Man Moves in with 90-Year-Old Grandma After Losing Job. He Never Could've Expected What Happened Next (Exclusive)

• In an exclusive interview with PEOPLE, online creator Grant Magdanz opens up about how his decision to move in with his 90-year-old grandmother in January 2024 changed his perspective on his family history.

• Magdanz initially began making videos online to document the progress of his business, but the topics shifted when his dad was diagnosed with leukemia in June 2024.

• His honest and vulnerable content has attracted a wholesome audience that's helped him cope with the death of his dad in November 2024.

Grant Magdanz’s life has completely changed over the last year and a half. At the end of 2023, the now 30-year-old went from working a tech job in New York — his dream city — to moving into the spare bedroom at his 90-year-old grandmother’s home in Los Angeles.

While the decision to move in with his grandmother did not feel so straightforward at the time —  especially after losing his job — Magdanz tells PEOPLE in an exclusive interview that the move was the best choice for him in hindsight.

“I felt like I needed to make a decision pretty quickly when I [first] lost my job,” he explains. “It was a roller coaster of emotion, and there was a lot of panic and anxiety and fear. But when I thought about moving with my grandma, that felt [right] and I trusted and followed that [instinct].”

While there is a negative stigma around living with family after a certain age, it’s not an unusual decision nowadays, especially in uncertain economic conditions. Pew Research Center even reported in January 2024 that one in three young adults lives at home with their parents.

But for Magdanz, the decision to move in with his grandmother wasn't just about figuring out the next step in his career and financial situation — it was his chance to build a closer connection with his family.

Related: Bride Has 98-Year-Old Grandmother Be Her Flower Girl at Wedding: 'Everyone Was Crying' (Exclusive)

“Growing up in Alaska, I was only really close to my immediate family,” he recalls. “While I saw my grandparents a fair amount [when I was younger], there was this big gap between their story [and how it connected with] the rest of my story. Being with my grandma has made me feel a lot more connected to that.”

While living with his grandmother, Magdanz has been helping her with a few things, though she lives a mostly independent life. He’s also learned to balance time for himself while facing the “difficulties in aging.”

He says this time has “helped me understand myself and my parents better, and that's been really meaningful.”

In the first few months of living with his grandmother, Magdanz took the opportunity to explore starting his own business and began building apps. He decided to document the progress of his business on TikTok and Instagram in May 2024, but when his father was diagnosed with leukemia one month later, his online content took a different approach.

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Through the summer and fall of 2024, Magdanz flew between Los Angeles and Seattle — where his father got treatment for his cancer — and he documented his experience taking care of his dad on social media. Magdanz’s videos are simple and straightforward and it’s his openness that has attracted an audience that’s connected with him on a deeper level.

Related: During Her Leukemia Treatment, This Mom of 5 Danced Every Day for 15 Minutes — And It Saved Her Life (Exclusive)

So when his dad died in November 2024, his audience also became an integral part of his grieving and healing process.

“Vulnerability begets [more] vulnerability; I think that’s true on social media and in all aspects of our life,” he says. “When someone opens up and shares something, others are more likely to open up [too].”

The comment section for his video is very wholesome, with users online offering their support and sharing their own experiences dealing with a cancer diagnosis and the enormous grief from losing a parent. Magdanz calls it the “best part of sharing” his life online, especially as he navigates his grief, like the emotional toll of cleaning out his dad’s home in Alaska.

In a video posted to Instagram on March 25, Magdanz opened up about his grief, saying, “it is both lonely and very connected.”

“There are times I feel very alone in my grief, and it makes sense; I am more alone in some ways now that my dad is gone.” He said in the video. “At the same time, when I share those feelings with others… I feel really connected to people. I think the fact that I feel so alone makes the relief of connection so much more meaningful and deep.”

As he continued to make content and watch other creators online, Magdanz realized that his content didn’t have to be “overly complicated” or “produced” to resonate with others. “It can be someone sharing honestly about their life, and that's enough to connect with others,” he says.

Making content online helped Magdanz be more vulnerable and open about his feelings in all aspects of his life, not just online. He says it’s also been a “multi-year, ongoing journey.”

“[Making videos online] made me feel less alone,” he muses. “It's made me feel more capable. I think that's the core of it. It doesn't take the pain away or make the sad times any less sad. It just makes me feel more resilient.”

As Magdanz enters the next transitional period in his life, he doesn't plan on living with his grandmother long-term but intends to take it one day at a time and cherish the time they do have living together.

Magdanz also wants to continue posting content online and explore writing. For him, writing has become another way of flexing that creative spark that inspired his dad throughout his life.

“He had a lot of wisdom around writing and he was very opinionated on what good writing [looks like],” he says. That wisdom — and the hard lessons Magdanz faced over the last six months alone — have shaped how he looks at the next phase of his life and online presence.

“My experience over the last [few years] has really shown me that honest, simple content resonates with people,” he says. “Tying my income with sharing about my life can be a trap that’s easy to fall into, and I don't know if I want to share about all these aspects of my life forever.”

“I also think about whether there’s a way to share my stories and experiences to help others make sense of their own experiences in a way that doesn't require me to divulge myself publicly,” he continues. “I want my life to progress and get less dramatic. Things happen, but I also [don’t] want to get into a spot where I manufacture things [in the name of content.] I want to get to a spot where I'm happy with my life and my content can evolve with that as well.”

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