While TikTok star Addison Rae shares a lot about her family and friends through her content,
even her most adoring fans may not know some of the more personal details of her life.
From her dance academy background to her future career aspirations, here are the things you
don't know about Addison Rae.
If you've been wondering where Addison Rae gets her killer moves, her professional dance
training probably didn't hurt. From the age of six, she began performing competitively,
according to Business Insider, and she has trained in numerous studios. Rae was also
a member of Louisiana's Shreveport Dance Academy, so she was clearly crushing it long before
TikTok took off.
It's no wonder, then, that while many TikTok stars are known for their lip-sync skills
or comedy videos, Rae's dancing is what takes center stage. And while many of the dances
that folks show off on the platform are recycled content, Rae is at the forefront of the trends.
"I love contemporary because I can like, you know, get into the music, feel myself, just
dance freely, I guess you could say."
Still, the star has been accused of copying content. Another popular creator, Hunter Lasater,
accused Rae of borrowing a little too much from one of his videos in early 2020. But
Insider reported he later backpedaled on the accusation. Clearly, Rae has more than enough
moves of her own.
As one of TikTok's biggest superstars, Rae probably won't need a college degree to stay
afloat. Nevertheless, she did attend Louisiana State University for a short time, and it's
an experience she looks back on fondly. She told Forbes,
"I did go to college for about three months. That was a really fun and exciting time."
"College is very time-consuming, but it is definitely worth it."
But during Rae's short-lived university endeavor, she had her sights set on a completely different
career. She claimed,
"My focus for college was broadcasting and TV commercial work. […] Because of TikTok
and moving to Los Angeles, I have been able to do the things I have always dreamed of
such as being on ESPN and working with brands."
It may not be her first priority right now, but eventually, Rae says she would like to
someday get her graduate degree.
Not only is Rae serving up epic content on social media, she's also making quite the
living off of it. As she explained on the podcast VIEWS with David Dobrik and Jason
Nash, big-time TikTok stars like her can make an average of $90,000 per video, so it's no
wonder Rae was raking in the cash as a teen.
Rae has also landed numerous sponsorships and brand deals that only fattened up her
wallet. Collaborations with Reebok and Daniel Wellington account for a portion of Rae's
estimated earnings. Then there's the fact that Inside Edition reported in August 2020
that Rae was banking $5 million per year.
Fans who have been keeping up with Rae are well aware she's become close friends with
Kourtney Kardashian. Despite their 22-year age difference, the two ladies seem to be
two peas in a pod, creating content together. Rae opened up about their unexpected friendship,
telling E! News,
"I've had such an amazing time spending time with Kourtney and meeting the family. They're
all just such loving people that genuinely care about each other."
Rae may be a sort of adopted Kardashian sister, but she says the famous family inspires her
in a multitude of ways. She shared,
"They all have such an amazing bond that I always valued in my family, so it really just
makes me love them even more as people. It just really shows you how genuine they are."
Addison and Kourtney even teamed up to recreate Kourt's famous "ABCDEFG" moment — which
then went viral, of course.
"Off we go, off we go, bye! Woo!"
The Hype House — a collective of social media content creators — was founded in
2019, according to Insider. And while many of its members have come and gone, O.G. Addison
Rae remains a familiar face.
"The best part about being part of the Hype House is just like knowing that these people
have your back."
The Hype House boasts some of the biggest TikTok stars in the world, but there's no
denying that Rae is one of, if not the most popular. Given that she's the top earner on
the app, when the house was first launched by Chase Hudson and Thomas Petrou, Rae was
one of its earliest and most notable recruits. At the time, she told Hollywire,
"It's just really about content, like bringing each other up. It really doesn't even matter
about the followers in the house, it's more just like, making content together, doing
what we love to do."
Rae is fully Hype House, but her most public romance to date was allegedly with a member
of an entirely different influencer collective: the Sway House. The star reportedly engaged
in a relationship with fellow social media influencer, Bryce Hall. The duo quickly received
the nickname "Braddison" by fans, and although they've never publicly confirmed their romance,
it was pretty evident from their content that they were an item.
As Bustle reported, Rae and Hall shared their first joint TikTok in October 2019. And they
only appeared to get closer over time, posting together more, and often. But their silence
about their relationship left fans scratching their heads as to whether they were officially
boyfriend and girlfriend. Apparently, even Rae and Hall weren't quite sure about their
status. Hall said on Jake Paul's Impaulsive podcast in July 2020,
"We're not dating yet. We're not boyfriend and girlfriend. I guess you could say we went
on dates."
Regardless, whatever romantic relationship they may have had came to an end by September
2020, according to Entertainment Tonight.
"There was a lot of times we were on, we were off, and it was kind of just like a confusing
situation.”
To say Rae's family is supportive of her entertainment career would be an understatement. Not only
are they behind her all the way, but they've joined her on the ride.
"Hey guys, it's Addison Rae. Monty Rae, and Sher-rae."
Rae's parents both have TikTok accounts of their own, and Rae actually credits them for
helping to launch her career. Rae's big break came when she did a TikTok with her mom, Sheri,
in 2019. She told Hollywire,
"I actually downloaded the app in July, made a post with a friend, and literally out of
nowhere, I think it like, got 93,000 likes. I was like woah. I like this!"
From there, Rae and her mom kept up the momentum. She said,
"I kept going, made videos with my mom, and then that was kind of the main thing that
blew up."
As of mid-2020, Rae's mom's account boasts more than 11 million followers — which is
a drop in the bucket, compared to Addison's nearly 62 million loyal fans.
There's an old saying that claims, "mother knows best," and it's a phrase that Rae knows
all too well. In fact, she is so close with her mom, Sheri, that she launched a podcast
named after that saying. Mama Knows Best hit Spotify in July 2020, and releases new episodes
weekly on Mondays, offering an inside look at their relationship.
"I was like, oh my gosh, Mom."
Both Rae and her mom were thrilled to announce their podcast, with Rae sharing in a promo,
"Every week, we're going to talk about my life, the big and the small, and pretty much
everything you want to know. […] We'll have some pretty fun advice from my mom as well."
Addison Rae's parents are happily married, but there was actually a large part of their
history when they were separated. The star's parents once divorced, but eventually found
their way back to each other, according to the Mama Knows Best podcast.
Rae shared the emotional story on the very first episode of the show with the help of
her mom, explaining that her parents split up when Rae was still a young child, and continued
to experience a rocky relationship for most of their daughter's childhood. Fortunately,
the pair still managed to make little Addison feel secure, no matter what was happening
within her parents' dynamic. She remembered,
"It was never a problem for me to think, 'where is my dad?' I didn't even think about that
stuff."
"It was…intense. To say the least. It was crazy."
Rae also revealed that due to her parents' split, her family had to move around a lot,
and even lived out of a camper at one point. She said,
"Luckily we could afford to get an RV. We were struggling really bad."
Finally, in 2017, Rae's parents found happiness between each other, again, and remarried.
Here's hoping the second time's a charm for this family.
Move over Kylie Jenner, there's a new beauty mogul in town! Rae announced the launch of
her makeup line in August of 2020, and, of course, it made a mega-splash among TikTok
fans with a passion for cosmetics. The star dubbed her line ITEM Beauty, and assumed the
role of "chief innovation officer." At 19 years old, Rae became not only the boss of
her own brand, but she created a line that fans can feel good about supporting. All of
her products — including eye shadow, mascara, brow definer, brightening powder, lip oil,
and a contour kit — were made with cruelty-free ingredients. Not too shabby for her debut
in the beauty industry!
"Own your weirdness. And be completely in love with yourself."
Ahead of the launch of her line, Rae discussed why getting into the makeup business actually
made a lot of sense for her, when she told ELLE,
"I've always been around makeup since I was a little girl. My mom was a makeup artist
and I was a competitive dancer. So for performances, we would do the lipstick and the eyelashes
together."
If you've ever seen a kids' dance competition, you know how much makeup goes into the dancers'
looks. So, when it was performance time for Rae, her mom was there to help her craft her
winning look.
You'd be hard-pressed to find someone who isn't a fan of Billie Eilish these days, but
Rae has been a stan of the musician since the very beginning of her career. She spoke
with Entertainment Tonight about how much the singer's work means to her, explaining,
"I love her because 'Ocean Eyes' was so good to me, and I would literally listen to it
and like, cry. And then, as she got more popular […] I was like, 'Oh, I love her music but
[…] she's mainstream now.'"
"There's so many small artists who make amazing music."
Rae says that the rise in fame made it a little less "cool" to be an Eilish fan, but it didn't
keep her from staying loyal to her favorite artist. Rae still adores Eilish, even though
she's now a certified A-lister and a multiple-Grammy award winner. It looks like Rae will just
have to get used to sharing Eilish with multitudes of fans, even though she joked,
"You know when you find that artist and then they blow up and you're like, 'Dang it, I
wanted them to be mine.'"
As much as Rae slays in every video she creates, the influencer hopes to one day break out
of the phone app and onto the big screen. She shared with Entertainment Tonight,
"I really am pushing into getting into acting really hard right now."
And, apparently, she's already hitting the ground running when it comes to her movie
star dreams. Having landed multiple auditions so far, she said,
"Hopefully in the next year I'll be cast in a movie or TV show."
While Rae has enjoyed massive success on TikTok, she says that becoming an actress would be
even more of a dream come true, for her. She added,
"That's kind of like always always been my dream, just to like be on the big screen."
If you need a daily dose of inspiration, look no further than Addison Rae. She's the ultimate
believer in the power of positivity. Revealing how she maintains her megawatt smile at all
times, she told Entertainment Tonight,
"I'm a very positive person naturally. Some people think, like, I smile too much or I'm
too happy."
Of course, that upbeat energy has led some people to speculate that something might be
wrong, but Rae insists that's not the case — she's just a natural optimist. She also
alluded to the fact that her difficult past might have played a part in her ever-radiant
demeanor. She said,
"I've been through a lot. I think, you know, you live and you learn that no matter what,
if you are smiling and positive about situations, it does make you feel better about it. That's
a big thing for me, spreading positivity and love and happiness."
"Woo! I did it!"
We're guessing this girl is going to be doing just that, for as long as she wants!
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