How Twitch Streamer Amouranth Is “Focusing on Herself” After Joining Kick, Leaving Her Marriage, And Raking In Millions From OnlyFans (Exclusive)

In 2016, Kaitlyn Siragusa was a 23-year-old cosplayer who performed at conventions, birthday parties and even worked in costumes for ballets and operas in her hometown of Houston, Texas. With a small, but mighty, social media following, she caught the eye of live streaming platform Twitch and, upon joining as one of their content creators, blew up almost immediately for her sensual ASMR videos and livestreams filmed from a hot tub — a much-debated topic of conversation at the time.

By 2021, now known as Amouranth, Siragusa was the most popular female streamer on Twitch with 38 million total watch hours that year. Earlier this year, she revealed to streamer Jake Lucky that she was making over $100,000 a month on the platform, enough for her to purchase and begin operating several gas stations, which now earns her an additional $85,000 per year in addition to her main source of income — $1.5 million per month making adult content on OnlyFans, where she has over 11,000 subscribers.

Despite this success, her relationship with Twitch fractured this year. In May, Twitch, without explanation, demonetized her channel, meaning that she could not receive any revenue from ads. The decision was eventually reversed, but the streamer said that the funds coming in were only a tenth of what they once were.

But the 29-year-old is too smart to put all her eggs in one basket and is now streaming with Twitch rival Kick as well creating adult content on OnlyFans.

In an exclusive interview, The Messenger spoke with the streamer about her profitable career as an online content creator, the recent revelations about her health and "toxic" marriage, and what she has in store for the future amidst an ever-changing social media landscape.

The Messenger: In just a few years, you've amassed a huge following on Twitch. What have been some of your strategies to grow your audience over the years and why do you think fans are drawn to your content?

Amouranth: I think there are a lot of different reasons why they're drawn to it. My strategy has always just been to be online as much as I can, live-streaming wise, while also making sure that I'm still allocating time to make content for all the other platforms too. Like, divide and conquer, but all at the same time. So, I have my Instagram, I have Twitter, multiple YouTube channels, I have my Twitch stream. I am also on the paid platforms, the adult websites. I'm just like everywhere all at once.

How do you manage that? Walk me through your day. How are you doing this?

A: Most days, I just stream all day. I decided to move and stuff, so I've been kind of busy this year, but typically, I'll stream 10 hours a day or so. And I have two photoshoot days every couple of weeks and we take all day — literally, like 12 hours on those days — to just make content for every other platform. 

I'm shooting my Instagram, my Twitter, my NSFW stuff and my YouTube videos on those two days for the next two weeks or so. The other days I can have just my stream, and my editors will like edit the content that we made on those two days and distribute it throughout the rest of the month as needed. That's kind of how I do it and it doesn't require a lot of my time.

Basically I just sacrifice my social life. I don't take vacations. I don't really have friends I go out with in Houston. It's just content all the time. When people are like, 'How do you do it? I'm like, 'Well, you don't want to do it.' People think there's a "best secret," like a hack. Like no, it just requires selling your soul basically. 

Why do you do it?

A: Because I don't know how long this will last and I feel like social media is so unpredictable. Like, Elon Musk just essentially ruined Twitter. Just things like that. We saw what happened to Mixer when that came and went. We see people very disgruntled with Twitch, [and also] Twitch firing hundreds of employees earlier this year. So, it's very unpredictable, the path that any of these platforms [follow].

Technology just changes so fast and since I'm 29 now, it's like I've used all of my 20s doing this thing. If social media just shoots itself [in the foot] I have no experience in the job field — like normal careers and so I've got to just make this work. That's why. Because I don't know how long it'll last. And, you know, [you] might as well do what you can because you're funding the rest of your life.

Perhaps in a search for additional stability in the unpredictability of it all, or just an opportunity to escape the drama and try something new, the star announced on June 17 that she would be joining Kick, a rival of Twitch that launched just last year with the aim of allowing creators to make more profit under less restrictions. Though specifics of her deal have yet to be announced, Twitch's top male streamer xQc also joined Kick in a $100 million dollar deal. Amouranth is Twitch's top female streamer — you do the math.

Why did you end up leaving Twitch and joining Kick?

A: I actually haven't left. My Kick deal is not exclusive because they want us to pull people from Twitch. I actually still stream on both daily. 

I'm curious who you think Kick may poach next.

A: I'm not sure because I don't know what direction they want to go. And they seem to be poaching different categories of streamers. I'm not buddy-buddy with anyone in particular. I'm friendly with a lot of the Austin people, but a lot in the world have been poached for Rumble and OTK. I'm friends with a lot of them, but I don't know if they all end up going to one platform together or if they get divided. Because I'm over here in Houston, people think we're neighbors, but it's still a three-hour drive. 

You recently said that you make almost $2 million a month by letting people watch you sleep on Twitch. Why do you think people are so interested in this content?

A: I don't know if [viewers] are interested in [watching me sleep], per se. The phenomenon that I see often is that most of the people are in there trying to figure out why everyone else is watching. It's kind of like that Spider-Man meme where they're both pointing at each other. Like, 'Why are you here?' Like, 'Why are you here?' and they just can't figure it out.

I think there's a small segment of people who might find it interesting. But of those people, there's the people who treat it like a virtual sleepover and they find some kind of comfort because they lack that feeling in their life, or it reminds them of childhood, or whatever. And the other half are the people hoping that I'll just wake up naked and forget that I am live. Like, people who watch it for the sake of wanting to watch it and then everyone else is trying to figure out why other people are there.

What inspired you to stream you sleeping in the first place?

A: I saw a lot of guy creators doing it a few years ago, and they were getting so many likes that they would just have Media Share on, which is the ability for other viewers to donate and have videos play. So, while the streamer was sleeping, the community in their chat would just be playing videos all night to entertain each other and then see if they can wake up the streamer with really loud videos or something. The guys started it first and I kind of just followed in their footsteps, I guess.

Did you know that that was going to be profitable, or is there something else that you do that's currently more profitable than sleeping on Twitch? I'm curious what your biggest source of income is?

A: Definitely OnlyFans is the biggest source of income. Twitch is actually not nearly as much as OF is. I think on average, when I'm streaming my optimal hours and not dividing my time, Twitch may be like $100k a month. But then OnlyFans itself is like one $1.5 million a month, so it's very different.

What kind of content are you putting on your OnlyFans, if you're even able to share?

A: It's a lot of different things: there's fetish stuff, here's role play, sometimes there's just picture sets, there's different video themes. I think yesterday we just did like a Domino's girl. 

What's next for you as far as other streaming ideas go?

A: I figured[sleep streaming] would probably be profitable because all the guys are already making a lot of money from it. As far as what's next for streaming, I'm looking at houses in LA right now and working with the sponsor, so they're gonna pay for the house. And I want to host more events in LA with more people, because right now I feel like no one wants to fly or drive out to Houston. It is much easier to get people together where they already live, or there's at least an opportunity for them to network if they want to fly in.

And I don't really want to say my ideas specifically because I think they're very unique and I don't want someone to beat me to it. But think bigger event style content, with a lot of people, like big parties.

With the bar set that high, when you have made that amount per month sleeping, what goals do you have next for your brand and what are some other monetary goals you want to hit?

A: No monetary goals. I just hope that I can just make everything work [and] balance Kick and Twitch at the same time. As far as monetary goes, I just hope that the platform's don't fall off, like don't destroy themselves. I try to optimize as I go. I used to have number goals and then I realized that that just makes you focus on things like, 'How do I hit this number?' rather than just trying to make sure you're making content consistently, because [number goals] just stress me out mentally.

Sometimes, the advertiser rates on Twitch or YouTube or wherever, will just fluctuate wildly depending on the season, as well as people's ability to buy content. Like in COVID, a lot of people like were getting stimulus checks and stuff. So if you've already hit a number... monetarily it's just so unreliable. I think consistency is a better thing to focus on across all your platforms. 

Your content spans such a wide range of genres as we've already talked about, from gaming, ASMR and cosplay. How do you decide the type of content to create and what flat factors influence your choices?

A: Some of it is just personal interests, what type of content I want to do. I tried to find things that I haven't done before and things that I find fun. Like, I did a Mary Jane video recently —like Spider-Man's Mary Jane — and I got off the roof and I crawled through the window from the roof...I was like naked on my roof hoping my neighbors didn't come out. It was a lot of fun.

And the other thing is I just try to follow trends too. Like now they have TikTok trends, Instagram Reels...I'll just see what's working for other people on YouTube and things. I have try-on videos on YouTube where I get different outfits and model them, say where I got them from, and what I like about them or dislike about them.

A lot of my team is just browsing the internet all day and compiling ideas and they'll pitch them to me and I'm like, "Sounds fun!" 

How many people are on your team?

A: It ranges on the day but usually, I have at least four to 10 people on my personal team.

How has your content evolved over the years?

A: I think that the quality has just improved over the years. As you acquire more pull and resources, you can invest more into it. Compared to when I first started, my setup is way better. I would say that my content has more variety because some days I'll be at home playing video games or I'll have girls over and we'll be throwing a pool party, or sometimes I go to the place where I board my horses so I go into the stables and I'll stream that. Other times I'll go to an animal shelter and [raise] money for the shelter with donations and chat, and match them and stuff. I think it just depends on the month, but there's a lot more variety than there used to be. I also just did a Fourth of July stream and just grilled at home for me and my dogs and kind of let chat join in on that and did some fireworks and almost, you know, blew up my house.

Was streaming always your primary goal?

A: I guess it wasn't really a goal. It's something I kind of stumbled into. Accidentally almost. I wanted to originally do costumes in Hollywood because I had been cosplaying. Around 2016, Twitch was reaching out to different cosplayers online trying to get them to join the platform because they had just made a creative category where they were getting cosplayers to come and, kind of pour their followers over to Twitch. So they invited me to do that and that's where I started, but then after a while I guess they stopped really pushing that category.

And then the In Real Life section kind of popped off and it's kind of like live stream vlogging, going around town with the camera doing different stuff or going to conventions, or just talking to people from their home rather than playing games specifically. That's kind of what I stumbled into. And then IRL changed to just chatting a few years later which is where we're at now, just the chatting cycle of Twitch.

Is there a platform that you love the most? 

KS: Well, it used to be Twitch. I guess a few years ago, they started really changing the way they run the website and the staff stopped really communicating with the Twitch streamers, who used to have partner managers. And I think that was the peak of Twitch where you had a person who would be your communication between you and the higher ups in the company. There was clear communication and you would get to meet up with your partner manager at events go to VIP areas and party, and network and stuff. It was cool.

But then they laid a bunch of those people off and changed the way they ran the company, so they stopped really having personal interaction with the streamers and the few remaining people who do talk to you can't really tell you any information. [If someone gets suspended] they don't really tell anyone why they did it or even what clip got you in trouble, so the managers that they have now for partners can't even tell you what happened. And that's part of the reason why Kick was developed. It's basically disgruntled streamers banding together their own version of what they want a streaming website to be. So that's kind of becoming my new favorite.

You recently opened up about some very serious medical issues that you are going through that are causing you to cancel public appearances. I'm curious, how are you doing? And how has this affected your everyday life?

A: Yeah, initially when I started taking the medicine I was feeling really bad because it has all these side effects, like nausea and dizziness. My body's just adjusting to the medicine. So now I'm low energy all the time, it's hard to wake up, it's hard to get going. Activities that would excite me, like the gym — which I can't [even exercise] for a few weeks until after this course of medicine is done — I don't even want to. So I'm pretty much like meh.

My energy's low because I guess when you have ovarian failure, it's essentially just like really, really early menopause. I didn't have a period randomly. No birth control, no medical issues other than that. I think it's just genetic because my mom went through [menopause] in her early 30s. Just unlucky, I guess. But because of that, I want to freeze whatever eggs I have left in my body. In order to do that, I had originally taken medicine to induce a period first because they need you to be on the ovulation cycle again, but then randomly, the week before my boxing event in Spain, my body decided to drop a period for the first time in nine [months].

That means they wanted to skip to the next process instead of inducing the period. They like to jump on it because it's a timing thing, so that they can extract eggs according to my menstrual cycle. I am taking the first round of pills and creams and stuff, and then I'll be taking injections, and they can do the egg extraction. And then I might have to repeat that whole process a few times if I don't get enough eggs the first time. After I have whatever eggs I want, then I can actually get my hormones balanced with hormonal therapy and then start feeling normal again. I'll be able to do physical activity and stuff. Until then, I feel like a lazy couch potato.

When did you find out about your late stage ovarian failure? Were you scared?  Are you feeling hopeful?

A: I guess the only scary thing is that we're doing months of hormonal testing. Now they're unsure if they'll get even two eggs. What is the likelihood of that even turning into an embryo eventually? Who knows, because there's so many failure processes even within that so it's a shot in the dark if I do want kids someday, but I just don't like not having an option. I like at least trying.

I don't know if I want kids but I also know that my life is going to be long and — potentially with the early retirement — I'm probably going to get bored. I went to my first hormonal testing in late February, early March, because I'm I hadn't had a period since November. It had been three months at that point. I'm like, "This is odd," because [I'm thinking maybe] I skipped a month or two, maybe I'm stressed. [After three months] I was like, "Okay, this is weird. This has never happened." And so that's when I went in for hormone testing and all the early menopause signs were there.

I'm okay. I'm alive. I'm good. Just feel lethargic. That's what keeps me going right now is knowing it's only temporary and that I won't feel like this forever. Only a few more weeks, maybe a month hopefully.

On October 15, 2022, viewers watched as Amouranth, real name Kaitlyn, was verbally abused by her husband Nick Lee over the phone in a now-infamous Twitch stream — prior to this, fans had no idea she was married. During the call, he used several expletives, called her names, and told her "not to leave the house."

Later, the Twitch creator revealed that her husband said going public about their relationship "would ruin the business model,” and added that her "therapist even told him it's a form of psychological abuse and I'm basically living in a fancy prison."

The incident sparked some to accuse Amouranth, who notably earns millions of dollars from OnlyFans a month, of using men for profit. Similar accusations were made back in 2018 by creator Myles King, formerly L of the Day, who exposed the "secret" of her marriage.

After the incident, Siragusa told fans her husband was "getting help,” and that she was "seeking legal and emotional counsel."

I think a lot of people look up to you and you have so many followers, fans, and subscribers. You've always been so open with your online following and you bravely spoke out about your experience with domestic violence last year. I was curious why it was important for you to share that experience and can you share how you were able to stand up for yourself? 

A: Well, that's a common misconception. It wasn't violence, but people always think it's domestic violence. It's not. It was a toxic situation in general, but there was never any violence. I think people just miss misconstruing that and feeding off each other like a bad game of telephone. It wasn't a violent thing.

You know, I think people just get stressed out in relationships, but I haven't really been able to disclose any details publicly because of legal reasons. People definitely like to take it for something that it wasn't. I am doing fine now. I try not to make that the focus because when I google Amouranth, it's just me crying and I'm like, 'Really?' I have so many other moments in my career.

In what ways are you healing from this experience, or have you healed over the last year?

A: I mean, I am just continuing on with life and focusing on more positive things now and moving on, and just continuing my career. It's just like when one chapter of bad stuff ends you know, you just kind of continue and you focus. I feel like dwelling on the past is just not very healthy. Looking towards the future and figuring out what I'm going to do next is.

Has that experience changed your perspective on dating at all or moving forward? Are you just focusing on yourself right now?

A: Definitely, just focusing on myself. I don't think I've even tried dating for like six months, at least, like going out with people or anything and just like,

How is it dating being an online creator and having so many fans? 

Yeah, I haven't really had any success with it. It is hard to trust people in general because you don't know if they know you from online, especially being an OnlyFans creator. It's like, what have you seen and what are you expecting? Because a lot of that is a persona. It's not how you actually are, you're role playing and filming, you're putting on a character. It makes me think that they could potentially be having their idea of what it's like to be with me in their head and then be very disappointed in real life if I'm not like living up to the standards. So it's just hard trying to date people at this point.I honestly will be the old woman who has a million dogs and horses, and some cats probably at some point in the wilderness. I will wait until I'm older and irrelevant, and then change the way I look, go back to my natural hair color and just kind of blend in and disappear into the abyss. And maybe then I'll socialize more with people.

Do you think that this career has longevity and if you weren't doing this, what do you think you would be doing? 

A: I feel like the career has some longevity, but it would be very unstable because I don't know what the platforms themselves do. So it feels like every couple of years you probably have to start a new platform and rebuild a following. Or try to transfer some of your following, just to be safe. It is just very competitive and it's very saturated now. I probably could make money on social media for the next 10 years or whatever, but could I do it at the same level? Very unlikely. Would I even want to? Probably not. I could see myself still streaming occasionally, or making like OnlyFans content until like my late 30s, maybe even 40s. But not at this pace, at this level. It would just be some side income to buy new ponies. 

If I wasn't a creator, I would probably be doing something with animals, either animal behavior — like what Cesar Milan does, where you get dogs and you rehabilitate their whole personality and health and medical — or something with horses. I think horse training would be really cool or even working with an organization to take therapy animals to hospitals, like miniature horses or dogs, and going to visit kids would be really cool too.

In what ways do you unplug after technically being online for a living?

A: There are times, usually in the morning before I stream, I'll go to the stable and I'll go on a trail ride on my horses. It's kind of like my therapy, I guess, because what I find the most calming in the world is to be with the horse in the forest with some friends. That's just like the best thing. The only thing I really want to make a lot of money for is to be able to do that somewhere really nice, like Santa Barbara. Just for the rest of my life. Just having a nice place I can retreat to, a slice of paradise, and just chill out with animals and leave the computer behind someday. The only thing that I really like to work for is to be able to do that forever. 

How do you deal with online harassment or negative comments or seeing negative headlines about you? How do you deal with that and how has it impacted your mental health?

A: The best way to deal with it is to turn off the computer. Yeah, stop reading it. Don't look at it. They say if people are talking about you [you're] doing something right, but I don't necessarily think all news is good news. I don't believe that way. But the more people talk about you, the higher Google Trends goes, the more people who aren't mean or judgmental have the opportunity to find your content and become fans. Like, that is a silver lining I suppose. Even though someone is shit talking you, you will find people who aren't going to do that from that kind of publicity.

So there are some silver linings and that's just kind of how I deal with it. Occasionally I will fall down the rabbit hole like everyone does, of reading the comments too much. I just have to take a deep breath and close the phone or close the computer, and go do something else.

And then you go to places like TwitchCon or different conventions. When I was planning to go at first and hadn't gone to one of them yet, I worried about some hater coming up to me and harassing me, like are people gonna be mean to me in person like online? No one has been [mean] in person, so it's definitely just keyboard warriors who feel like they can't get in trouble for being an asshole. There's no repercussions. I've had people come up to me at TwitchCon like, "I said something really mean in your chat a few months ago, can you please unban me? I'm so sorry." It's just funny, it's never to my face.

What is the most interesting fan interaction or weirdest interaction or request you have received?

A: I think the most memorable one, and now it's just become like a meme, is at TwitchCon last year, fans were asking me to step on them. And at first I was like, "What, really?" But then after I did it the first time and it went kind of viral on Twitter, everyone started coming up to me in the line and asking for it too. And I was just a meme. Whenever I'm doing a meet and greet, I will say, "I will step on you if you want me to, please just wait."

To discover what Amouranth has in store next, follow her accounts here!