YouTuber Catherine Paiz pulled back the curtain on The Ace Family empire — and the real dynamics between her and ex-husband Austin McBroom.
On the Wednesday, May 28, episode of Alex Cooper’s “Call Her Daddy” podcast, Paiz shared her side of the story after McBroom confirmed his infidelity during their marriage. (Paiz and McBroom rose to fame nearly a decade ago for their family vlogs, pranks and challenges.)
“I know for sure of three,” Paiz said of the alleged number of women McBroom cheated on her with, noting that they have never reached out to her. “They’re out there in the world acting like that never happened, probably.”
McBroom reportedly shared he was unfaithful in a series of May 12 Snapchat Stories, per E! News, and also claimed that Paiz condoned him stepping outside of their marriage — which she denied.
“That is not true. I never ever, ever, ever said that. I would never say that,” Paiz said, calling his words a “punch to the gut.”
While becoming emotional, Paiz reflected on the type of lesson those actions would teach their children. (Paiz and McBroom, who divorced in 2024, share daughters Elle, 8, and Alaia, 5, and son Steel, 4.)
“I would never want my kids to think that that is OK to cheat on your husband or your wife,” she said. “I will make sure to raise them so that they know that they never, ever do that because that is so wrong. You never cheat on the person you love. I would never in a million years say that.”
Us Weekly reached out to McBroom for comment.
Scroll down to see Paiz’s biggest revelations on “Call Her Daddy”:
Paiz explained that McBroom’s unfaithfulness was confirmed to her when they were documenting Alia’s first haircut. After Paiz’s phone died while filming the milestone moment, she claimed to have grabbed McBroom’s phone to document the snip — where she saw an alleged text message between him and a mystery woman.
“I had never looked in his phone, ever,” Paiz said. “As soon as I grabbed the phone, like out of a movie, this long text comes through, ‘If you really love your wife, you wouldn’t be…'”
Paiz, who was pregnant with their son at the time, recalled her heart dropping in the moment.
“I’m pregnant. There’s people watching us. The camera’s on. It felt surreal,” she said. “He grabs the phone from me and instantly deletes the message. I thought, ‘Oh my gosh, it’s true.'”
Paiz explained that she had a conversation with McBroom in the car, pleading for him to tell her who the person was that he received a text from.
“I saw enough to know instantly this is an emotional relationship he’s having with somebody,” she said. “This is a woman that is having a relationship with my husband.”
After McBroom showed Paiz the woman, she eventually forgave her husband. Now, however, Paiz said she “never” felt like his words were “apologetic.”
“Even through our divorce, even through everything, I never heard him say the words ‘I cheated’ until about a week ago,” she said. “When I heard the words, I was like, ‘Oh my god, finally. I heard it. Thank you so much. That was all I was waiting for. Thank you. That’s all I needed to hear.’ … Finally hearing those words was so healing for me because it’s like I wasn’t going crazy.”
When Paiz discovered the cheating, she claimed she “checked out” and refused to have “anybody come near my temple.”
“It was four years. It was actually more like five years, if you think about it,” Paiz said of the amount of time she and McBroom were not intimate.
When asked whether McBroom ever tried to “pursue” her during that time period, Paiz denied the idea. “No, and that’s how I knew that there was cheating going on,” she alleged. “Now I know how that’s not normal.”
Paiz said she takes “full accountability” of being in a relationship and not pursuing him either. “Although I was disgusted and I didn’t want to be intimate, I didn’t have these very serious conversations, like, ‘Hey maybe we should go see a therapist. Maybe we should do couples therapy. This isn’t normal going another year without being physically intimate,” she said.
While documenting their life for YouTube, Paiz claimed that she had “moments” where she questioned whether McBroom’s romantic gestures were genuine.
“And then it was like, me kind of having to follow with that surprise. And then I’m like, ‘I feel like I’m a clown in a circus,’” she said.
Paiz explained that she felt a “disconnection” when their second daughter was born about whether she wanted to film the content.
“It was like, ‘I actually don’t want to film this. But, like, I know that people are waiting for it because they’ve invested so much.’ There was this fine line of like, ‘Do I put my foot down and just live in the moment or do I also …?’ He was holding the camera so it made it easier, but it was like, ‘Is he here though? Is he present?’”
Paiz ultimately released the video and claimed she was “really numb and empty” at the time.
Paiz admitted that she “never” had hesitations about putting her kids in front of the camera for YouTube.
“Back in the day, it was really new. YouTube, it’s been a thing for a while but we were really, like … I hate to say the word, but we kind of pioneered that family vlogging experience. We were the first to do it that magnitude, that way,” she claimed.
When it comes to backlash that she and McBroom “exploited” their children, Paiz noted that they had “pure intentions.”
“That never crossed our mind. I just feel like we were just the beginning of something new,” Paiz said, noting that her children have separate bank accounts.
Paiz shed light on how much the family was racking up per month. “There was a period we were making seven figures a month,” Paiz alleged. “To me, it was like I was numb to it.”
Now, Paiz claimed she would have “invested” the money and bought her parents’ homes. “We didn’t have the right mentors, we didn’t have the right tools,” she said. “We made really bad business decisions along the way.”
