Kylan Darnell Breaks Silence After Stepping Back from Bama Rush (Exclusive)

Just two days into this year’s sorority rush cycle at the University of Alabama, Kylan Darnell — who catapulted to social media fame in 2022 for her viral recruitment videos — announced she would be taking a step back from participating in her senior year recruitment.

Kylan, who became known as the “Queen of Bama Rush” during her freshman year, has built a massive, sorority-centric online presence over the years as a member of Alabama’s chapter of Zeta Tau Alpha, documenting college life, Greek life and more, all accompanied by her signature, upbeat “I hope you’re having a great day, not not just a good day” sign-on.

However, behind the positive personality that she tries to present online, she tells PEOPLE, the pressure of being a public figure — especially during recruitment — has taken a toll.

“I’ve been struggling mentally with some things during rush,” Kylan says. “It’s a lot of pressure, and all eyes are on me during rush. So, I decided to take a little three-day [break], so I could get my bearings down and just feel better because it’s hard whenever your life is put out there to the world.”

During her sophomore and junior years, Kylan recalls that she “absolutely loved being a Zeta,” telling PEOPLE that the sorority had become a “personality” of hers, and that it was especially fun to post online about.

“It was so fun to share the other side of it,” she says, “But now I’ve just been struggling a lot with my chapter and things like that on social media, so I felt like it was unfair for me to get all dressed up and act like I was having the time of my life.”

Stepping back was not easy for Kylan, who, in the week leading up to recruitment’s start, posted videos of herself excitedly participating in “Work Week,” which is the week before recruitment when active sorority members gather together to prepare for the upcoming week and practice running through mock recruitment parties.

“It was honestly so sad for me,” she says.

In addition to the usual demands of rush, which for sorority members at the University of Alabama can often also include everything from choreographing elaborate dance routines for social media to assembling themed costumes during Work Week, Kylan’s younger sister Izzy is also going through recruitment for the first time as a freshman at Alabama.

“I decided to take a step back because there’s just a lot of online stuff between me and my sister, and it was hard for me,” Kylan explains, noting that online chatter has added pressure to all different aspects of her life.

Comparing her Bama Rush experience to her sister’s, she notes a lot has changed in the past few years, notably with the rise of social media. Kylan’s own social media following has skyrocketed over the years to a whopping 1.2 million on TikTok and 510K on Instagram.

Despite her own social media fame, Kylan’s advice for potential new members at the University of Alabama might shock some.

“For the future PNMs, I just wouldn’t post,” she says. “I feel bad that I’ve posted this whole time online and made girls think that they should, but I’ve just realized that the talk around sororities and universities, if girls post online and they’re not picking them, I just feel like that’s very disheartening.”

At the end of the day, it’s not going to make or break your life,” she tells PEOPLE. “If you don’t get into a sorority, you’re going to find friends here. If you do, you’re going to have a great experience.”

After years of participating in recruitment and sorority life, her takeaway for potential new members now is to make sure that they stay true to themselves.

“I would tell them to be themselves. To really, really just not form into the Southern sorority girl character. Keep their personality because I noticed that I, myself, freshman year, changed a lot whenever I did first get into a sorority, and then I kind of had to find myself again.”

Despite some of her frustrations with certain aspects of Greek Life, Kylan shares that she does not plan to walk away from her sorority before graduation. “I want to graduate and have that,” she says. “All of us will stay in contact because they’re my girls and we all have, we’re planning on doing a summer girls trip every summer.”

As she moves out of the intense spotlight of Bama Rush, Kylan is also gearing up to savor her final year on campus. “I’m so excited for game days. I’m so excited to graduate and have a big girl job. I’m excited for a year of fun and a year of relaxing because my schedule’s really easy this year.
I’m just excited to enjoy my senior year and to just fully live the experience of it.”

Looking ahead, the sports broadcasting major hopes to pivot her content away from recruitment and toward what she calls “explaining sports in girl terms,” as well as documenting the transition from college to the real world. And of course, she has a few projects lined up that she can’t necessarily speak on yet.

“I just hope that I can share all of the versions of moving on from college and the school aspect and going into the real world.”