Who is Addison Rae? Meet one of TikTok’s most popular content creators

One of the most popular TikTokers to date is Addison Rae. The 20-year-old influencer is all over the app — not just on her own account, but also on her family account and on the account for the content creator house she’s loosely associated with. You can’t escape her, even if you try.

So, who is Addison Rae, and how did she become famous? Keep reading to learn more about the Louisiana native’s upbringing, relationship history and more.

Who is Addison Rae?

Addison Rae — or, if you’re using her full name, Addison Rae Easterling — was born on Oct. 6, 2000, to mom Sheri Easterling and dad Monty Lopez. She is the oldest of three children and has two brothers: Lucas and Enzo Lopez.

Growing up, Rae and her family lived in Louisiana in various cities including Lafayette, Baton Rouge and Shreveport. Currently, the entire Easterling/Lopez family lives in Los Angeles, where they all make content for their individual TikTok accounts plus a family account that, at the time of writing, has 5.9 million followers. Rae and her parents are all repped by WME.

Did Addison Rae go to college?

Rae enrolled at Louisiana State University (LSU) after high school, with the hopes of becoming a sports broadcaster. However, in an interview with the Wall Street Journal, she admitted that most of the people around her didn’t think she’d ever actually amount to anything in the sports world.

“People around me always were like, you know, that’s not realistic,” she told the Wall Street journal. “And I was like, One day I’ll be on ESPN and everyone will see me.”

Rae dropped out of LSU in November 2019 not long after enrolling. In December 2019, she moved to Los Angeles full-time, and her family followed suit.

How did Addison Rae become famous?

Rae is known for her signature face scrunch and fun dance videos on TikTok. She first started using the app in July 2019 — though, at that time, she didn’t expect to make it into a career.

“I actually downloaded the app in July, made a post with a friend, and literally out of nowhere it got … 93,000 likes, and I was like, ‘Woah. I like this!'” she said in an interview with Hollywire.

@addisonre

Not a regular mom… a COOL mom 🤣🤣🤣 #foryoupage

♬ Obsessed – Mariah Carey

Rae’s big break came on July 25, 2019. She made a video dancing to Mariah Carey’s “Obsessed” with her mom — and the singer herself ended up liking it. That video has just under a million likes, which is a lot by TikTok standards, but nothing compared to what Rae brings in nowadays.

In her interview with the Wall Street Journal, Rae recalled from memory that she reached a million followers on Oct. 27, 2019. As of writing, she has 68.5 million followers, making her the second-most popular user on the app.

There are many things that have contributed to Rae’s TikTok success over the past year or so. When she moved to L.A., Rae joined one of the most popular content creator houses, Hype House (She is less involved with the house nowadays and does not live there, but she still occasionally appears in their videos.)

In March, rapper The Kid LAROI also namedropped Rae in his eponymous song. The track became somewhat of a meme when Rae made a TikTok about it, saying, “‘I need a bad bleep, um, Addison Rae. Lil’ shawty the baddest. Yeah. And she got her ways.’ So, these lyrics are obviously very heartfelt to me because I am Addison Rae.”

Rae also has dreams of becoming a respected actress — and those dreams are becoming more real by the day. In September, it was announced that the TikToker was cast as the lead in a remake of the 1999 movie She’s All That alongside Cobra Kai star Tanner Buchanan.

“I’m so grateful for the opportunities that have been presented to me and none of it would have ever happened without every single one of you,” Rae said on Instagram about the role. “I LOVE YOU ALL SO MUCH!! I can’t wait for you to see it!!!”

Who is Addison Rae dating?

Rae has been on and off with fellow TikToker Bryce Hall pretty much ever since she moved to L.A. The pair were first linked in November 2019 — and since then, they’ve broken up, gotten back together and denied they were back together more times than we can count.

Recently, though, Rae and Hall confirmed that they were, indeed, back together. For Halloween, the two TikTokers dressed up as The Joker and Harley Quinn, one of the most iconic couples in the DC Universe. They’ve also been making a lot of content together — and they look cozier than ever.

Not much is known about Rae’s dating history before Bryce Hall, but she has made references to a past “toxic” boyfriend before. In June, when she was fighting very publicly with the D’Amelio sisters, Rae noted on Instagram that she got out of an “extremely toxic and mentally abusive [five-year] relationship” around November 2019.

What is Addison Rae’s net worth?

In August 2020, Forbes used pretax earnings from June 2019 through June 2020 to determine the highest-paid TikTok stars and concluded that Rae brought in $5 million during that time period, making her the highest-earning TikTok star. According to Forbes, sponsored TikTok posts and brand deals accounted for two-thirds of her income.

Thanks to her huge social media following, Rae has had partnerships with brands like American Eagle and Fashion Nova. Plus she recently launched her own makeup line, ITEM Beauty.

If you enjoyed this story, read about one of the other most popular content creators on TikTok: Loren Gray.

More from In The Know:

The 10 most-liked TikToks of all time

Rifle Paper Co. just launched floral puzzles that are gorgeously impossible

Who is Emma Chamberlain? The vlogger is unabashedly herself online

Subscribe to our daily newsletter to stay In The Know

Listen to the latest episode of our pop culture podcast, We Should Talk: