From Travis Scott and Kylie Jenner to Chrisean Rock and Blueface, celebrity couples continuously grace the screens of platforms such as Twitter and Instagram. People seem to idolize these celebrity relationships and use them as a blueprint for their own. However, a majority of these relationships contain toxicity and negativity behind the scenes. 

Internet celebrity Chrisean Rock and her rapper ex-boyfriend Blueface immediately come to mind when discussing the topic of toxic celebrity relationships. Recently Chrisean posted that she and Blueface broke up. A day later, she posted on Instagram saying till death do us part in reference to her and Blueface’s relationship. This adds to a series of toxic and manipulative situations between the two celebrities. Contributing to the image of toxic celebrity relationships, pages such as TheShadeRoom and TheShadeRoomTeens keep individuals up to date on the negativity, constantly fueling the spiral. 

In the early 2010s, the younger community idolized the relationship between youtube influencers De’arra Taylor and Kenneth (Ken) Walker. Since the start of their Youtube page De’arra and Ken 4 Life in 2014, the couple thrived on social media, creating a seemingly positive outlook on relationships and goals. However, after their engagement, the Internet went ballistic over Ken allegedly cheating on Dearra with another woman. In 2021 the couple officially broke up and moved on with their lives. Again, this showcases that idolizing the supposedly perfect relationships of social media influencers could prove different after the truth comes to light. 

Atlanta rapper Lil Baby and his ex-girlfriend Jayda Cheaves have constantly showcased a toxic relationship since they began publicly dating in 2018. Their first break-up rumor began in early 2020 when the rapper said in an interview that he did not deeply love anyone at the moment. Later on, Jayda Cheaves confirmed that they broke up and simply communicated for the purposes of raising their now three-year-old son Loyal. In May 2020, Cheaves posted an intimate picture of her and Lil Baby, alluding to the fact that the couple rekindled their relationship. However, once again, the rapper allegedly cheated with his oldest son’s mother Ayesha Howard and later cheated with an adult film star Ms. London in December 2020. As much as people idolized the couple’s relationship, it contained nothing but deception and infidelity.

“I don’t think it is smart to idolize celebrity relationships because most of the time some relationships are just for show. There’s always so much we don’t know about relationships because we got most of our news from different media outlets and it may not always be true. I feel like people base their own relationships on celebrity couples so often because they want to be like them. They see how great the couples look and I feel like that kind of clouds their judgment a little,” magnet senior Melanie Maker said. 

Although certain people find it more comfortable to shy away from celebrity couple gossip and toxicity, other people find it entertaining. considering the over 26 million Instagram accounts that follow TheShaderoom, thousands look forward to the daily drama and celebrity relationship news that the account posts. However, science explains several people’s odd attraction to negativity and negative relationships. The release of pain-suppressing endorphins and pleasure-inducing dopamine causes people’s addiction to drama such as celebrity couple gossip. 

“You’re not going to get your picture-perfect family or that picture-perfect life by copying the relationship behaviors of your favorite celebrities. In fact, the opposite is true. Many celebrities have toxic relationships, but they can teach us a lot about what we want, what we don’t want, and where we’re going in our partnerships,” Medium reporter E.B Johnson said. 

Instead of idolizing the toxic relationships showcased by popular celebrity couples, partners should learn to create their own relationship goals. Basing one’s own relationship off of another causes confusion because instead of focusing on personal experience, they focus on a distorted idea of how their relationship should look. People only see the outside of celebrity relationships; although it may look pleasant, several couples face a multitude of issues behind closed doors.