Teenage OnlyFans star Paris Ow-Yang suffers from a litany of mental health problems stemming from the separation of her parents when she was a child.
A court heard on Wednesday that the 19-year-old had been diagnosed with conditions including depression, anxiety, ADHD and an eating disorder.
She has repeatedly engaged in self-harm and binge-drinking as a result of grief, shock and trauma.
But Ow-Yang failed to convince a magistrate that those problems meant she should have a string of charges dealt with under mental health provisions of the law.
The social media influencer pleaded guilty to assault, stalking and damaging property after an incident in early November at a family residence in Sydney’s eastern suburbs.
The daughter of high-profile Sydney neurosurgeon Michael Ow-Yang and his wife Amanda had attended a jewellery event that day, drinking a couple of cocktails and four glasses of champagne.
She was found wandering the streets of Double Bay after blacking out and according to solicitor Michael Bowe then went to her mother’s house and started ‘shouting at everyone’.
Mr Bowe said Ow-Yang had no memory of the incident but knives were heard being drawn from a kitchen and an ambulance was called.
Teenage OnlyFans star Paris Ow-Yang (pictured) at Sydney’s Waverley Local Court on Wednesday) said she suffers from a litany of mental health problems
Teenage OnlyFans star Paris Ow-Yang said her mental health issues stemmed from the separation of her parents when she was a child
The lawyer said what happened was a ‘one-off explosion’ witnessed by her mother.
Ow-Yang’s parents were not in Waverley Local Court on Wednesday but that did not mean they didn’t care, Mr Bowe said.
‘It just means there is a problem between the two of them,’ he told the court.
Ow-Yang appeared demurely dressed in grey pants, a white blouse, black jacket and J’Adior heels, alongside Mr Bowe.
Mr Bowe said his client suffered a ‘whole series’ of mental health conditions which began when her parents separated when she was about 13.
She had never recovered from that split and her problems had been exacerbated by a relationship with 44-year-old nightclub king Julian Tobias.
That relationship, which ended last year, was not a ‘stabilising influence’ on Ow-Yang, Mr Bowe told the court.
Ow-Yang now had a boyfriend closer to her own age who serves in the US military and was a positive influence up her.
‘I’ve spoken to him on the phone and he seems like a pretty good bloke,’ Mr Bowe told the court.
The court heard on Wednesday that the 19-year-old had been diagnosed with conditions including depression , anxiety, ADHD and an eating disorder
Ow-Yang last year blamed a drunken car crash after which she blew more than four times the legal limit for a P-plater on the end of her relationship with Tobias.
The private school graduate smashed her $50,000 black Mercedes into another Mercedes worth $150,000 parked in Point Piper in Sydney’s east in October 2023.
After that offence, Mr Bowe said the crash was a result of a ‘perfect storm’ after Ow-Yang ‘spiralled out of control’ when she couldn’t cope with the breakdown of her romance.
She had been ‘drowning herself in alcohol’, Mr Bowe told Downing Centre Local Court.
On that occasion, magistrate Rodney Brender convicted Ow-Yang, fined her $1,000 and imposed a two-year community corrections order.
On Wednesday, Mr Bowe said Ow-Yang, who has more than 1.6million followers across Instagram and TikTok, was doing her best to get her life in order.
He described his client as ‘very successful in one area of her life, very unsuccessful in another’.
‘She can’t hide behind alcohol to solve her problems,’ Mr Bowe said.
‘She admits it’s not going to be easy. Nothing is going to be easy for her.
‘She still misses the fact that her parents aren’t together. She’s brought that up on numerous occasions with me.’
Mr Bowe said Ow-Yang’s social media presence meant she was a regular victim of ‘quite debilitating’ online abuse.
Magistrate Paul Mulroney rejected Ow-Yang’s application for the case to be dealt with as anything other than a series of domestic violence offences.
Paris Ow-Yang (pictured) failed to convince a magistrate that those problems meant she should have a string of charges dealt with under mental health provisions of the law
Mr Mulroney said while he was sympathetic towards citizens who suffered from mental health issues, Ow-Yang had not always paid appropriate attention to her own.
‘It seems in this situation that Ms Ow-Yang has at times been way less than responsible in terms of attention to her mental health,’ he said.
‘In my view there needs to be a greater guarantee that Ms Ow-Yang would be compliant with mental health treatment.’
Mr Mulroney also observed that Ms Ow-Yang might face some ‘blowback’ on social media due to publicity surrounding the charges.
Mr Bowe sought a non-publication order over the contents of an extensive psychologist’s report.
He said Ow-Yang’s mother was fearful if the report were made public her daughter would take her own life.
‘There is a genuine fear that Ms Ow-Yang will do something that none of us would like to see happen,’ Mr Bowe said.
‘Does the community need to know the ins and outs of Ms Ow-Yang’s life?’
Mr Mulroney granted a non-publication order on the report but not over submissions related to Ow-Yang’s mental health made by Mr Bowe.
Ow-Yang wiped tears from her eyes after the order was made.
Mr Bowe urged Mr Mulroney not to record a conviction: ‘She’s only 19. She’s got the world in front of her.
Mr Mulroney agreed to Mr Bowe’s request and instead imposed a 15-month conditional release order.
Under the terms of that order Ow-Yang must comply with a mental health treatment plan and abstain from alcohol.
In sentencing, Mr Mulroney said ‘domestic violence is a poison in our community’ and warned Ow-Yang if she committed another such offence she would likely to go jail.
‘It’s really important that you comply with the orders that I have made today,’ he told Ow-Yang.
‘It’s not a sprint race for you, it’s a long-distance race for you.
‘I wish you good luck. I can’t say I’ll be going onto TikTok anytime soon to learn about you but I wish you success in your chosen career.’
The social media influencer (pictured with solicitor Michael Bowe) pleaded guilty to assault, stalking and damaging property after the incident in early November
She was found wandering the streets of Double Bay after blacking out and according to solicitor Michael Bowe then went to her mother’s house and started ‘shouting at everyone’
Ow-Yang gained a massive social media audience before turning to OnlyFans the day after she turned 18.
Within months of starting the account on the adults only platform, she was able to quit university and purchase her first of many properties in Sydney’s affluent eastern suburbs.
Her OnlyFans content has also continued to grow ever since and is now placed in the top 0.02 per cent of creators on the platform in the world.
Ow-Yang comes from a very wealthy background, having attended the prestigious Frensham School – a $33,000-a-year all-girls boarding school in the NSW Southern Highlands.
Her dad is a highly qualified medical expert with extensive experience in neurosurgery.
Ow-Yang Property Pty Ltd was registered as a business in 2022 and procured one property in 2023.
Four more properties were purchased this year, managing to add $7million to the portfolio.
Recent property purchases include a two bedroom, two bathroom unit in Bondi, which includes a rooftop overlooking the ocean.
