Addison Rae is a 25-year-old TikTok star, singer, and actress from Louisiana. Explore her career, debut album, net worth, personal life, and Hollywood journey in 2026.
Addison Rae Easterling is one of the defining celebrity stories of the Gen Z era. Born in Lafayette, Louisiana, she went from posting dance videos on TikTok as a college freshman to becoming one of the most followed people on the internet — and then kept reinventing herself. Today she is a Grammy-nominated recording artist, a working actress, and a brand empire unto herself, with a career that has consistently defied the limitations others tried to place on her.
What makes her story particularly compelling is the pivot. Early critics dismissed her music and questioned whether social media fame could translate into something lasting. By the end of 2025, her debut album Addison had debuted at number four on the Billboard 200, The Washington Post and The Fader had named it the best album of the year, and The Guardian had named her artist of the year. That is not the trajectory of someone who got lucky — it is the result of someone who kept working.
Quick Facts About Addison Rae
| Detail | Information |
|---|---|
| Full name | Addison Rae Easterling |
| Date of birth | October 6, 2000 |
| Age (2026) | 25 years old |
| Birthplace | Lafayette, Louisiana, USA |
| Profession | Singer, actress, dancer, content creator, entrepreneur |
| Net worth (2026) | Approximately $25 million |
| Relationship status | Single (as of early 2026) |
| Height | 5 ft 6 in (168 cm) |
| Education | Calvary Baptist Academy; briefly attended Louisiana State University |
| Famous for | TikTok, “Diet Pepsi,” He’s All That, album Addison |
Early Life and Family
Addison Rae was born on October 6, 2000, in Lafayette, Louisiana — a city with deep roots in Cajun culture and live performance. She grew up surrounded by music and movement, and both clearly left a mark. She began competitive dancing at just six years old, and by her early teens she was traveling across the country for dance competitions, developing the stage presence and physical discipline that would later define her content and live shows.
Her family life was complicated at times. Her parents, Monty Lopez and Sheri Easterling, had an on-and-off relationship throughout her childhood, divorcing when Addison was young before remarrying in 2017 and separating again in 2022. Despite those disruptions, she has spoken warmly about her upbringing, crediting her mother in particular with encouraging her ambitions. She has two younger brothers, Enzo and Lucas, and a half-sister, Macye Neumeyer. The family’s collective presence on social media — especially her mother Sheri’s own following — made them one of the internet’s most recognizable families for a period.
Addison also took part in gymnastics and cheerleading during her high school years at Calvary Baptist Academy in Shreveport, Louisiana, further broadening the athletic and performance foundation she would draw on professionally.
Education: From LSU to Los Angeles
After graduating high school, Addison enrolled at Louisiana State University in Baton Rouge, where she planned to study broadcast journalism with a focus on becoming a sports broadcaster. Her family relocated to Baton Rouge to support her. She had already downloaded TikTok during this period — initially for fun — but when her first video gathered around 93,000 likes almost immediately, the direction of things began to shift.
Within months, she had over a million followers and was being contacted by people in Los Angeles. She left LSU in November 2019, moved to California, and signed with talent agency WME in January 2020. It was an abrupt detour from the academic path, but one she has described as feeling inevitable. The entrepreneurship instincts she would later demonstrate suggest the broadcast journalism ambition and the creator career were not as different as they might seem.
TikTok Dominance and the Making of a Platform Star
Addison joined TikTok in July 2019, posting dance videos set to trending songs. She joined The Hype House collective in December 2019, giving her early exposure to a network of creators and a larger audience. Her growth was extraordinary even by the standards of the platform — she became TikTok’s most followed creator within a year, and Forbes named her the highest-earning TikToker of 2020, estimating she made $5 million that year through brand partnerships alone.
She built a consistent presence across platforms. Her Instagram following grew past 40 million, and her YouTube channel provided an additional revenue stream. Her estimated per-post rate on TikTok reached figures reportedly as high as $88,000 for sponsored content. Along the way she launched partnerships with American Eagle, L’Oréal, Lululemon, Reebok, YSL Beauty, and Pandora, among others. In 2020, she co-founded the cosmetics brand Item Beauty in collaboration with beauty platform Ipsy, though the brand was discontinued by 2023. Her fragrance line, Addison Rae Fragrance, launched in 2021 and continues to operate.
Not all of that period was without friction. As one of the platform’s biggest names, she received significant criticism for popularizing dances originally created by Black creators without crediting them — a criticism that was leveled broadly at the platform but that Addison, given her prominence, received with particular intensity. The backlash prompted wider industry conversations about credit and cultural attribution in the creator economy.
Acting Career: From Netflix to Hollywood
Addison made her film debut in He’s All That (2021), a Netflix gender-swapped remake of the 1999 teen comedy She’s All That, in which she played the lead. The film received mixed reviews, though her willingness to take on a leading role in a major production so early in her entertainment career demonstrated ambition. She followed it with an appearance in Eli Roth’s horror film Thanksgiving (2023), a deliberately genre-different choice that signaled she was not interested in staying in a comfortable lane.
Her next major film role is in the live-action animated road comedy Animal Friends, alongside Ryan Reynolds and Aubrey Plaza — a significantly higher-profile production that marks a real step into mainstream Hollywood. The film is scheduled for release in early 2027.
Musical Reinvention: From “Obsessed” to Addison
The arc of Addison Rae’s music career is one of the more striking redemption stories in recent pop. Her debut single “Obsessed” (2021) was widely dismissed by critics, and the release of her EP AR in 2023 generated limited traction. She could reasonably have left music behind.
Instead, she signed with Columbia Records in 2024 and changed direction entirely. The single “Diet Pepsi” — a synth-pop and dance-pop track with a sharp, distinct sound — entered the Billboard Hot 100 and was certified platinum by the RIAA. Critics who had written her off took notice. Vogue and Pitchfork both praised it. The singles “2 Die 4” and “Aquamarine” followed, building anticipation for her debut studio album Addison, released on June 6, 2025.
The album debuted at number four on the Billboard 200 and received the kind of critical reception that would have seemed implausible three years earlier. The Washington Post and The Fader named it the best album of 2025. The Guardian named her artist of the year in December 2025. She was nominated for Best New Artist at the 68th Grammy Awards and performed at Spotify’s Best New Artist Party in January 2026. In April 2026, she headlined the main stage at Coachella, bringing out special guests Maddie Ziegler and Olivia Rodrigo.
Personal Life
Addison has kept her personal life increasingly private as her profile has grown. Her most publicly known relationship was with fellow TikTok creator Bryce Hall, which began in October 2020 and ended some months later. She subsequently dated Israeli musician Omer Fedi for approximately four years before the couple separated in October 2025. As of early 2026, she is single and has indicated in interviews that she is focused on her career and personal growth.
She donated her $1 million prize from winning an all-star Mario Tennis Aces charity tournament in January 2021 to the hunger relief organization No Kid Hungry — a gesture that went largely unnoticed at the time but speaks to a side of her not always captured in tabloid coverage.
Net Worth and Business Ventures
As of 2026, Addison Rae’s net worth is estimated at approximately $25 million. Her income spans TikTok and social media earnings, acting fees, music royalties and touring revenue, brand partnerships, and her fragrance business. Forbes documented her earning $5 million in 2020 alone, primarily from endorsements, making her the highest-paid TikToker that year. Since then, the music career and expanded brand deals have grown her income considerably.
Her Lucky Brand collaboration — the Addison Ultra Low Rise Flare, launched in August 2025, and its follow-up short launched in March 2026 — exemplifies her ability to convert cultural influence into tangible commercial products. An Uber Eats Super Bowl LX commercial alongside Bradley Cooper and Matthew McConaughey further demonstrated her crossover mainstream appeal.
Awards and Recognition
- Forbes highest-earning TikToker, 2020
- Grammy nomination: Best New Artist, 68th Grammy Awards
- The Guardian Artist of the Year, 2025
- Washington Post and The Fader Best Album of 2025 for Addison
- Billboard Hot 100 entry and RIAA platinum certification for “Diet Pepsi”
- Addison debuted at #4 on the Billboard 200
- Main stage performance, Coachella 2026
Final Thoughts
Addison Rae’s career has always been about more than numbers, though the numbers are genuinely impressive. What gives her story real weight is the persistence — the willingness to absorb early criticism in music, rebuild from scratch, and emerge with work that earned the kind of respect that no amount of follower counts can manufacture. She did that while simultaneously expanding into film and maintaining the business infrastructure that keeps her financially independent.
At 25, she is performing at Coachella, releasing a Hollywood film with Ryan Reynolds, and collaborating with legacy fashion brands. The girl who downloaded TikTok for fun has become one of the most fully realized entertainers of her generation — and by most indications, she is still only getting started.
People Also Ask
How did Addison Rae get famous?
She joined TikTok in July 2019 and quickly gained millions of followers through her dance videos. Within months she was TikTok’s most followed creator, and Forbes named her the highest-earning TikToker of 2020 with an estimated $5 million earned that year.
What is Addison Rae’s debut album?
Her debut studio album, Addison, was released on June 6, 2025, through Columbia Records. It debuted at number four on the Billboard 200 and was named the best album of 2025 by both The Washington Post and The Fader.
Was Addison Rae nominated for a Grammy?
Yes. She received a nomination for Best New Artist at the 68th Grammy Awards, following the critical and commercial success of “Diet Pepsi” and her debut album Addison.
What movies has Addison Rae been in?
She starred in Netflix’s He’s All That (2021) and appeared in the horror film Thanksgiving (2023). She is set to star alongside Ryan Reynolds and Aubrey Plaza in Animal Friends, scheduled for release in early 2027.
Is Addison Rae in a relationship?
As of early 2026, Addison Rae is single. She and musician Omer Fedi ended their roughly four-year relationship in October 2025. She has not been publicly linked to anyone since.
