endeavors on the green along with tips for her followers to improve their own golf game. She did say that, regardless, she’ll be sticking to this sentiment.

“All I can do is continue to be myself and show that through the content that I create, and I think that will just make me feel better,” Spiranac concluded. “So that’s what we’re gonna do.”

We caught up with the content creator before 2025 came to a close. Check out some of her exclusive pointers for those looking to improve their own golf skills here!

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Bailey Colon
BAILEY COLON

Bailey Colón is a writer on the Breaking and Trending News team for SI Swimsuit. Before joining SI Swimsuit, Colón worked at the National Basketball Association where she served as a founding member of the ‘Starting 5’ newsletter and led editorial operations for the NBA App and dotcom. Colón is particularly passionate about the impact of athletics on popular culture, fashion and media. The New England native has a bachelor’s degree from Marist College in journalism and political science.

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