A 'millionaire's wife' knows her over-the-top videos showing off her wealth make viewers angry — and it's all part of her plan

• Linda Andrade posts over-the-top TikToks from the perspective of a "millionaire's wife."
• She told Insider many of her posts are exaggerated, and she's faced backlash in response.

Shopping sprees, designer purses, and expensive jewelry are fixtures in Linda Andrade's TikTok account, where the 24-year-old posts lavish videos from the perspective of a "millionaire's wife."

Andrade, 24, is based between Dubai and California. She married her husband Ricky five years ago, and has since built a social media presence around their luxury lifestyle, labeling herself the "Original Dubai Housewife." Insider was unable to independently verify Andrade's husband's income, but according to his website, he became a millionaire by pivoting to day trading and entrepreneurship after he quit his job as a dishwasher technician when he was 21.

Andrade's videos, sometimes featuring Ricky, can gain millions of views, but they're not always well received. They're also not always entirely accurate — while she calls herself a "housewife" on social media, Andrade actually owns her own business, but she justifies the label because she does not contribute to the household bills, she said.

The spoiled persona she sometimes puts across is also fabricated — Andrade told Insider her family immigrated to the US from Jordan and did not come from a wealthy background.

But she doesn't mind the criticism — it's all helped her to go viral and grow her audience, as part of a long-term goal to become a reality TV star. And while not everyone likes her content, it seems to be working.

Andrade knows many viewers take her satirical videos at face value

Luxury content is very popular on TikTok, but it sometimes comes at a cost, as TikTokers have previously faced intense backlash and been called insensitive for talking about expensive purchases on the app.

Andrade — who has been sharing snippets of her life on TikTok since 2020, often showing herself spending huge amounts of money — is no exception.

She told Insider her over-the-top videos are intended as satire and stem from her own sense of humor, and added that she thinks one reason people find her TikToks entertaining is because they are "otherworldly" and provide "a total escape from a normal life." While many commenters do say they find Andrade's portrayal of her lifestyle aspirational, others see it as out of touch.

In June, she posted a video captioned, "How much I spent in a day as a millionaire's wife," where she says she bought two Chanel bags for $7,000 each, rented a car to take her around the mall because she didn't want to walk, and spent $16,540 in total throughout the day.

It was viewed 10.7 million times and received several critical comments from people comparing her portrayal of wealth to their own financial situations.

"And here I am struggling to keep the lights on in my house, this sorta waste makes me ill," one comment with 6,127 likes read.

Andrade told Insider that this video is just one example where she would exaggerate certain details of her life for the purposes of making a video. Though the TikTok was framed as showcasing her expenses across a single day, a clip of a "24K Gold Coffee" that was featured was actually taken from a different video, although she did, in fact, buy two Chanel bags that day, she said.

She also said that when she's putting videos together she sometimes won't specify the currency or will overstate the prices of her purchases to make things seem more expensive.

Andrade has also drawn criticism in videos where she appears to complain about her wealth or be ungrateful. In one clip, she says some of the "worst" things about being married to a millionaire are having "too much food" and that her husband buys her "too many things."

Andrade told Insider she doesn't often read her comments, but says she thinks that some viewers take all her claims about her expenses "very seriously," and she sometimes tries to make her videos sound even "more ridiculous" to make it clear she is joking.

In reality, Andrade said she is grateful for all the gifts her husband buys her and is concerned that some people seem to think she is actually unappreciative or a "spoiled brat."

At the same time, Andrade said that the online rage that comes in response to her online persona is only helping to grow her online presence — she currently has 734,000 followers and several viral videos.

Andrade wants to spark emotion in her viewers

Andrade told Insider she thinks that many of her videos do well because people either find them funny, or they elicit strong emotional responses from viewers.

"I took a marketing class, and if you can make someone feel something, whether that's happy or sad or angry, you're going to get a response. So for me, the easiest way for me to do that is to make people angry," she said.

She added that she tries to be careful to not be insensitive, telling Insider she once posted a video where she referred to a part of Dubai as "the poor side of Dubai," which upset some viewers, leading her to delete the video.

Andrade is also conscious that her luxury content could potentially put her at risk. She told Insider that she keeps some details private and also obfuscates some parts of her life in order to minimize her chances of being targeted for robbery.

For now, Andrade said she is "not mad" about being a somewhat controversial figure on TikTok because it has led to online growth, which she hopes will help her achieve her goal of appearing on reality TV one day. But she told Insider that once she hits around 1 million followers, she will pivot away from controversial content and begin to post more openly about her life.

As for the way people view her online, she said, "I do want to change it eventually and create an actual, reputable brand of myself."

For more stories like this, check out coverage from Insider's Digital Culture team here.