1983–2002: Early life, career beginnings, and 3LW Adrienne Eliza Bailon was born to a
Puerto Rican mother, Nilda Alicea and an
Ecuadorian father, Freddie Bailón, on October 24, 1983. She grew up on the
Lower East Side of
Manhattan. Bailon has an older sister, Claudette. She attended PS 110-The Monitor in
Brooklyn and the
High School for Health Professions and Human Services, but did not pursue a career in the medical field because of her musical endeavors. Bailon commented "I really wanted to be an
obstetrician! I wanted to bring babies into the world..." Bailon was discovered by
Latin pop singer
Ricky Martin in October 1999 while she was performing in a church choir at
Madison Square Garden. Martin asked for the four best singers in the group, and Bailon was one of the four elected by Martin to perform as back-up singers as part of his
Livin' la Vida Loca Tour concert show later that night. Following the performance, Bailon became a member of the
girl group 3LW, joining
Kiely Williams and
Naturi Naughton, the other two members of the group. Bailon stated that she was spotted by a producer while on a field trip to
Beth Israel, and was later offered a slot in the female trio. With the original line-up of 3LW formed, the group was signed to
Epic Records, and work on their debut album began in 1999. Their first single, "
No More (Baby I'ma Do Right)", was released in the fall of 2000. "No More" was a chart success, and was followed by "
Playas Gon' Play" in early 2001. The group's self-titled debut album,
3LW was released on November 14, 2000. The album went on to be certified platinum by the
RIAA, selling 1.3 million copies in the United States. 3LW returned in the summer of 2002 with the single "
I Do (Wanna Get Close To You)", featuring
Loon. That same summer, the group performed a concert special on
Nickelodeon titled
Live on Sunset. By August, the group was set to release their sophomore LP,
A Girl Can Mack, when member Naughton left the group, alleging that she had a number of conflicts and arguments with Bailon, Williams, and their management. The album's release date was pushed back a month and debuted at No. 15 on the Billboard 200 with 53,000 copies sold its first week. Following Naughton's departure, Williams and Bailon decided to continue 3LW as a duo, causing the press to jokingly refer to them as "2LW". After
A Girl Can Mack's second single "
Neva Get Enuf" underperformed, 3LW released their Christmas-themed third studio album
Naughty or Nice, which failed to appear on any major
Billboard charts.
2003–2008: The Cheetah Girls, 3LW disbandment, and acting career Beginning in late 2002, 3LW held nationwide auditions for a new third member. Jessica "J" Benson was selected and with Benson, the group continued to promote
A Girl Can Mack and began working on their third studio album. In June, 3LW departed from
Epic Records and signed with
So So Def. Amidst 3LW's public drama, Bailon and Williams signed on to star in the
Disney Channel Original Movie,
The Cheetah Girls. They starred as two of four members of a girl group named after the film, with
Raven-Symoné and
Sabrina Bryan portraying the final two members. The movie premiered in August 2003. Upon release, the film was the number one rated basic cable telecast and premiered to 6.5 million viewers, a record for Disney at the time. Bailon noted that both
The Cheetah Girls and 3LW projects would continue concurrently. As a trio, the Cheetah Girls began working on their first studio album,
Cheetah-licious Christmas, which was released in 2005. Bailon then starred in the MTV film ''
All You've Got'', along with
R&B singer
Ciara. It was released on DVD in May 2006 and premiered on
MTV. The release of 3LW's third studio album, tentatively titled
Phoenix Rising in 2003 and later
Point of No Return in 2005, was delayed several times. On August 15, 2006, the group released the single "Feelin' You", but it did not impact any major charts.
Point of No Return was shelved and Bailon and Williams continued with The Cheetah Girls. 3LW officially disbanded in 2007. In April 2006, the Cheetah Girls began filming the sequel musical film
The Cheetah Girls 2. Raven-Symoné returned for the film, which was shot on location in
Barcelona,
Spain.
The Cheetah Girls 2 premiered on August 26, 2006, and received over 8.1 million viewers, making it the highest-rated premiere for a
Disney Channel Original Movie at the time.
The film's soundtrack album was certified
platinum by the
RIAA. The Cheetah Girls released their second studio album
TCG on September 25, 2007, which featured the single "
Fuego". In January 2008, filming commenced on the third Cheetah Girls film,
The Cheetah Girls: One World, in which the group appeared as a trio without Raven-Symoné.
The Cheetah Girls: One World premiered on August 22, 2008 and
its soundtrack was released on August 19. While the film was a ratings hit, debuting with 6.2 million viewers, the soundtrack failed to match the success of their previous soundtrack releases and sold 140,000 copies in its first two months. Bailon recorded the solo songs "Stand Up" and "What If" for the film's soundtrack album. In late December 2008, the group disbanded.
2009–2013: Empire Girls, ''I'm in Love with a Church Girl'' Following the breakup of the Cheetah Girls, Bailon was signed to
Columbia Records. Making the initial announcement in a radio interview in New York City, Bailon later confirmed the news on her official Twitter page, stating: "For everyone who wasn't in [New York] – I officially announced I have signed a solo deal with Sony's Columbia Records! So happy I'm finally able to tell you guys..." Bailon began working on her debut studio album shortly after signing with the label. Her first official musical releases were the songs "Uncontrollable" and "Big Spender", both of which were featured on the
Confessions of a Shopaholic film soundtrack, released in 2009. The soundtrack featured songs from numerous artists, including
Lady Gaga and
the Pussycat Dolls. Later that year, she was featured in the
Ghostface Killah song "I'll Be That", featured on his eighth studio album
Ghostdini: Wizard of Poetry in Emerald City. In 2009, Bailon ended her relationship with her boyfriend of two years,
Rob Kardashian, the brother of
Kim Kardashian. While dating Rob, Bailon appeared as Rob's girlfriend in a total of eight episodes of the reality series
Keeping Up with the Kardashians. The show saw Bailon and Kardashian get tattoos with one another, among other aspects of their relationship. On the breakup, Bailon stated "You know they say opposites attract. I'm a real New Yorker [...] Sometimes I think the things that matter to us were different." Though the reasoning was not announced at the time of the breakup, it was later revealed that Rob had cheated on Bailon during their relationship, which was the ultimate reason they broke up. At the end of 2008, Bailon had appeared on
MTV New Year's show from
Times Square, in advance promotion of her upcoming afternoon hosting on the channel. In 2009, Bailon hosted the programming block
New Afternoons on MTV, relocating to New York City for the job. That same year, she co-hosted ''
MTV News Presents: Top 9 of '09'', the year-end
MTV New Year's programming live from inside and outside
MTV Studios in
Times Square. In 2012, Bailon announced that she was taking part in the reality show
Empire Girls: Julissa and Adrienne, which would revolve around Bailon and friend
Julissa Bermudez. Bailon said of the show's premise, "The show follows us wanting to take our careers to the next level, coming back to New York City, where we’re originally from [...] to take our careers to that next level." The show premiered on June 3, 2012 and became a ratings success for
Style Network. Bailon later appeared in the music video for
Pitbull's "
Give Me Everything". On November 1, 2012, Bailon appeared alongside
Jesse Giddings and
Jim Cantiello, as the co-host of
The Pepsi Pre-show Live, a podcast that was sponsored by
Pepsi, and broadcast through
The X Factor website one hour before every episode in the live rounds of the show. Also in 2012, Bailon separated from Island Def Jam due to creative differences. Bailon portrayed Katalina Santiago in the film,
The Coalition, which was released on DVD and Blu-ray in February 2013. Bailon appeared in the
ABC Family television movie,
Lovestruck: The Musical, on April 21, 2013. It showcased Bailon singing the
Madonna classic, "
Like a Virgin" with
Sara Paxton and
Chelsea Kane. Other songs Bailon sang in the film include a song titled "Everlasting Love", featuring Paxton, Kane, and
Drew Seeley. Bailon starred alongside
Ja Rule in the film ''
I'm in Love with a Church Girl'', which was released in October 2013.
2013–present: The Real, The Masked Singer, and E! News From 2013 to 2022, Bailon served as one of the co-hosts of the syndicated daytime talk show
The Real originally alongside
Tamar Braxton,
Loni Love,
Jeannie Mai, and
Tamera Mowry. The show premiered on July 15, 2013. Following a trial summer run during 2013 on the
Fox Television Stations group, it was picked up to series the following year. Bailon became the first Latina host of a daytime talk show in the US. Bailon and her co-hosts won the
Daytime Emmy Award for Outstanding Entertainment Talk Show Host for their work in 2018. In 2014, Bailon became the host of a competition show called ''Nail'd It!'' on
Oxygen. The show was canceled after one season. In 2015, she made a cameo on the series
Being Mary Jane. On November 17, 2017, Bailon released her debut solo album
New Tradiciones, a Christmas album with both English and Spanish songs.
New Tradiciones would quickly reach number 1 on the Latin charts. In November 2018, Bailon launched a jewelry line named XIXI. She also owns a vegan handbag line named La Voûte. In 2022, she returned to the role of Alana on the fifth season of the ''That's So Raven'
s sequel series Raven's Home'', where she is now Bayside High School's principal. On October 20, 2022,
E! announced that
E! News would be revived as a late-night entertainment news program and return to the E! network after a two-year hiatus; Bailon-Houghton and Justin Sylvester (who returned to the show for its revival) served as co-hosts when it premiered on November 14. On October 31, 2023, Bailon-Houghton announced she was resigning as co-anchor due to wanting to spend more time with her family and living on the East coast. On January 28, 2025, Bailon was cast in the musical adaptation of the 2006 film
Take The Lead, set to make its debut at the
Paper Mill Playhouse in
Millburn, New Jersey. ==Personal life==