Being viral apparently runs in the family!
From breaking YouTube records to raking billions of views on TikTok, The entry of Internet star Bella Poarch to everyone’s radar proved inevitable. Just when we all thought she was another online personality, she turned even more heads when she bared that she was actually born in the Philippines.
If the lip-syncing sensation revealing her Filipino roots by speaking straight Tagalog caught you by surprise, this fun fact will leave your mouths agape: Bella is actually related to fellow Internet idol Bretman Rock.
In a recent video posted by Bretman titled “Tye Dyeing with Bella Poarch,” the Filipino-American beauty influencer shared that he knew Bella ever since they were children, as they are, in fact, cousins.
“We met when we were kids. We’re actually cousins, you guys! We met all the way from Pangasinan where [Poarch] is from,” Bretman disclosed on camera.
Bretman also shared that Poarch is also Ilokano but mainly speaks Tagalog and, in small parts, Pangasinense since she was taught the language by her mother.
Just in case there are any doubts, yes, Bella speaks full-fledged Tagalog, complete with the hard-as-nails accent that the rest of us do.
Growing up, Bella and her family moved to San Francisco and then to Hawaii when she was 13 years old. Before breaking into the Internet scene, Bella enlisted in the US Navy back in 2015, right as she came of age. She served for four years in Japan then left the service to live independently.
It was then when she struck gold, posting a TikTok video last August where she lip-syncs to “Soph Aspin Send” by British rapper Millie B. This would end up as the most liked video on TikTok with a staggering 50 million views. Currently, she is the fourth most-followed individual on TikTok with 73.4 million followers, trailing behind fellow social media personalities Charli D’Amelio, Addison Rae, and Khaby Lame.
Last May, Bella released her debut single “Build a B*tch” under Warner Records. The music video’s premiere on YouTube is dubbed by the record label as the “biggest YouTube debut in history,” raking 75 million views and clinching the top spot for both the Global and US YouTube Video charts.
In true Filipino fashion of helping family, Bretman also makes a cameo in the record-breaking music video, together with other of Bella’s friends.
