Alix Earle has never been one to hide behind a filter — but Earle Meets World pulls back the curtain even further. “Whether it was business, personal, love life, there was so much change going on in my life,” Alix tells Tudum. “Throughout the months we were filming, I was just super emotional.”
With years of viral GRWMs, the launch of a new business, and now a reality show, Alix’s career is thriving. But behind the phone screen, the mega-influencer struggled with a breakup from her longtime boyfriend, Braxton Berrios; a feud with her former employer, Alex Cooper; and a family that loves hard but doesn’t always make things easier. Add in turning 25 — “my frontal lobe has developed,” she jokes — and you get a season’s worth of reflection.
Despite the ups and downs, Alix says the chaos is (mostly) behind her now. “Mentally, I’m in a much better headspace,” she says. “I’ve just really done a lot of traveling and meeting people this summer.”
From breakups to breaking news, the series is packed with major revelations. Keep reading to find out everything Earle Meets World reveals and what’s happened since the cameras stopped rolling.
More than four months after breaking up with Braxton, Alix continues to ask herself, “What if I made a mistake?” (punctuated by the occasional scream-singing of “Back to December” in the family sauna). “He’s always told me that he’d never get back with an ex,” Alix says to sister Ashtin and best friend Sally while piled on her bed. “I want to know for my mental health if I need to pack it up, shut the door, move on, never look back.”
Despite their advice to drop it, in the season finale Alix decides to call Braxton to ask the question that has been on her mind since the breakup: “When we broke up, you said there was no chance that we’d ever get back together. I just wanted to know, do you still feel the same way?” We hear a sigh from Braxton, followed by “Oh, Alix,” before the credits roll.
Alix tells Tudum she was “shaking in my boots” as the phone rang. Still, she has no regrets. “It was a really scary moment, but I’m happy that I did ask,” she says. “I thought, ‘I’m just going to rip the Band-Aid off and do it.’” Alix confirms she’s still on good terms with Braxton. “For what the future holds, we will see,” she says.
Things get a little messy post-Braxton breakup when Alix is spotted dancing with his former NFL teammate, Tom Brady, at a New Year’s Eve party. Shortly after returning from her trip, Alix receives a text from a “mystery man” asking to meet up for lunch the next day. “I went on a date, but it was secret and private,” Alix confesses at dinner with Sally. “I wouldn’t say I have a type … maybe athletes.”
News of Alix’s new connection sparks the curiosity of family and friends. When Alix babysits her younger siblings on Valentine’s Day, her sister Penelope brings up St. Barts. “You just like older people, and that’s totally okay,” she says, referring to the Brady rumors without saying names. Her former Dancing with the Stars co-star also has some questions for Alix when she arrives to rehearse for her live performance. “How are you doing after Braxton?” Jenna Johnson, the DWTS pro, asks before miming texting: “You’re like, ‘Tom, come over, cutie.’” Alix is quick to shut down each conversation with a laugh and a hair flick.
As for her current relationship status, Alix remains just as coy. She’s “not necessarily” seeing anyone. “Just living life,” she tells Tudum with a smile.
Halfway through filming Dancing with the Stars, Alix learned her mom, Alisa, was diagnosed with breast cancer. In the course of her treatment, she underwent a double mastectomy and had her ovaries removed. That diagnosis also revealed she carries the BRCA2 gene mutation, which meant her daughters faced a real chance of carrying it too. With Alisa’s encouragement, Alix and Ashtin meet with a genetics counselor and get tested to understand their own risk. The sisters wait anxiously for their results, then go together to their mom’s house to receive the news side by side: both are positive for BRCA2.
“It’s just a little scary,” Ashtin says through tears. “In my mind, I thought one of us might have it, or neither of us have it,” she adds. “It never crossed my mind that both of us could have it.”
Alix tells Tudum she’s grateful to their mom for pushing them to get tested. “We wouldn’t have done that without her,” she says. “We were there for her this year, and then she was there for us. It’s the three of us in it together.”
Ashtin’s love life also comes up a lot at Earle family gatherings. In New York, Ashtin and Sally go on a double date but nothing comes from it. “It doesn’t feel like it’s worth getting my feelings hurt,” Ashtin says when her dad asks if she’ll go on a second date. Previously, Ashtin had only been in one serious long-term relationship. “I think I trusted my ex a little too much,” she says. “I thought I was going to marry him.”
Whether it was the gentle (or not-so-gentle push) from stepmom Ashley or something else entirely, Ashtin is “making good efforts” toward finding a special someone. “I’m just having a fun summer, but we’re getting out there,” Ashtin tells Tudum. “I’ve been going on dates and hanging out with some people.” Right now, her career is her priority. “Fashion month is going to be a lot of new experiences for me,” Ashtin hints.
The feud between Alix and Alex Cooper reignited in April when Cooper posted a TikTok that claims Alix created a “fake narrative” around their working relationship. The video has since racked up over 30 million views. Alix’s only public response was a short comment — “Okay on it!!” — and fans on both sides have been less-than-quietly waiting for the receipts.
On the show, Alix explains her silence: “I stayed quiet for so long because I’m scared of Alex Cooper. ... I was hoping karma would step in, but karma has taken a while.” She says she learned she had been dropped from Cooper’s company, Unwell, through the media. Alix’s father, TJ, backs this up, and also describes his daughter as a one-woman operation on her podcast: “Alix was doing it all herself, traveling around with suitcases and setting up the cameras herself.”
Regarding the conflict, Alix points to one incident specifically: filming an episode of Cooper’s podcast, Call Her Daddy, during which Cooper asked her sexual “truth or drink” questions Alix says she wasn’t comfortable answering. She claims she later asked for parts to be cut and Cooper refused: “It was stuff I didn’t want to live on the internet forever. It hurt me. It hurts now.” She adds that the fallout extended to her family — that same episode was where she spoke about her dad’s affair with her now-stepmom, Ashley. “That was just the hardest moment in my life and if there was ever a time when I felt like giving up, it was definitely at that moment,” Ashley says in the season finale.
Later, Alix drafts a text to Cooper. “You took advantage of me at a young age in a new industry I knew nothing about. ... If there’s one thing I learned from doing business with you, it’s to never do business with anyone like you.” Before the finale ends, Alix learns from an old friend that Cooper reached out to her. “Is she reaching out to someone I went to college with to get dirt on me?” Alix wonders.
