Bhad Bhabie Pivots From Rap Stardom to Scrubs: The 23-Year-Old Rapper Announces She’s Pursuing a Nursing License
Bhad Bhabie, the rapper who first captured the internet’s attention as a rebellious teenager on Dr. Phil, is trading the recording booth for the hospital ward. At least, that’s according to a surprising new social media announcement she shared with her millions of followers on Sunday, October 11. The 23-year-old artist, born Danielle Bregoli, revealed that she has been quietly working toward a nursing license, a move that marks a major shift for someone who rose to fame on the strength of a viral catchphrase and a series of rap hits.
“They said I’m rich and bored,” Bhabie wrote via X, alongside a pair of mirror selfies showing her wearing black medical scrubs. “I been working on getting my nursing license. I love the med field.”
The post immediately generated buzz, with fans expressing everything from shock to pride. It’s a far cry from the image many people still hold of Bhabie: the 13-year-old who told Dr. Phil audiences to “catch me outside, how ’bout dat?” and then parlayed that notoriety into a legitimate music career. But the rapper, who has faced a very public health battle in recent years, seems determined to rewrite her own narrative once again.
Despite the dramatic career pivot, Bhabie isn’t completely closing the door on music. In fact, she recently dropped a new single titled “What U Like,” indicating that she’s still keeping her hand in the rap game even as she studies for a future in healthcare. It’s a dual-track approach that mirrors the way she has navigated fame since she was a teenager—always surprising people, always keeping them guessing, and always doing things on her own terms.
For those who have followed Bhabie’s journey, the nursing announcement is yet another chapter in an extraordinary story. She first became a viral sensation in 2016 when she appeared on Dr. Phil with her mother, Barbara Bregoli, who was seeking help for her daughter’s severe behavioral issues. At just 13 years old, Bhabie was already making headlines for her defiant attitude, but no one could have predicted what would happen next. Her catchphrase from the show, “Catch me outside, how ’bout dat?” became an internet phenomenon, spawning memes, remixes, and a level of fame that felt both absurd and inevitable in the early days of viral celebrity.
Rather than fading into obscurity like so many internet stars before her, Bhabie capitalized on the moment. She launched a rap career, signed with Atlantic Records, and released her debut single, “These Heaux,” in 2017. The track made her the youngest female rapper to ever debut on the Billboard Hot 100 chart, a record that solidified her as more than just a meme. She followed up with a string of hits, including “Hi Bich” and “Gucci Flip Flops,” and continued to grow her brand across music, social media, and eventually OnlyFans, where she found immense financial success.
But the road hasn’t always been smooth. In 2024, Bhabie found herself at the center of a very public feud with Alabama Barker, the daughter of Blink-182 drummer Travis Barker. At the time, Bhabie accused then-20-year-old Alabama of pursuing her partner, Le Vaughn, with whom Bhabie shares her daughter, Kali Love, who is now two years old. Alabama denied the allegations and claimed that it was Le Vaughn, then 27, who had repeatedly reached out to her. The dispute quickly spilled into the music world, with Bhabie releasing a diss track called “Over Cooked.” Alabama fired back with “Cry Bhabie,” and Bhabie responded with “Ms. Whitman.” Like many internet feuds, the back-and-forth eventually fizzled out, but it kept Bhabie in the headlines and reminded everyone that she was still a force to be reckoned with.
Around the same time, Bhabie was also facing a much more serious personal challenge. In late 2024, she revealed that she was fighting blood cancer. The announcement came with a deeply personal Instagram post in which she addressed the physical toll her treatment was taking. “I’m sorry my cancer medication made me loose [sic] weight,” she wrote at the time. “Im slowly gaining it back. So stop running w the worst narratives.” The post was a plea for understanding from a young woman navigating an unimaginable health crisis in the glare of the public eye.
Her mother, Barbara Bregoli, quickly came to her defense when skeptics began questioning whether the cancer diagnosis was real. Barbara, a breast cancer survivor herself, did not hold back. In a November 2024 Instagram video, she lashed out at social media users who accused her daughter of faking the illness. “How dare you?” she said, visibly angry. “[To say] my daughter would lie about something like that?” She reminded viewers that she had personally battled breast cancer twice, and she called out those who would trivialize such a serious disease.
The criticism only intensified after Bhabie shared more health updates, including a particularly worrying message in February. Writing via X, she told her followers that she had received “bad news from my doctor yesterday.” She followed that with a message of faith, writing, “God has the last say so not my cancer 💜.” It was a stark and emotional update that prompted an outpouring of support from fans and fellow celebrities alike. The cancer battle became yet another chapter in her life that she had to navigate in public, and she has done so with a mix of candor, resilience, and her signature defiance.
Barbara continued to defend her daughter in the face of online cruelty. In a 2024 Instagram video that resurfaced amid the latest news, she addressed those who called the cancer diagnosis “karma.” “Let me say this, social media has become an app where people think they can come on here and say the most vile things and think it’s funny because they’re hiding behind a screen,” she said. “That’s the lowest form of anything. Babies don’t ask to get cancer, little children don’t ask to get cancer, the elderly don’t ask to get — nobody asks to get cancer.” She went on to warn the critics directly: “Don’t come on here with your balls so mighty saying, ‘Oh, yeah, that’s your karma,’ because it just might be yours. Don’t ever say something about someone unless you’ve experienced it. Let me tell you something, play with me every day. Don’t come after my kid. Don’t come after my family.”
Now, with her nursing license announcement, Bhabie appears to be channeling her experiences into a new purpose. It makes a certain kind of sense for someone who has spent the past few years in and out of doctors’ offices, dealing with the medical system as a patient and watching her mother battle cancer multiple times. The decision to pursue nursing could be seen as a way to take control of a world that once felt frightening and uncertain. It also feels like a natural evolution for a young woman who has spent her entire adult life in the public eye and might be seeking a more grounded, meaningful path.
Of course, Bhabie has never been someone who does things halfway. If she says she’s working on getting her nursing license, it’s likely she’s fully committed to finishing the job. And with the release of “What U Like,” she’s also proving that she doesn’t have to give up one identity to embrace another. She can be both a rapper with a platinum attitude and a healthcare professional in the making. In a world that often tries to put people in boxes, Bhabie is stubbornly refusing to be categorized.
Her journey from Dr. Phil meme to Billboard-charting rapper to cancer survivor and now nursing student is nothing short of remarkable. It’s a reminder that people are never just one thing, and that the same stubbornness that once made her a viral sensation can just as easily fuel a completely different kind of success. Whether she ends up in a studio, a hospital room, or both, Bhad Bhabie seems determined to keep moving forward, doing exactly what she wants, and proving that no one can count her out. And if the scrubs are any indication, she’s ready to trade one kind of healing for another—through music, through service, and through her own relentless refusal to give up.
