Strickland was born in Blackshear, Georgia, to Susan Strickland, a nurse, and Dee Strickland, a high-school football coach, principal, and superintendent. KaDee's birthname is Katherine Dee; her parents combined the K in Katherine with her father's name to make KaDee. She was raised in Patterson, Georgia, which she said is a "one-stoplight town", and she had a job picking tobacco on a local farm for eight years. When she was a child, Strickland watched the Woody Allen film Annie Hall (1975) and was, as she put it, "wanting to be in that place, and being completely taken with the Energy of those people. I wanted to be in it". During her childhood, she was well known locally as a member of the Strickland family and for her extracurricular activities and achievements (she was the Homecoming Queen in elementary, middle, and high school, the student council President, and a cheerleader). She never considered a career in the performing arts until her participation in a one-act play performed by students of her high school: "[...] the minute I set foot on stage, that was it. Destiny took over. There were no other options. I felt like I fit my skin, I knew what I was here to do", Strickland said.