Addison Rae and Avani Gregg are two of TikTok’s biggest content creators — but life as a social media star comes with major drawbacks that can lead to seriously scary situations.
While being a top-tier influencer might seem like a career path paved in sunshine and roses, being an uber-popular internet personality can give some fans the wrong idea about exactly how much you’re willing to share about your personal life.
A slew of influencers have shared wild stories about fans (and haters) who took things too far. From a fan literally breaking into David Dobrik’s bedroom to a stalker who moved within walking distance of streamer Sweet Anita’s home, things can get seriously hairy for internet celebrities.
This is no different for TikTokers, it seems, as revealed by Addison Rae and Avani Gregg on a May 13 episode of the ‘That Was Fun?’ podcast. The two shared their wildest experiences with fans and the general public, and both influencers had some hair-raising tales to tell.
One of the most frightening stories came from Avani. She claimed that she’d been followed from the Hype House to her new apartment by two older men, who managed to slip into her complex’s parking garage and even stood in front of the elevator so that she was completely cornered.
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That wasn’t even the scariest situation she’d endured, either; Gregg also recounted a time she’d been hacked and her phone SIM-swapped, with the perpetrator sending her entire family threatening text messages and even filling her social media feeds with “terrorist videos.”
“They texted my family, ‘I know where you live and I’m going to come murder Avani,'” she explained. “I was like, ‘Of course they know where I live, they SIM-swapped the card on my phone!’ I was like, okay we gotta move.”
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Addison Rae also shared a frightening experience of her own, claiming that someone had found her address and screamed her name just outside her window in the middle of the night.
That’s not all; Rae has also been bullied by supposed “fans” who wanted to take a photo with her, claiming that one “fan” had flamed Rae in the comments after uploading a pic with the star to the net.
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While Rae surmised that these instances are likely due to their status as influencers who appear to share “everything” with their fans, it still points to a seriously scary trend that more and more content creators face as the social media age blossoms.