Alix Earle celebrates Braxton Berrios' birthday with a steamy kiss

Did Alix Earle just hard launch her relationship with Braxton Berrios?

To mark his 28th birthday on Oct. 6, Earle shared a steamy photo of her and Berrios on her Instagram. In the snap, both donned their swimsuits as the Miami Dolphins wide receiver held Earle while the pair shared a kiss.

“hbd nfl man,” Earle simply wrote in the caption.

To her millions of followers on social media, Earle has affectionately referred to Berrios as “NFL man” in her content over the course of their rumored romance.

Though Earle didn’t tag Berrios in the photo, the NFL player commented on the post, writing, “Big fan of this.”

Fans had their own reactions in the comment section, with one user writing, “I’m way too invested in this relationship and I have zero shame.”

Another fan referenced a popular TikTok trend in their comment, writing, “My roman empire.”

“can’t believe you put Braxton Berrios on the map,” another fan added, following the trend of Swifties pranking football fans by claiming Taylor Swift put Travis Kelce “on the map” amid dating rumors.

While much of Earle and Berrios’ relationship has been rumored up to this point, here’s everything we know about the now Instagram official couple.

March 21, 2023: Alix Earle has sushi making date night

Earle shared one of her famous “get ready with me” — most commonly known as its acronym, GRWM — videos with her followers on March 31. In the TikTok, Earle said that she planned on making sushi for dinner with “someone I met the other night,” though she didn’t name names at the time.

June 9, 2023: Alix Earle and Braxton Berrios attend Miami Heat game

On June 10, Earle shared an “un-GRWM” TikTok the day after she attended a Miami Heat game.

While she didn’t address Berrios in the video by name, she responded to a fan who commented, “Are we not going to mention Braxton?”

“We went to the game tg yes haha,” Earle replied.

June 23, 2023: Alix Earle goes to the Hamptons with mystery man

Much like her sushi making date night, Earle gave fans brief glimpses into her rumored romance during a trip to the Hamptons. She documented the travel day in a short video on TikTok, taking viewers along for the ride.

However, eagle-eyed fans noticed a man’s arm in the frame of several of the clips, though Earle never revealed who it was. When one fan commented “Excuse me? Who’s hand is this a soft launch??” Earle replied, “Some random guy HAHAH.”

In another TikTok shared from the trip, Earle started the video with a clip of her hugging a man on her bed, though his face was never seen. When one fan commented, “HARD LAUNCH HARD LAUNCH,” Earle said, “We’re not even ‘dating’ but just hard for me to not share stuff w u guys hahahaha.”

June 28, 2023: Alix Earle has cooking date night with mystery man

Earle shared the behind-the-scenes of another one of her at-home date nights with her fans.

In the video, the TikTok star and her mystery man — whose face was not shown in the video — attempted to make themselves shish kabobs alongside various side dishes. However, as Earle revealed in the comments, the couple were ultimately unsuccessful, writing, “Fun date night idea … except we ended up ordering chipotle HAHAHA.”

Though Earle didn’t show the man’s face in the video, she shared several sweet clips of the pair.

The opening shot included them standing side-by-side on a balcony overlooking the water while Earle rested her head on his shoulders. Later in the video, Earle also shared a short snippet of the couple’s reflection in the window as they embraced.

July 12, 2023: Alix Earle and Braxton Berrios attend the ESPYs

Earle and Berrios stepped out onto the red carpet together at the 2023 ESPY Awards on July 12. While Berrios, who has been in the NFL since 2018, donned a pale pink suit, Earle wore a strapless leather gown.

In true Earle fashion, she shared a video on TikTok getting ready for the award show, including her glam process. In one clip, she explained that she was attending as a “plus one,” adding, “You guys can probably guess who I’m going with today” without mentioning Berrios’ name.

September 20, 2023: Alix Earle addresses cheating allegations

As rumors continued to swirl about Earle’s romance with the NFL star, she took a moment during a Sept. 20 appearance on the “Call Her Daddy” podcast to address the negativity surrounding the romance.

Alex Cooper, who hosts the podcast, pointed out that Earle was publicly scrutinized for her rumored relationship and was called a “mistress” and “homewrecker.” When asked by Cooper if Earle was “hooking up with” the unnamed NFL player while he was still in a relationship, Earle immediately responded, “It is so triggering to even hear you say that.”

“When I was reading these comments, I was bawling my eyes out to my friends,” she continued. “And they’re like, ‘Hello? Alix, this stuff doesn’t normally get to you.’ But from what we just talked about, I spent my childhood thinking this is basically the worst thing you could do to another human, so why the f--k would I do that? No, they were not together.”

Earlier in the episode, Earle discussed the repercussions on the family and her life following her father Thomas Earle’s public affair with her now stepmom, Ashley Dupré.

Earle said that after his ex-girlfriend “started posting things alluding to unfaithfulness in the relationship,” people began to point fingers at her since they were spotted together. However, Earle said she was “asking for the receipts right away.”

“I was checking everything,” she explained. “We have been over this probably 110 times because I was like, ‘If you did that to a person, obviously you’ll probably do that to me.’ And if I did that to someone else, I wouldn’t be able to live with myself.”

Berrios was previously in a relationship with “The Culpo Sisters” star Sophia Culpo, though the couple broke up in early 2023.

In June, Berrios addressed allegations of infidelity in his previous relationship in an Instagram story, according to E! News. At the time, he said he didn’t “want to fuel anything,” adding, “I genuinely want all of this to be over and everybody to move on and do whatever makes them happy.”

“It was a good relationship, it was a healthy one,” Berrios said. “And towards the end of it, we had conversations along the lines of we just weren’t working out. So when we split back in January, that’s why.”

September 24, 2023: Alix Earle hugs Braxton Berrios at Miami Dolphins game

Earle and Berrios took another big step in bringing their relationship public when the NFL star shared a photo of the couple embracing on the sidelines at Hard Rock Stadium.

In the first frame of his Instagram post, the couple had their arms on each other’s waists while Earle donned his jersey. In the fourth frame, he shared a photo of the two in a full embrace on the sidelines.

Earle made a joke in the comments, writing, “5th slide: Braxton’s jersey after hugging me,” referring to a picture of Berrios’ stained uniform, which had an orange tint.

Ahead of the game, Earle shared one of her signature “GRWM” videos on TikTok, telling her followers, “NFL man got me and seven of my friends tickets to go…I’m going with my friends, his friends, and then his family is also going to be there.”

In the comments, one fan joked about Earle continuing to call Berrios “NFL man,” to which the TikToker replied, “As if we don’t all know who it is.”

After the game, Earle shared several more videos alluding to their romance.

In one TikTok, she recreated a moment from “High School Musical 3: Senior Year” where Vanessa Hudgens’ character is calling out to Zac Efron’s character in the middle of a basketball game. In the short video, Earle lip-syncs to Hudgens singing Efron’s character’s name on the sidelines, before cutting to a clip of Berrios on the field.

Earle poked fun at herself in another video, recalling how she went on the field to give “NFL man” a hug. However, when she looked back at photos, she noticed that she had left him “a little surprise” — her makeup on his white jersey.

October 6, 2023: Braxton Berrios spends his birthday with Alix Earle

While Earle shared the cute snap of the couple to mark his 28th birthday, she shared the behind-the-scenes of the rest of Berrios’ birthday plans.

In a TikTok, Earle explained that she already had plans with her friends to go on a boat. However, that evening's agenda coincided with Berrios’ plans to have a birthday dinner.

Rather than miss out on one of the events, Berrios had a solution. Earle explained, “He’s going to get another boat and come pick me up from the boat with my friends so that I can leave a little early and get ready for dinner.”

In another video from the evening, Earle shared several cute clips of her with Berrios, though she never showed his face.

In one snippet, Earle beamed at the camera as she embraced him in a hug. Another clip showed Earle using his chest as a pillow while they lounged on the boat, quickly followed with a shot of a digital camera which had the photo of the couple kissing on Instagram on the screen.

This article was originally published on TODAY.com