All About Matt Rife's Mom, April Rife

Matt Rife bought his mother April Rife a new home with one of his first big paychecks

Matt Rife and his mom, April Rife, have been through thick and thin together.

For the majority of Matt’s childhood, the mother-son duo resided in Ohio with April’s father, Steven Rife. Eventually, April married Matt’s now-stepdad and the pair welcomed a child of their own. But after his father’s sudden death, Matt said he leaned on his grandfather for support and wisdom as a young boy.

“My dad passed away when I was about one and a half and I ended up getting a stepdad later on, but he and I never really had a connection. So my grandpa really was my father figure. I spent every single weekend with him from the moment I was born. My mom and I lived with him for the first five years since I was born,” Matt explained during an interview with Numéro magazine in March 2023.

Now a viral sensation, Matt began slinging jokes when he was a teenager, being chauffeured to comedy clubs by April and her dad. The trio were a package deal, and Matt’s biggest fans. From there, he landed a spot on MTV’s Wild ‘N Out, a small guest role on Brooklyn Nine-Nine and amassed a large following on TikTok, before landing his first Netflix special in 2023 aptly titled Matt Rife: Natural Selection.

While April isn’t one for the spotlight, that hasn’t stopped her from cheering on her son every step of the way. Here’s everything to know about Matt Rife’s mother, April Rife, and their sweet mother-son bond.

She raised Matt in Ohio

Matt’s Midwest roots run deep. In a 2019 interview with Columbus Underground, the comedian shared what it was like growing up as a kid in Ohio.

“Ohio’s just such a fun place to grow up because everybody played outside, and [we lived in] an incredibly safe neighborhood,” he told the local outlet. “My parents would, like, leave their car keys in the car each night with their doors unlocked. It was a very carefree – irresponsible – but carefree place to grow up. And, it was just a lot of fun. My friends and I would play outside, play sports together.”

As he got older, Matt said he got the itch to “go do more stuff that Ohio just doesn’t have,” but nonetheless “I just remember it being a good place to grow up.”

She also has a daughter and three stepdaughters

Matt’s father died shortly after his birth in 1995. When Matt was 5 years old, April married his stepfather, who had three daughters of his own from a previous relationship. Matt was the youngest until the pair welcomed their first child together, a daughter named Taylor.

Growing up in a blended family with five mouths to feed wasn’t easy on his mom and stepdad, Matt admitted in an interview with Very Good Light.

“My mom works in an Amazon warehouse and my stepdad is a car mechanic. We didn’t really have a lot while growing up anyways,” he explained.

Matt had a very close relationship with his mother’s father

Matt can’t look back on the trajectory of his comedy career without crediting his late grandfather, Steven Rife. Speaking with Hola Aloha Magazine, the comedian opened up about their special bond and how Steven introduced him to the world of comedy. A World War II veteran, Steven died in November 2022. In an emotional tribute to his late grandfather, Matt thanked him for being “my best friend in the entire world” and “the greatest man I’ve ever known.”

“Growing up without a dad, he was my father figure. He taught me every single thing I know and gave his entire life for me. He was at every baseball game, he took me to every comedy show, he made me blueberry waffles every morning, and he’s the first person I’d call whenever anything happened,” Matt captioned a sweet photo gallery of him and Steve. “Words can’t describe what he meant to me or hope much I’m going to miss him every single day for the rest of my life.”

Matt added, “Thank you so much for being my best friend, my teacher, my father, my grandfather, my inspiration, my soul, my everything.”

His 2023 comedy special, Matthew Steven Rife, is dedicated to his grandfather. "His name was Steven and my middle name is Steven. I was named after him, so it felt like the appropriate title for a special,” he told Numéro Netherlands.

Matt bought his mom a house with one of his first big paychecks

When the big paychecks started rolling in, Matt knew he wanted to do something extra special for April to show his appreciation for all the sacrifices she made to help make his dreams come true. “I told her, ‘Hey things are going really well. I wanna make sure you’re taken care of, you don’t have any bills to pay for the rest of your life. I wanna get you a house,’ ” Matt recalled on the 2 Bears, 1 Cave podcast in 2023.

Speaking candidly, Matt noted that his mom hadn’t grasped the magnitude of his success. “My mom, she still really doesn’t understand at all,” he said.

She has vertigo

During a 2023 appearance on the 2 Bears, 1 Cave podcast, Matt briefly touched on his mother’s experience with having vertigo.

“She’s always injured, always,” he said on the show. “She has vertigo to where she can barely stand upright for most of the time.”

For more People news, make sure to sign up for our newsletter!

Read the original article on People.