A TikTok influencer was forced to apologise for “bragging” after revealing she had bought a mortgage-free home at the age of 21.
Katylee Bailey, from Bradford, shared a video on TikTok to her 2.8million followers, which showed her popping a bottle of confetti to celebrate her first step onto the property ladder.
The video, which was captioned “Biggest achievement of my life. Here’s to my new chapter,” racked up nearly four million views on the platform.
But Ms Bailey, who quit university and now works full-time as a content creator on TikTok, was criticised by some of her followers, who said they were struggling to make ends meet due to the cost-of-living crisis.
One commenter said: “And I can’t even afford to buy myself a dairy milk bar from the Co-op.”
“Well done but it’s crazy to me that people work, saving throughout their lives and will probably work till their 70 to pay off the mortgage,” wrote another viewer.
The 21-year-old later posted a second video, addressing the criticism and describing how “lucky” she was.
In that clip, which has also had nearly four million views, she said: “I just wanted to come on here to say that I’m sorry to anyone who feels like I’m bragging about the house thing.
“Yes, the system is absolutely f***ed, I will never get my head around the fact that I’ve become so lucky.”
She added that she hadn’t grown up with money and she had never dreamed of owning her own home at her age.
Ms Bailey went on to receive an outpouring of support from fans.
One said: “That is unbelievable, so many ‘influencers’ just buy designer bags, flashy cars but you really set yourself up for life amazing Katy!”
Influencer Miriam Mullins replied: “You deserve it so much Katylee. You’ve clearly worked so hard to get to where you are & should be so proud of yourself. It’s just jealous people.”
