A portmanteau of his name, Anthony, and the Greek goddess of love and pleasure, Antphrodite is your spiritual healer decked out in an all-pink room full of fluffy decor and a vibrant aesthetic with the intention of bringing a little color to a dark world. “I realized I was always the one to stand out…and it wasn’t until I got older that I realized that’s a strength in the digital space or the entertainment space,” he said in a phone interview with Lifewire. “It’s a light you can turn on or off, but mine was always on and it’s something you can’t be taught. When I realized that was my biggest strength, it changed my life forever.” Anthony, who asked Lifewire not to use his last name for anonymity purposes, is the ultimate success story of innovation. From a successful YouTube channel where the streamer dives into influencer and pop culture drama with a psychic twist, to his Twitch channel where it all began, the Antphrodite brand is a manifestation materialized.
Hello, Hello, Hello!
His early life was marred by trauma due to his identity growing up as a little gay boy in Queens, New York. He recounts several unpleasant experiences trying to navigate the world of adolescence as a queer boy, all while being targeted for who he was. This kind of homophobic abuse, the streamer said, was an attempt to snuff out his spark, but his light never blinkered. Instead, it led him down a road of introspection and, eventually, toward something that would change his life forever and guide him down the path to self-love. “I got into things that are self-discovery-based like astrology, psychic stuff, and anything I could to understand why people didn’t like me,” he said. “I realized that’s what’s to celebrate and being different is empowering. Sometimes when you shine really bright it sort of causes things to ebb and flow around you…it was about me figuring out how to go against the grain instead of with it.” His dad battled pancreatic cancer when Anthony was in his early 20s and he spent most of his time helping his mother take care of his father. Internet culture became an escape for him: a way to detach himself from the reality of losing a parent. A year after his father’s death, he says he turned on a stream with no plan and went live. “I was trying to figure out my next step because I wanted to make a very positive impact. My dad’s death strengthened me and allowed me to release a lot of anger and heal those wounds from my traumatic past, and in healing myself I wanted to heal other people through laughter and entertainment,” he said. Immediately, 10 people joined his stream and after three hours he had spent the whole time giving people tarot card readings after a sleuthing viewer noticed his deck on a shelf in the frame. Four years later, it’s still the central theme upon which his brand is built.
Like My Diary
Unapologetically queer and authentically himself, the Antphrodite brand was created with intention and continues to persist through the power of Anthony’s will to be a beacon of light for other tarot readers and members of the LGBTQ+ community. As a gay man and psychic in a space dominated by some of the worst aspects of gaming culture, he’s endured a lot of harassment during his ascent on Twitch, but none of it deterred him from what he saw as his mission. He felt compelled to share his gift in an attempt to spread positivity online. The average Antphroidte stream is a mishmash of internet culture deep dives and reactions complete with a tarot card reading of a specific, often drama-laden, situation. Anthony also enjoys the connection with the viewers as they gleefully interact via chat. Antphrodite’s audience is about 94% women. That, combined with his community, stands out on the male-dominated platform. His pioneering content earned him the coveted distinction of Twich Ambassador in 2019. Anthony is unafraid to paint with all the colors in the crayon box and wants others to do the same. While he soundly rejects the label of role model, he says he was put in a position to be an inspiration for young LGBTQ+ people who, like him, may have felt lost. “Be yourself because the things you’re hated for one day someone will celebrate you for,” he said. “Anything you love, you love for a reason and you’re meant to do. Period.”
