From her initial mega-popularity to her parents' headline-grabbing romance antics, here's a breakdown of Rae's viral family drama.
One wild ride. Addison Rae's meteoric rise to immense fame hasn't been without its share of turbulence, and the 21-year-old TikTok star and actress is dealing with a lot of drama as of late.
From her parents splitting up (for a second time), to her own love life getting thrust into the public spotlight to her mom's unexpected romance with 26-year-old rapper Yung Gravy, Addison has a lot to deal with that one might never have expected.
In the wake of Addison's mom's high-profile date at the VMAs alongside Yung Gravy and her dad's surprisingly aggressive reactions on social media, we're taking a look back at Rae's family drama, as well as her own rise to fame.
November 2019 - Addison Decides to Make TikTok a Career
Addison was born and raised in Lafayette, Louisiana, to father Monty Lopez and mom Sheri Easterling. She joined TikTok early in its infancy, around July 2019, and soon had over 1 million followers in a matter of months. She dropped out of LSU in November and moved with her family to Los Angeles in late 2019, and by January 2020 she was already signed on with talent agency WME -- as did her parents.
August 2020 -- Big Money
Less than a year after leaving college and traveling across the country to pursue Internet fame, the gambit had already paid off in a big way. Forbes declared that -- through endorsement deals and other related projects -- Addison had earned more than $5 million over the past year and was officially the highest-earning TikTok star. (Side note: currently, Rae is the 4th most-followed TikTok personality, with 88.6 million followers).
September 2020 -- Addison Starts Shooting 'He's All That'
In September 2020, Miramax announced plans to shoot the gender-swapped remake of She's All That, appropriately titled He's All That, and Addison was the first name attached to the project -- which also served as her feature film debut. The movie began filing the following December, and Rae appeared opposite Tanner Buchanan, Madison Pettis, Rachael Leigh Cook, Matthew Lillard and Kourtney Kardashian. In the film, Addison starred as a social media influencer, and ironically the film marked her first foray into mainstream stardom outside of her social media sphere of influence.
April 2022 -- Red Carpet Official
Addison and boyfriend Omer Fedi made their red carpet debut at the 64th Annual GRAMMY Awards and the pair couldn't keep their hands off each other. The TikTok star and GRAMMY-nominated musician flashed a few smiles, held hands and even locked lips as they posed for pics along the carpet, outside of the MGM Grand in Las Vegas Sunday night.
July 7, 2022 -- Infidelity Allegations Against Her Dad First Surface
To say Addison's parents have had a complicated relationship would be an understatement. Monty and Sheri first tied the knot in 2000 and, after welcoming Addison and her two brothers -- Enzo and Lucas -- they got divorced. Addison has talked openly on her podcast, which she co-hosts with her mom, that her father wasn't in her life much growing up. However, in 2017, Monty and Sheri rekindled their romance and remarried.
Fast-forward to July 2022, and a 25-year-old woman named Renée Ash claims that she had sparked a romance with the 46-year-old Monty. Sheri took to her Instagram story on July 7 and wrote, "Personal matters being brought public are always challenging and overwhelming for anyone involved. I will be okay. My biggest concern is -and always will be- my children and their fragile hearts and minds. I will always do my best to protect them."
Shortly thereafter, Sheri changed her Instagram bio to read "single mom."
July 14, 2022 -- Yung Gravy Enters the Mix
Following the high-profile blowup between Monty and Sheri, the now self-proclaimed single mom -- who has over 14.2 million followers of her own on TikTok -- sparked the interest of Yung Gravy, a 26-year-old Internet celeb and rapper who is very vocal regarding his attraction to older women and, specifically, mothers.
He began expressing his interest on TikTok, and the pair began posting flirty exchanges and subtle suggestions that they should go out. Yung Gravy later said on the BFFs Podcast that he and Sheri were just sending each other "wholesome DMs" and being cute.
Aug. 7, 2022 -- Cutting Ties
With her parents' behavior getting increasingly embarrassing for her (and her brand) Addison took the ultimate step when it came to TikTok celeb drama: she unfollowed her mom. She'd already done so with her father in July when the cheating scandal first broke, but it seems that her mom's very public flirtations may have been a step too far for her.
When the news of the unfollow was posted on Instagram, Sheri actually commented on a post about Addison's decision, calling it "Heart wrenching :("
Aug. 8, 2022 -- Boxing Anyone?
Amid Yung Gravy's flirty back-and-forth with Sheri, Monty decided to take to TikTok and challenge him to a boxing match. Multiple times. Yung Gravy declined to even address or respond to the challenges, so Monty shared more videos about how he wants to box him. Everyone watching the drama unfold was generally unsure of what this would accomplish or how anyone would benefit from this happening -- but many agreed that it would still be entertaining and they would watch it unfold.
Aug. 28, 2022 -- PDA at the VMAs
When this year's MTV VMAs rolled around, Addison was nowhere to be found. She didn't end up making an appearance at all. However, her mother made sure to drop by, walking the red carpet with Yung Gravy by her side. The pair locked lips for the camera and spent the night together.
They also spoke with ET's Rachel Smith on the red carpet, and Yung Gravy explained his love for older women, sharing, "They're more experienced. They are an underserviced community I'd like to say and they deserve more attention, so I thought that'd be the one. And I've noticed that people really have started giving MILFs more attention since my music dropped."
As for the boxing challenges, Yung Gravy said, "I feel like I am, as a 26-year-old, I am a lot more mature than that type of activity."
Following the VMAs, Monty took to social media with a shirtless selfie to respond to Yung Gravy and Sheri's date night, seemingly criticizing the duo for their public debut and saying he was "unbothered."
"Thank you @younggravy for taking the leftovers," he wrote on his Instagram story. "I would rather spend time with my daughter and 2 grandkids that SheriNicole [sic] made me abandon as a child inorder [sic] to be with her! Never let a woman make you choose between her and or [sic] your blood child!"
Meanwhile, Addison has yet to address any of the VMAs drama at all.
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