Madison Beer rose to fame at only 13 years old after Justin Bieber tweeted a YouTube video of her covering Etta James’ song “At Last” in 2012.
Beer became an overnight sensation, garnering millions of likes, views and social media followers.
What fans might not know is that only a year prior, before she had millions of eyes on her, Madison Beer was rocking a poofy pink bat mitzvah dress and refining her musical skills in bat mitzvah rehearsals.
Now, at 22 years old, Beer has come a long way from then. She has over 25 million Instagram followers and released her debut studio album Life Support in February of 2021.
Here are some things to know about Madison Beer’s Jewish identity:
Madison Elle Beer was born in Jericho, New York, on March 5, 1999.
Her parents are both Jewish and work in the real estate sector. Her dad, Robert Beer is a real estate agent and luxury home builder, and her mom, Tracie is an interior designer.
Her parents divorced when she was young
Beer’s parents split up when she was 7 years old. In 2016, she shared some wise words for other children of divorced parents:
She was a model at only 4 years old
Well before her singing career took off, Beer won a modeling competition and appeared on the cover of Child Magazine at the age of 4.
How adorable is this photo?
Her bat mitzvah theme was “Madison Square Garden”
Beer had her Bat Mitvah in 2012 and her theme was “Madison’s Square Garden.” So classic.
Here are some pictures of her on the big day. The poofy pink dress is simply iconic.
She also performed an original song called “Life’s a Beat”
We love her use of the hashtag #MazelTov
In 2013, a twitter fan asked Beer if she was Jewish after noticing the Bat Mitzvah photos on her Instagram account. Beer tweeted back, “yes haahha #mazeltov.”
We love to see it.
She attended sleep away camp
Like many Jewish kids, growing up Beer spent summers at Point O’Pines sleep away camp in upstate New York. Although the camp isn’t “explicitly Jewish,” it’s a camp where “mainly all of the campers are Jewish, ya know?” explained Emily Burack in an article for HeyAlma.
Check out this gem Point O’Pines shared on Instagram:
Yes, that’s tiny Madison Beer doing summer camp poetry. Adorable indeed.
Beer is a proud New Yorker, even though she lives in LA now
Beer moved from Long Island to Los Angeles with her mom and brother, Ryder, to pursue music when she was 13.
She has lived in California since then but said she’s not “the biggest fan” of Los Angeles.
“I’m very open and honest and I speak my mind a lot. I’m such an accurate representation of New York, but in LA a lot of the times I get misconstrued and people think I’m obnoxious or annoying but they really just don’t understand I’m genuinely just a loud-mouth New Yorker,” she told Paper. “So I feel like that’s why a lot of people don’t really understand me and that could be why I have issues in LA.”
Beer said she thinks her Jewish family upbringing played a big role in her success
It’s often the case that artists who become famous at a very young age struggle to navigate growing up in the public eye. In an interview with Notion, Beer credits her family with teaching her how to keep it all together.
“I have great parents and a great family and I think that’s definitely kept my head on straight,” she said.
Finally, some of her thoughts on being Jewish in the public eye
In that same interview, Beer said people are often surprised to hear she’s Jewish.
“People here [in LA] are much more Catholic and when I say I’m Jewish, people are scared by it,” she said.
Anyone else curious to know what Beer meant by “scared”?! The interview leaves it at that.
Originally Published Aug 18, 2021 12:02AM EDT
