The latest Selena Gomez and Hailey Bieber “drama” just goes to show how long it takes the internet to recover from a breakup

There’s a fine line between being a devoted fan and becoming borderline obsessed. It’s long been recognised that an avid interest can spiral into something a little more sinister when these parasocial relationships breed a little something called celebrity worship syndrome.

Since social media has allowed for a more in depth glimpse behind the curtain of our favourite celebs’ private lives, imaginations tend to fill in any and all blanks. Fostering something of an addiction to information that quickly festers into an inability to acknowledge boundaries, some stans just don’t know when to let sleeping dogs lie.

Becoming thoroughly invested beyond the point of reason, we’ve seen fans take matters into their own hands under the impression that they’re acting on behalf of their favourite celebrities. Reading between the lines, inventing subtext and fighting their perceived battles for them, it can all get a bit… much.

The latest illustration of such behaviour can be seen in the response to a TikTok made by Selena Gomez that’s been branded as a ‘shady snub’ against Hailey Bieber. Prior to Gomez’s skincare routine video, Hailey had uploaded her own ‘get ready with me’ TikTok and users were quick to speculate that the actress, singer and entrepreneur was making fun of her ex-boyfriend’s wife.

So, yeah, that’s… kind of a reach, wouldn’t you say?

Though comments have been disabled on the video now, Selena had written, “This is why I believe in taking care of your mental health. Guys no idea what I did but really am sorry. Zero bad intention. Deleting soon.”

@selenagomez

? Dreams (2004 Remaster) – Fleetwood Mac

First getting together in 2011, Selena and Justin Bieber had an on and off relationship for years, officially calling it quits in 2018. That’s four whole years, and Bieber has gone on to marry model and socialite Hailey Baldwin.

This is not the first time that these two female celebrities have been pitted against each other. As the pair were ascending the steps at the 2021 Met Gala — which just so happened to coincide with the Biebers’ wedding anniversary — fans gathered outside joined together in a chorus of ‘Selena! Selena!’, which was nothing is not hugely disrespectful.

Creating the narrative that these women dislike each other based on a relationship that ended years ago seems a little reductive, and constantly relating anything they do back to this contentious love triangle seems just a tad immature.

Just last month, Selena Gomez told Good Morning America that she had logged off of the internet for four and a half years, a decision which she said “changed [her] life completely.” When speaking with WWD last year, the Lose You to Love Me singer said that there was so much of her personal life spread out online, that it felt uncontrollable.

“I felt like my thoughts and everything I was consuming revolved around a million different other people in the world saying good things and bad things,” she said to WWD’s Beauty Inc. “I just snapped, and I was over it.”

Similarly, Hailey Bierber has spoken candidly about her relationship with social media. Most recently, the model and budding entrepreneur took to TikTok to denounce the trolls that fill up her comment section. “I’m minding my business. I don’t do anything, I don’t say anything. Leave me alone, please,” she says. “Enough time has gone by where it’s valid to leave me alone. I beg of you, truly. That’s my only request. Leave me alone.”

@haileybieber

this is for you guys in my comments every single time I post

? original sound – Hailey Bieber

While Justin and Hailey Bieber seem to have been happily married for years now, and Selena Gomez appears to be thriving, it seems like the only people still pining for the pair to reunite are the stans on the internet.