Life is often a journey full of twists and turns. When you’re a famous celebrity, having watchful eyes monitoring your every move and discussing them can be very stressful and nerve-racking, so being in the spotlight has its perks, but can also have its downsides. One of those celebrities who has felt the pressure of celebrity status, and managing and coping with numerous struggles in life, ranging from sickness to scandals and career change, is definitely Christie Brimberry.
Who is Christie Brimberry?
Christie was born under the Zodiac sign Aries on 25 March 1972, in Dallas, Texas, USA. She holds American nationality, and as of 2022, she is 50 years old. Christie came into the limelight as a regular cast member of the reality-styled Discovery Channel TV show entitled “Fast N’ Loud”. Often described as a tomboy, Christie is a car enthusiast and an employee of the car shop Gas Monkey Garage, featured in the “Fast N’ Loud” reality series.
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Regarding her early life and education, not much is known, even her maiden name, given that Christie is very elusive and secretive about her private matters. When it comes to her romantic life, Christie is married to Darren Brimberry, the master stylist, educator and owner of two Texas-based salons entitled “Craft and Company Salon” and “Muse the Salon”. She has six children, four with Darren Brimberry, while the other two are from her previous marriage.
What is “Fast’n’Loud” About?
Fast N’ Loud is a reality series that revolves around Richard Rawlings, the entrepreneur and media personality, and his team from Dallas, Texas, who specialize in restoring old, tired and run-down cars into fresh custom pieces for profit. It’s a unique show with thematic skits and episodes full of fun entertainment with occasional drama.
The show premiered in June 2012, becoming a success and attracting a colossal automotive fanbase.
It has run for 16 seasons, the last season premiering in 2020. In 2016, the series was voted as one of the top 50 TV shows in The New York Times survey. It obtained the most likes on Facebook, and added that it was “the show on the list most-favored by men, by far- 83% of ‘likes’ came from men.’
Grabbing a high viewership rate, it doesn’t surprise that the show has spawned two spin-offs, “Misfit Garage” and “Fast N’ Loud Demolition”.
Gas Monkey Garage
Gas Monkey Garage is a restoration and custom car shop launched by Richard Rawlings in 2002, which offers customization of classic and hot-rod automobiles for domestic and international customers. Richard’s shop was the focus of the “Fast N’ Loud” series, which brought him and his entire team on the map of TV celebrities. Besides Richard and Christie, the show stars several other seasoned mechanics, car enthusiasts, and professionals, including Aaron Kauffman, Charles Cimino, Jason Aker, Mike Coy, Kurt Busch, Russell Holmes, KC Mathieu, and Jeremy Cheatham.
In addition to the shop and the series, Gas Monkey Garage also features its merchandise, which includes t-shirts, hoodies, and accessories.
How did Christie end up at the Gas Monkey Garage?
In the 2013 video posted on the Gas Monkey official YouTube channel, Christie said: ‘If you guys watched the first couple of episodes, Richard is a client of my husband who does hair. He came in and asked my husband if I could work for him. Richard needed somebody to handle the accounting and scheduling’. Christie first appeared in the episode entitled “Frankensteined Ford”, in which she found the car parts needed for the restoration.
Utilising and expanding her talents, she became the office manager at the shop, and personal assistant to Richard, actually undertaking several jobs, such as purchasing new parts and cars, selling, and paying staff, among others. During the show’s tenure, Christie arose as one of the main characters in the Gas Monkey Garage crew, so unsurprisingly fans wondere what happened to Christie, and why she left the show?
Why did Christie leave the show?
Christie’s personality and messages of empowerment and independence in a business normally dominated by men, attracted many viewers to the show. However, despite her celebrity status and massive social media following, she has mostly kept a low profile, and avoided sharing personal information with the public. Even on her social media, she posted only a fraction of what was happening in her life, and there was a completely valid reason for this type of privacy. In October 2016, she shocked her fans after disclosing that she had been battling thyroid cancer for some time, and revealed that she underwent a complete thyroidectomy with the goal of removing cancer from her thyroid, trachea, and lymph nodes.
In addition, during the surgery, a nerve connecting her voice box was severed, which meant that she would be voiceless for the next six months.
After two months of sweeping this health issue under the rug, Christie felt motivated enough to share her story and experience on Facebook, with a powerful message saying:’ There’s something I feel like I need to share with you all because a lot of you have become like a family to me. In saying that, I also want to say I’m not posting this for any kind of pity. I’m posting this to say, if you think something might be wrong with you, GO TO THE DOCTOR!
After appearing in over 50 episodes of the show, Christie exited “Fast N’ Loud” in 2017, due to her health issues.
How did she learn her diagnosis?
Christie then explained that at the end of August 2016, she felt a little knot in her throat, but initially didn’t think much of it because she’d been diagnosed with Hashimoto’s disease, an autoimmune disease that attacks the thyroid gland, resulting in tiny nodules. She chose to visit the doctor and get it checked out, as she was annoyed by it and its surprisingly rapid growth. Following an ultrasound, due to the calcification of the nodule, she was sent for a biopsy.
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After 12 days, she received the dreadful call and the diagnosis she had been afraid of – she had thyroid cancer which had rapidly spread to at least one lymph node. Following chemotherapy, she underwent surgery, during which the doctor had to remove not only her thyroid and nodes but also a part of the trachea, as the cancer had spread to that area as well.
With the accident of her nerve being severed, she disclosed that she felt fine except for the tube in her mouth and occasional pain. Christie ended her post on a positive note, saying: ‘Despite everything, I feel lucky and I feel blessed to have so many supportive fans around me helping me and my family go through this. The journey only started seven weeks ago, and I had already progressed this far! Please listen to your body! I love you guys!
Christie Health Update
In December 2017, Christie proudly announced via her Facebook account that she had officially conquered the disease.
Following her surgery, she went through radiation treatment and a series of ups and downs with finding the right medications, doing blood tests, and doctor’s visits. In her post, she said: ‘I went through the last of my treatment last week and had my one year bone scan on Friday. The results came back today, and I am Cancer FREE! I can’t thank you enough for the encouragement, the prayers and positive thoughts.’
As it appeared, that was not the only health problem she had tackled. Back in the day, she battled obesity- Christie’s weight was around 163lbs (73kgs), but managed to lose over 50lbs or over 20 kgs by regularly visiting the gym and maintaining her healthy eating regime. During her battle with cancer, she adopted a healthier lifestyle, having become even more aware of its importance.
In December 2021, she uploaded a heartwarming post onto Instagram regarding her battle with the nasty disease: ‘5yrs ago TODAY I had my last radiation treatment and was told, I think we got it all but we will have to wait and see. Today is a really emotional and super exciting day for me!! Today is my 5yr cancer free “cured” date. I have counted down the days for 5yrs to get here!!’
Does she still work for Gas Monkey Garage?
The last social media post on behalf of the official Gas Monkey Garage site featuring Christie was made in December 2019. In the following year, Richard revealed in the Joe Rogan podcast that “Fast N’ Wild” had officially been canceled, and the 16th season was the last, disclosing: ‘Fast N’ Wild is no more. I have exited the Discovery, and I am a free agent. We are going to do some cool things in 2021. It was time for me to expand and go a little bit [further]. I kind of got to the top of that mountain being at Discovery. There wasn’t anything else for me to do there.’
After the show was canceled, many wondered whether Christie was still employed at the Gas Monkey Garage. The last season depicting the garage was filmed in 2019, the same time as the last post with Christie was put on Facebook, so it is safe to assume that she exited the car shop during the same year.
What is her new profession?
Judging from her Instagram account, after beating cancer, these couple of years she has spent with her six children and her husband, traveling and enjoying life.
She has also had a career change, which startled her fans. Christie has been active on the OnlyFans site, the subscription social platform which features adult content such as explicit photos and personalized videos.
There is a subscription fee while her profile description reads: ‘Reality TV. Get to know me. I used to be that girl from that show, but now I’m the girl from that website! No porn, I’m not a porn star.’ Christie added: ‘Any images/videos re-uploaded elsewhere online will be sent a DMCA from my lawyer, and legal ramifications will be enforced.’
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Social Media Popularity
Over the years she starred in “Fast N’ Loud”, she became quite popular, amassing an impressive following across several social media platforms. Her Instagram has nearly 350,000 followers, while her Twitter has over 100,000, while her Facebook boasts the biggest following with nearly 1.3 million fans.
Christie’s Nude Photos Leaked Online
In December 2021, Chrisite went viral on all social media after some of her nude photos, presumably from her Only Fans account, were leaked to other platforms such as Reddit and Twitter. She hasn’t commented on the situation, or made any official statements regarding the scandal. Many believe that one of her fans who subscribed to her account downloaded her photos and posted them online, against her wishes.
What Happened with the Gas Monkey Garage?
After the show was canceled, instead of documenting their daily business activities on the TV, the shop transitioned to the different platform – YouTube.
This obviously meant that the crew was slimmed down to only a couple of members, including the videographers.
Since announcing the end of the “Fast N’ Loud”, Richard has talked about a new project without disclosing much information. In October 2021, he surprised the fans after revealing that he was a great fan of food, and had opened a custom-designed $500,000 worth fast food truck parked near his garage.
Who were the two members fired from Gas Monkey Garage?
Most famous for his hilarious one-liners and erratic behavior, Tom Smith, and popular mechanic and founder of Fired Up Garage Jordan Butler, were fired from “Fast N’ Loud” in 2014. In his interview with the media outlet TMZ, Tom revealed that they were sacked from the show for yelling at the manager and owner of the shop, Richard.
Reportedly, they allowed a fan with cystic fibrosis to pose next to their manager’s Rolls Royce car, which angered Richard, who shouted: ‘get the f*** away from the car.”
Jordan and Tom yelled back at him, saying: ‘Chill the f*** out’ which Richard didn’t take lightly, and several hours after the incident, Richard fired them both. Interestingly, the two mechanics starred on the spin-off series “Misfit Garage”, produced by the man who fired them from his shop, Richard.
While opinions may differ as to whether Richard made the right call firing the two, Tom was one of those members who caused problems all the time. In her introductory video for the “Fast N’ Loud”, Christie was asked about her experience working with Tom, and said: ‘Tom is a very interesting person; he is super sweet and super annoying all at the same time. I have to remind Tom that he is inside, otherwise if I don’t, it gets really loud like he is a bad hyperactive kid, so we have to kick him out. Those are really the two options.’
What is Christie’s net worth?
Given her line of business and popularity, Christie has accumulated quite a net worth, which according to sources is estimated at close to $2 million. As a true automotive enthusiast, Christie owns several vintage cars -despite her calculative attitude when it comes to spending money, cars are the only thing worth spending that hard-earned money on.
