Initially, Alix Earle kept her romance under wraps, but since confirming her relationship with Braxton Berrios in November 2023, she has openly expressed her affection for him.
Earle began hinting at her connection with the “NFL Man” in March 2023, but it wasn’t until November that she officially referred to Berrios as her boyfriend. Following this confirmation, Earle has shared glimpses of their travels and outings on her TikTok and Instagram accounts.
During a December 2023 podcast episode of Hot Mess with Alix Earle, she expressed gratitude for Berrios, stating, “I really do appreciate NFL man, and he is the best and is so respectful of me, and I’m trying to be my best self. I don’t think we’ve ever had a fight about anything.”
Berrios faces a challenging season after suffering an ACL tear during a game against the Indianapolis Colts
In October 2024, while playing against the Indianapolis Colts, the Miami Dolphins wide receiver suffered an ACL tear, leading him to announce on Instagram that his “season is over.” Curious about Alix Earle’s boyfriend? Here’s a detailed look at Braxton Berrios and their relationship.
Originally from North Carolina, Berrios now considers Miami his home. He grew up in Raleigh, N.C., and attended Leesville Road High School.
Although he received offers from prestigious football programs like Ohio State University and Clemson University, he opted to play for the University of Miami, located near where his father spent his childhood in Homestead, Fla., as he revealed to Forbes in July 2024.
Due to his upbringing, Berrios has always been a fan of the Dolphins and the Miami Hurricanes. He humorously noted how, after being drafted by the New England Patriots and later the New York Jets, his father had to switch his loyalties.
“The whole side of my dad’s family is from here,” Berrios said of Miami. “You can imagine when I was drafted to New England, my dad was very happy.
But he was like, ‘Oh, gotta root against my Dolphins.’ And then going to the Jets and having my family root against the Dolphins. When I signed with Miami, it’s kind of a full-circle moment. And this is home for me.”
As a wide receiver for the Miami Dolphins, Berrios entered the NFL in 2018 when he was drafted in the sixth round by the Patriots. Despite spending his rookie season on injured reserve without playing a game, he still earned a Super Bowl ring when the Patriots triumphed over the Los Angeles Rams in February 2019.
After being waived during roster cuts in 2019, Berrios was picked up by the Jets. He spent four seasons with the team before signing a two-year, $12 million deal in March 2022. However, after being released a year later, he signed a one-year contract with the Miami Dolphins.
“I didn’t [expect it],” Berrios said to Forbes. “But this is part of the business — you learn not to have so many expectations — as sad as that is — and you have a loyalty to the team you’re with, and sometimes they serve that, and sometimes they don’t.”
He re-signed with the Dolphins in March 2024, but a severe ACL injury sidelined him just seven weeks into the season. Earle and Berrios first crossed paths at a party in February 2023, as Earle recounted in a December 2023 episode of Hot Mess. “He’s super cool, super nice, and flash forward two weeks, I get invited to go to the Super Bowl,” she said.
At that time, Berrios was emerging from a two-year relationship with Sophia Culpo, which made Earle feel insecure. As a result, she noted that “nothing had really happened” between them initially, and they remained just friends.
In March, Berrios asked Earle out on a date, surprising her with a helicopter ride over Miami. Throughout 2023, speculation about their relationship circulated.
Earle began teasing their connection online, but clarified in TikTok comments that he was not her boyfriend and they weren’t officially together, which sparked drama involving Berrios, Earle, and Culpo.
Culpo confirmed her split from Berrios in March, and by June, she hinted that Berrios may have cheated on her with Earle. In June, Berrios broke his silence on the matter via his Instagram Stories, explaining that he had remained quiet because it was “totally out of character” for him to discuss his private life publicly.
“I don’t wanna start anything. I don’t wanna fuel anything. I genuinely want all this to be over and everybody to move on and do whatever makes them happy,” he stated. He emphasized that his relationship with Culpo was “good” and “healthy,” but things “weren’t working out” towards the end, with no other reason for their breakup.
Later, Earle denied any claims that Berrios cheated on Culpo with her in a September 2024 episode of Alex Cooper’s Call Her Daddy podcast. She admitted that reading comments accusing her of being a homewrecker was “triggering” and caused her to “bawl my eyes out to my friends.”
Earle also revealed that she confronted Berrios “probably 110 times,” expressing her concerns that if he could betray another person, he might do the same to her. “You know I was asking for the receipts,” she recounted. “Like, right away I was probably more psycho than she was. I was like, there’s just no f—— way this happened. Like, I was checking everything.”
Officially, Earle confirmed their relationship status in November 2023. Although they made their first public appearance as a couple at the ESPYs red carpet in July 2023, they were still “not exclusive” at that time.
“Maybe in traditional Hollywood terms, that could be interpreted as a ‘hard launch’ of a relationship, but that’s not what it was at all,” a source informed PEOPLE. “Both have continued to keep things casual. The two have always agreed they were not exclusive or official.”
In November 2023, Earle declared that they had officially labeled their relationship. During a live taping of Call Her Daddy, Cooper pressed Earle to confirm whether she had a boyfriend, to which Earle responded, “I mean … yes.”
Their families have become intertwined even before the couple made their relationship public. In September 2023, Earle posted on TikTok about meeting Berrios’ mother for the first time at one of his Dolphins games, although the encounter didn’t go as she anticipated.
Earle recounted that after Berrios’ mom urged her to eat, she ended up “shoving” food into her mouth, only to have some ham fly out when she laughed. “I tried to laugh it off,” she said.
Berrios has also become a part of Earle’s family, as she often shares videos of him enjoying time with her parents and younger siblings. In June 2024, she even posted about bringing Berrios to Wisconsin to meet her grandmother.
They actively support each other’s professional endeavors. During the 2023 NFL season, Earle frequently attended Berrios’ games, and she is likely to continue this trend in 2024. In an August 2024 TikTok, she surprised him by dressing up in his full jersey and gear.
She also shared a TikTok showing his delighted reaction when she FaceTimed him to reveal her outfit, which he described as “the greatest thing I’ve ever seen.”
Berrios reciprocates by supporting Earle’s career and recognizes that when she is on her phone, she is working. In a December 2023 interview with FanDuel TV’s Up & Adams, Berrios emphasized how they help one another out.
“She does a great job with doing her work and then putting the phone down and doing everything else,” he explained. “Then, when she picks up the phone, I completely understand it’s work.”
“It’s never been an issue. It doesn’t bother me,” he added. “Honestly, to me, I met her, I understood, learned what she did, and you understand that this is how she makes her money. This is her career. This is what she loves to do.”
