Just two years ago, Alix Earle was a University of Miami sorority girl filming ‘get ready with me’ videos in her bedroom.
Now, the 24-year-old is one of the most popular influencers on social media, boasting a dizzying 12 million followers across Instagram and TikTok.
A far cry from her humble beginnings – videos of the once-relatable starlet applying makeup at her vanity and chatting casually with viewers about college – Alix’s content now shows off her ultra-luxe lifestyle of lavish parties, worldwide travel and sitting front row at Fashion Week.
Most recently, however, Alix – who is dating Houston Texans wide receiver Braxton Berrios – has given fans a glimpse behind the curtain of Dancing with the Stars, on which she is part of the celebrity ensemble.
But the larger-than-life glitz and glamour on her profile shrouds a sordid family secret – one that insiders say could also prove to be her secret weapon.
The Daily Mail exclusively spoke to sources who recalled how the Earle family’s scandal rocked their New Jersey hometown, and revealed why their controversial past will only help Alix’s ascent to stardom.
The 24-year-old is one of the most popular influencers on social media, boasting a dizzying 12 million followers across both Instagram and TikTok
Alix (pictured left with her dance partner Val Chmerkovskiy, right) has given her fans a glimpse behind the curtain of Dancing with the Stars
When Alix and her younger sister Ashtin were in elementary school, news broke that their father, New Jersey construction scion Thomas Earle, had an extramarital affair.
His girlfriend was none other than Ashley Dupre, the former call girl at the center of former New York governor Eliot Spitzer’s sex scandal.
On February 13, 2008, at the Mayflower Hotel in Washington, DC, Spitzer checked into Room 871 under the pseudonym George Fox.
As it turned out, the then-governor – notably tough on prostitution during his time in office – was a frequent client of Emperor’s Club VIP, an international escort agency that provided call girls to clients in New York City, Washington, DC, Miami, London and Paris for between $1,000 and $5,500 an hour.
As much as $80,000 was traced from Spitzer’s bank accounts to the agency in a two-year period, according to federal investigators. Court records state that he coughed up $4,300 in cash for his two-hour tryst with Dupre, then a 22-year-old aspiring musician.
FBI agents, who had been monitoring the escort service, arrested four members of the group on money-laundering and prostitution charges in March 2008. Spitzer and Dupre were not charged.
The ‘Luv Guv’ scandal toppled the Spitzer’s political career. The governor issued an apology, then resigned.
That same year, Dupre’s relationship with Thomas Earle, then 35, came to light.
‘I remember the day very clearly,’ Alix told Call Her Daddy podcast host Alex Cooper in 2023, recalling how her life ‘flipped upside down.’
‘Paparazzi had shown up at my house and my mom quickly kind of got me and my sister out of the house over to our cousins. We stayed there for a few days, and I had no idea what was going on. I didn’t know they were paparazzi. I thought news broadcasters were interviewing the neighbors.’
While her family drama made national news, it also rocked their small, tight-knit community in Monmouth County.
According to a former classmate, who spoke to the Daily Mail on condition of anonymity, the affair – and Dupre’s reputation – was the talk of the town.
The Earle Companies executive met Dupre at a New Jersey eatery, at which time he reportedly boasted, ‘I could have had her for free!’
As their relationship progressed, he often whisked her away for secret dalliances in Manhattan, though he later described his actions as a ‘grave mistake’ in a public apology to his now ex-wife, Alisa.
Back then, Alix – who was in second grade – had little knowledge of what had transpired. It wasn’t until two years later that she learned of her father’s affair.
When Alix and her younger sister Ashtin were in elementary school, news broke that their father, New Jersey construction scion Thomas Earle (left), had an extramarital affair with Ashley Dupre (right)
Dupre (pictured) was the former call girl at the center of former New York governor Eliot Spitzer’s sex scandal
Back then, Alix – who was in second grade – had little knowledge of what had transpired. It wasn’t until two years later that she learned of her father’s affair
According to a former classmate, who spoke to the Daily Mail on condition of anonymity, the affair – and Dupre’s reputation – was the talk of the town. (Pictured: the Earle family in 2023)
‘It was in, like, fourth grade. I started to kind of hear commentary from people and I had an iPad at the time,’ she said. ‘I’m Googling my family and all of a sudden, I see that the past two years of my life had been a lie.’
The scandal followed Alix into high school, and the influencer recalled feeling humiliated when a teacher discussed the governor’s affair in class.
‘I remember my classmates looking at me and laughing because this was about my family,’ she said on the podcast.
‘I left school bawling my eyes out. I was so embarrassed.’
While the ordeal could have made Alix bitter or resentful, the former classmate described her as being nothing but ‘down to earth’ and ‘very sweet’ – though, Dupre seems to have seen a different side of her.
Alix and her sister once described filling her shoes with toothpaste and serving her a chocolate-covered garlic clove disguised as a chocolate-covered strawberry.
‘I was told that I had to be respectful to this woman and we had to be nice to her. I wanted to rip her head off,’ Alix said on her Hot Mess podcast in September 2024.
Not only was Dupre tormented by the two young Earle girls but she simultaneously faced public scrutiny following the ‘Luv Guv’ scandal, with her face splashed on the covers of local tabloids.
PR maven Kelly Cutrone, who met Dupre in 2009 and hosted the aspiring musician on her show Kell on Earth, told the Daily Mail: ‘When I met her, you know, she was very intelligent, really sweet and had really been through it.
‘I just think that she kind of lost her way a little bit.’
But that’s why, if there is anyone to offer Alix advice on how to navigate the pitfalls of fame, it’s Dupre.
Perhaps not the most traditional of role models, Cutrone however emphasized how crucial Dupre could be to Alix as she navigates being in the limelight – and the criticism that comes with it.
‘Ashley is an expert at it. She was a young girl who was put through the f***ing ringer,’ said Cutrone, 59.
If there is anyone to offer Alix advice on how to navigate the pitfalls of fame, it’s Dupre
The Earles (pictured) are a blended family with the addition of Dupre’s three children, Alix’s half-siblings
Pictured: Izabel Earle, Ashtin Earle, Alix Earle and Penelope Earle
In fact, Alix once confessed that she turned to Dupre as a voice of reason amid her newfound TikTok fame.
‘One time, I was overwhelmed about something of mine and I called my dad. He was like, ‘You should really talk to Ashley about this. She has dealt with this before, stuff in the media,’ Alix told Elle magazine in 2023 of her stepmom, who married Thomas Earle in 2013.
‘It’s brought us closer because she’s able to guide me through it.’
As for the advice that Dupre has imparted to her famous stepdaughter? ‘Life goes on.’
Indeed, hers has.
Despite her father’s affair and the tumultuous fallout, Alix has seemingly brushed off the controversy. She often boasts of their ‘blended family’ with the addition of her half-siblings, Izabel, 11, and Penelope, nine, and seven-year-old Thomas James.
Cutrone said: ‘Fear of people knowing about you or your life or your family’s life, if that’s what inhibits you, you’ll never get to where you want to go.
‘I mean, she’s showed up and suited up.’
And in more ways than one – on September 16, she will be slipping on her dancing shoes and a sequined number for her Dancing with the Stars debut.
‘I hope she has a great season,’ added Cutrone. ‘I’ll be voting for her!’
The Daily Mail has contacted representatives for Alix Earle and Ashley Dupre for comment.
