1 of 3 | Baylen Dupree discusses having Tourette’s syndrome on “Baylen Out Loud,” Tuesdays on TLC. Photo courtesy of TLC
Note: This article contains spoilers for Baylen Out Loud Season 2, Episode 2.
Tuesday’s episode of Baylen Out Loud, airing at 9 p.m. EDT on TLC, shows social media star Baylen Dupree and her fiance, Colin Dooley, begin counseling sessions in anticipation of their marriage. Dupree, 22, told the counselor she is bad at communicating.
In a recent Zoom interview with UPI, Dupree discussed the second season of her reality show. She has shared her daily life and her experience having Tourette’s syndrome on her TikTok channel for years, but said she still struggles with interpersonal communication.
“I am surprisingly a very private person,” Dupree said. “Social media has given me an outlet and a way to be a little bit more open, but that doesn’t really stop me from having bad communication.”
Baylen Out Loud also follows Dupree’s day-to-day life, when involuntary verbal and physical tics often arise. Dooley proposed to Dupree in the Season 1 finale.
In Season 2, Dupree’s parents suggested the couple attend counseling sessions to prepare for married life. The counselor had no experience with Tourette’s syndrome, but Dupree said the counselor “did lovely” accommodating her.
“The best thing that you can do as somebody who isn’t trained on Tourette’s is to just follow my lead, if I’m laughing or not laughing,” Dupree said.
Dupree added that her advice to anybody inexperienced interacting with someone who has Tourette’s “is to just keep going. Like, to just pretend like it never happened.”
Season 2 also shows Dupree and Dooley tour potential wedding venues. The first indoor venue they saw exacerbated Dupree’s tics, so she said she will entertain the suggestion to consider outdoor venues moving forward.
“You’ll see us tour a wedding venue that’s only outside, and then you’ll see us tour a wedding venue that’s both indoor and outdoor,” she said. “Going to all these venues and being outside really helped. The venue just depends on my tics.”
Dupree said an echo-y ballroom might exacerbate her tics. She would not, however, spoil which venue they ultimately choose.
Tuesday’s episode also teased that Dooley has a big announcement. The last time the show teased such an announcement, it was the news that Dooley was not being reassigned by the military.
However, Dupree promised this season’s announcement would involve a significant change.
“It’s definitely going to be fun to unravel with everybody, and fun to explore the next chapters in our lives, and sharing it with you guys,” she said.
As Season 2 begins, Dupree’s family is also opening up more about their mental health. All of Dupree’s siblings deal with some form of anxiety, depression or obsessive-compulsive disorder.
Dupree said she continues to support her sister, Sammi, who shares some of her compulsions, which prevent her from visiting earlier this season. OCD is also one of Dupree’s comorbidities.
“We’re all going through something, and we’re more alike than we are different,” Dupree said. “Sammi specifically is going through a lot this season with her anxiety and traveling, and she’s doing the best that she can.”
It was important to Dupree to discuss all of the conditions she navigates so viewers can understand how complicated mental health can be.
“It’s kind of like you have an iceberg, and all the comorbidities are at the bottom of the iceberg,” she said. “They’re the things that you can’t see, but then you have the tics that are above the iceberg, and they’re everything that you can see.”
Dupree wore a sweatshirt from her Beautifully Complex clothing line to this interview. The apparel line reflects the complexities every individual navigates.
“It’s a brand that I brought to my platform to show that every layer of every person is beautifully complex, and there’s only one person like each and every one of us,” she said. “There’s only one you in the entire world, and that’s all you should be is you.”
The central theme of Baylen Out Loud is showing Dupree living independently, moving out of her parents’ home and in with Dooley. Beautifully Complex could become her primary income, she hopes.
“We’re getting there,” she said. “We just started, so it’s just kind of learning. I’m entering a new era of learning how to be a business owner, so it’s definitely learning all the ins and outs of it.”
New episodes of Baylen Out Loud premiere Tuesdays on TLC and stream on HBO Max.
