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Rihanna lookalike Ala'a Baytops' mom on what viral fame is like: 'It was surreal and still is'

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Rihanna shares photo of girl who looks just like her and fans are losing it
Angela Weiss/AFP/Getty Images
Michael Rothman
ByMichael Rothman
July 24, 2019, 4:38 PM

Rihanna came across a young girl's Instagram page and she nearly lost it -- because of how much she looks like the iconic singer.

"Almost drop my phone. how?" Rihanna wrote, alongside a picture of what could be an old photo of Riri.

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The post is so epic it has nearly 6.5 million likes. Yes, million.

Fans are actually losing their minds along with the "Umbrella" singer.

"I thought this was the start of the face app young challenge," one wrote, thinking it actually was a picture of the singer herself.

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Another wrote, "Wait. What. Stop. I’m dead. I can’t. Handle. This."

The picture is in fact not Rihanna, but an aspiring young model and actress, Ala'a Baytops.

"GMA" spoke to the young girl's mother, Bria Baytops, who said she was at work when "a coworker walked in and was like, 'Rihanna just posted your daugter.'"

"I was just star struck," she said. "Like it was surreal and still is."

"Thank you @badgalriri for posting my picture ! I’ve always wanted to be a model," Ala'a, 7, wrote back on her own social media account.

Bria says that her daughter doesn't yet understand what's happening and how big this is.

"She just said that she's going to be a star," the proud mama added.

If you go to Ala'a's page, it's a treasure trove of other modeling pics that also look like Rihanna. The young model now has 22,000 followers and climbing. She's certainly on her way.

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