OK SO I FINALLY FIXED EVERYTHING!!!
I came upon another thread someone had a similar issue and the fix was...
In the Rockstar Games/Grand Theft Auto V/... folder, find the RagePluginHook.exe file (which already had "Run As Admin" status).
I then right clicked on the file then clicked on the "Security" tab at the top, then I clicked on "Edit" to change permissions and checked the "Allow" box for "Full Control" pressed apply>ok then restarted game.
For me, this was the fix!
THANK YOU ALL WHO REPLIED!!!