Tragic Details About TLC Star Baylen Dupree

Among the very best and worst shows on TLC, "Baylen Out Loud" certainly lands on the positive side. The series debuted in January 2025, giving viewers and unfiltered look into the life of then-21-year-old Baylen Dupree. The West Virginia native first made waves in November 2021 when she took to TikTok to share her experience with Tourette syndrome, a neurological disorder she was officially diagnosed with in 2020, but which she had been experiencing since childhood.

As Mayo Clinic explains, Tourette's manifests itself in a wide range of uncontrollable movements and sounds called tics. For Dupree, getting the diagnosis right before her 18th birthday unleashed, as she told People, a "disaster of emotions and confusion and hopelessness." She was bullied and tried to retreat from society, telling Teen Vogue, "I hated myself for so long, because I did not want to be who I was." Then she decided to take control of her narrative and go public in an effort to spread awareness about Tourette's.

Soon enough, Dupree had millions of followers online, which led to her TV deal. While there are plenty of TLC stars you don't hear about anymore, Dupree's goal is to help educate and inspire others for the rest of her life. "For God to be using me in this way and being this vessel for so many people is the biggest blessing in my life," she told Teen Vogue. Even so, Baylen Dupree still has to contend with struggles and tragedy in her life.

Baylen Dupree is perhaps America's most recognized advocate of Tourette syndrome but there was a long time during which she didn't know her diagnosis. Dupree was around 7 years old when her parents first noticed she was experiencing small tics in her face and body. There were also some verbal tics, but as she told People ahead of the Season 1 premiere of TLC's "Baylen Out Loud," the family didn't make much of it. "I felt like all the other kids were doing them," she recalled. "It was just normal."

The tics weren't particularly disruptive, then they waned, and Dupree didn't think of them again until she was 15. Suddenly, both her verbal and physical tics returned and escalated. Dupree also developed Coprolalia, a rare symptom in which vocal tics include swearing and inappropriate words and phrases. She began to struggle in school and other social settings, but it would be several years before Dupree found the right doctor to help her. "The not knowing was the hardest part," she told Teen Vogue in 2025. Speaking with People, she added, "I didn't understand it, and I didn't have information." Ultimately, Dupree met a neurologist who knew exactly what was going on and diagnosed her with Tourette's in 2020, shortly before her 18th birthday.

Right as the world was going into lockdown due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Baylen Dupree was officially diagnosed with Tourette syndrome. The timing couldn't have been worse as the mandatory isolation meant it was difficult to turn to others for support. What's more, the stress of living through a pandemic only served to exacerbate her already intensifying symptoms. 

"It went from like 10 tics a day to 40 tics a day," she told People in 2023. "Then COVID happened and it went from 40 tics a day to 500 tics a day." As the then-20-year-old recalled, everyday tasks, from brushing her teeth to eating, became a struggle. "It was isolating, it was depressing," she admitted, recalling how she once hit her mom with a frying pan and involuntarily slapped her then-boyfriend.

Dupree also opened up about that time in her life with Teen Vogue, recalling, "I basically hid from everybody." Indeed, when her school returned to in-person learning following various lockdowns, she decided to continue studying online instead. "I just became really, really insecure with myself," she shared, noting how she decided to avoid her classmates and ultimately didn't walk in her high school graduation because she was so ashamed of her Tourette's diagnosis.

After graduating high school in 2021, Baylen Dupree enrolled in West Virginia University as a virtual nursing student. As she revealed in an interview with the university's blog, she had been inspired to do so because she wanted to help others the way she herself had been helped. "Throughout the years of my medical history, the people who have helped me the most are doctors and nurses," she shared. "They've made me feel welcome."

Unfortunately, the reality for the then-freshman was that her tics made it difficult to focus, let alone attend in-person classes or eventually practice nursing, should she graduate. "Studying is difficult for me," she explained, noting, "Sitting down makes my tics more difficult." Sadly, when combined with her other medical conditions, it proved to be too much of a challenge and she had to make a difficult decision in 2023. "I had to drop out of college because my other conditions got too bad," Dupree told People. "I looked at my parents and I said, 'I got to go.'"

Despite initially hiding her diagnosis, Baylen Dupree eventually decided to document her journey online and by 2023, a 20-year-old Dupree had found the formula to TikTok success, amassing 7.7 million followers and counting. As she told People, she made the decision to go public after a particularly hurtful incident at a grocery store in late 2021. 

Dupree was shopping when some girls from her math class noticed her tics and decided to follow her around with their cameras out. "I was videotaped and made fun of because of my tics," she recalled. "It was sent around and I got like 20 messages overnight through Snapchat basically like, 'Oh my God, what's wrong with you?'" That was the inspiration Dupree needed to take back her narrative and, a few days later, she posted her first TikTok video. "I'm sick and tired of hiding from everyone when I can't do anything about the way I am," she mused. "I can't change it so I might as well embrace it."

Even so, Dupree's newfound attitude hasn't stopped people staring or even confronting her in public — an uncomfortable situation she tries to handle with grace. Speaking with People in 2025, Dupree recalled an incident at a restaurant when a woman approached her to say she was bothering her. "I instantly go, 'I can't stop, I have Tourette,'" she told the mag. The woman apologized but left the restaurant and Dupree took it in stride. "I realized that she had to do what she had to do because she was uncomfortable," she noted.

These days, Baylen Dupree appears to be fully confident in her skin, but that wasn't always the case. When she was first diagnosed with Tourette syndrome in 2020, she didn't really understand it and all she wanted to do was hide from the world. "I was embarrassed of who I was," Dupree recalled during a panel discussion hosted by People. "I didn't want to be alive." Despite learning to recognize her triggers, actively working to help diminish her tics, and seeing a therapist four days a week, she was struggling. "I barely left the house," she told Teen Vogue. "It was just the worst point in my entire life."

Making the situation even more difficult for Dupree was the fact that she was simultaneously dealing with a number of other medical conditions. "Tourette [is] the iceberg above the water," she told People in 2025. As she explained, it's what people see and hear, but what they don't realize is that there's much more beneath the surface. In Dupree's case that includes OCD, anxiety, depression, and bipolar disorder. Because of such a complicated mix of health issues, medication hasn't been a perfect solution. As Dupree's dad, Allen, explained, while medication helps alleviate some symptoms, such as her tics, it can exacerbate others, for example making Dupree's depression more prevalent.

If you or someone you know is struggling or in crisis, help is available. Call or text 988 or chat 988lifeline.org

The reality of being on a TLC show is that you become instantly recognizable and, in Baylen Dupree's case, that's what she sort of wanted. The young advocate has made it her mission to raise awareness about Tourette syndrome and educate as many people as possible on the realities of living with it. She's been succeeding, but her newfound fame also comes with some aspects she doesn't exactly appreciate. Namely that she's sometimes associated with her disorder as if that's her only facet. "Tourette's doesn't define Baylen," she once told People. "Just because I struggle with it doesn't mean it defines who I am and who I will be."

One thing in particular that irks Dupree is when fans approach her and repeat one of her verbal tics, as if it's a catchphrase. "Don't say my tic to me," Dupree told viewers on ET. "I have a name, like, I'm not a tic or I'm not Tourette." It's a sentiment she also shared with Teen Vogue in 2025, noting it comes across as mocking and is offensive. "I don't like being acknowledged by my ticcing," she shared. What she does appreciate, though, is folks telling her she's having a positive impact on the world. "Having people come up to me in public and tell me an amazing heartfelt story is the most beautiful thing that I could ask for," she mused.

The reality of living with Tourette's varies greatly from person to person. The spectrum of tics that may be experienced ranges from brief, simple movements to longer, more complex sequences. For example, the truth about Billie Eilish's Tourette syndrome is she can force herself not to tic, but Baylen Dupree's is vastly different. As fans of "Baylen Out Loud" will know, the reality TV star has to deal with a wide range of physical and verbal tics which have sometimes impacted her quality of life by making everyday tasks difficult to complete.

"When you've met one person with Tourette, you've only met one person with Tourette," she explained to People in 2025. "People need to know that it's on a spectrum from mild to severe." Perhaps most frustrating is when people assume she's putting on a show because sometimes her tics are extremely pronounced while at other times they're more subdued. 

"People think I fake Tourette's or that I don't have Tourette's because I don't tic 24/7," she told People. "Or because their cousin's tics are different than mine." Airing her frustration, Dupree asked if readers would believe someone with epilepsy was faking it if they didn't have daily seizures. As she once quipped to Page Six Radio, "If I was [faking it], I better get an Oscar."

Baylen Dupree found her perfect match when she met Colin Dooley on a dating app at the end of 2022. Just over two years later, they were engaged and Dupree took a huge step when she moved out of her parents house in Roanoke, West Virginia, and into an Arlington apartment with Dooley. "I am loving the adventure of living with Colin," she told Teen Vogue, noting she wasn't sure she'd ever have so much independence. "I would never picture myself where I am now," she mused.

Speaking with People about her beau, Dupree credited Dooley with being a huge positive force in her journey with Tourette's. "He is the prescription that I've needed for a really long time," she enthused. "He distracts me from a lot of the things that consume my day and my time." 

Unfortunately, Dooley's presence isn't always guaranteed. As he told viewers on a January 2025 episode of "Baylen Out Loud," his job with the United States Air Force keeps him on his toes. "I could end up anywhere in the country or overseas," he explained. "This will have a big impact for Baylen and I's relationship." As for Dupree, while she said she understood it was simply his responsibility to follow orders, she couldn't help but fight back tears. "There's so many unknowns about our future and what's going to happen," she shared. "It's so sad."