Madeline Argy’s Parents: A Look at the Woman Who Inspired the TikTok Star

English social media influencer Madeline Argy has become a prominent figure on TikTok. She started creating videos in 2021 and quickly built a substantial following. The West Sussex native now boasts over 4.8 million followers on TikTok and 1.8 million on Instagram. Her content has attracted a loyal fanbase, including celebrities like Alex Cooper and singer Sabrina Carpenter.

This rising popularity has opened doors to lucrative partnerships with major brands. Her podcast, Pretty Lonesome With Madeline Argy, launched on Oct. 2, 2023.

Madeline decided to join TikTok while studying forensic linguistics at the University of Kent. Her passion for the field sparked from an episode of Criminal Minds, leading her to plan for a master’s degree at the University of York. However, her rising social media fame soon took priority, guiding her in a different direction.

But behind Madeline’s success is a loving support system. She has a seemingly distant relationship with one of her parents, but she shares a close bond with the other.

Madeline Argy rarely mentions her father, but she is very close with her mother, Michaelina "Mikey" Argy. The TikToker often talks about her mother, who lives with rare deformities caused by thalidomide. Mikey has earned national recognition for her work, receiving an MBE at the Queen’s Birthday Honors in 2015 for her services in helping thalidomide survivors.

Mikey was one of many children left with physical deformities after their mothers were prescribed thalidomide during pregnancy. The drug, initially marketed as a treatment for morning sickness, caused devastating congenital disabilities, according to The Thalidomide Trust. Despite her condition, Mikey has become an advocate for other thalidomide survivors everywhere.

“So my mom is one of those and she has spent her whole life campaigning to basically get some kind of compensation from the government controversially,” Madeline said during an episode of her Pretty Lonesome podcast. “Kinda knew what would happen to the babies, but they gave it out anyway because back then you didn’t have to test the way you have to now.”

Madeline’s TikTok journey took off in July 2022 when she posted a video that went viral, earning over 5.7 million likes. In the video, she shared a bizarre story involving her sister and a worm, which resonated with viewers and catapulted her into the public eye. After this viral success, Madeline noticed that her online fame translate into real-world recognition.

“It's weird,” Madeline told Cosmopolitan. “If one of my friends had seven million [followers], I’d be like, ‘Oh my god,’ but then because it's me, it doesn’t feel real. I think it's because it's a hard thing to actually compute in the human mind, what seven million even is?”