Peyton Jones (’25), Staff Writer
Halle Bailey is not new to being the subject of conversation. From her successful music career with her sister Chloe to her starring roles in The Little Mermaid (2023) and The Color Purple (2023), the singer-songwriter and actress has been the center of buzz for years now. However, recently she’s been the topic of a completely different discussion: that of her pregnancy.
Earlier this year on January 6th, Bailey announced via Instagram that she and her boyfriend—rapper and YouTuber DDG—had welcomed their first child in 2023, a baby boy named Halo. Admittedly, this came as a surprise to very few people. Despite Bailey choosing not to comment on it, many fans and social media users suspected that she was pregnant, with speculation and teasing “show us your belly” comments running rampant on the internet for months. While most of it was just lighthearted fun, a certain group of fans were rather intense in their pursuit of answers, bombarding Bailey with less-than-friendly comments and demanding confirmation all the way up until her official announcement.
Following her Instagram post in January, Bailey has gradually shared more about her pregnancy journey on social media, and posts small snippets of her life as a new mom. While most people congratulated her and DDG on the birth of their child and have been supportive as she navigates her new life, that same group of fans has been quite the opposite. Many of their comments on said Instagram post as well as posts on X and other websites have accused her of “gaslighting” and “lying” to them about her pregnancy. These are just some of the examples I saw while looking through social media:
Um…are y’all okay?
Mind you, Bailey never confirmed or denied the rumors regarding her pregnancy; rather, she simply chose not to speak on the matter at all. In Snapchat stories posted after the announcement of Halo’s birth, she explained that she wanted to keep those nine months of her life private from prying eyes.
“I just wanted to make sure I had a beautiful, private, healthy time in my journey,” she said regarding her decision not to address the situation. “…I feel like sometimes as people in the limelight, people feel like they want to know every little thing about their life, but I think it’s really beautiful if you keep some things private and sacred.”
During an interview on The Jason Lee Show, DDG had this to say in response to backlash over Bailey appearing pregnant in photos: “…people were already giving us negative vibes. So it’s like, why let them know and then let them make her pregnancy stressful?”
To a certain subset of fans, Bailey choosing to experience such a special time in her life on her own terms rather than sharing it to appease strangers on the internet is a betrayal. After the barrage of negativity she has received from the public, starting years ago when her casting in The Little Mermaid as a Black woman was first announced, her blocking it out to protect her mental health during such a fragile period is “lying” and “gaslighting”. And now that Halo has arrived safely on Earth and she’s grown more comfortable sharing parts of her motherhood journey, she’s “annoying” and “attention-seeking”. The irony isn’t lost on me that the people dogpiling her don’t seem to realize they’re the exact reason she chose to keep things private.
Bailey herself appears to have had enough of the foolishness. In late January, she took to Twitter to (quite gracefully) call one user out for their insensitive comments regarding her and her pregnancy.
The situation is a perfect example of the pervasiveness of parasocial relationships between celebrities and their fans, and the toxicity and entitlement the latter can exhibit as a result. As most relatively-stable people probably know, being a fan of a celebrity does not make one entitled to know every detail of their personal life. But in a world where celebrity and stan culture is as huge as it is, where some public figures have legions of fans ready to go to war for them at a moment’s notice, some people are quick to forget this.
Dictionary.com describes a parasocial relationship as “a relationship that a person imagines having with another person whom they do not actually know, such as a celebrity or a fictional character”. According to the site, people in these relationships feel as if “they have a close, intimate connection with someone whom they have never met due to closely following that person (or character) in media, such as TV shows, videos, podcasts, etc.”. These relationships are, of course, largely if not completely one-sided, sustained entirely by the follower’s emotional investment in the star’s career and/or life.
So how did we get to the point where people are mad at a pregnant lady for wanting some peace? Have parasocial relationships really gone that far? The answer is yes. Social media has made it easier than ever for celebs to interact with their fans, and while this isn’t a bad thing in itself, the red flags start to show when people get too invested. Because their favorite celebrities are so accessible thanks to the internet, people start to feel like they are genuinely friends with them, which often leads to a sense of entitlement to their lives and resentment when they fail to deliver. Couple this with the fact that social media also keeps people online constantly, and what you end up with is an echo chamber of delusion with other fans. We see this in action with Halle Bailey, whose fans went from gleefully kekeing with her to criticizing her when she made a decision to protect herself that they didn’t like.
While it’s perfectly fine to follow public figures and have some intrigue in them and their lives, it’s crucial to remember that they’re still human beings and be respectful of boundaries. At the end of the day, you don’t know these people personally, and they don’t know you. They share what they want you to know, and they aren’t obligated to share what they don’t just because you’re a fan of theirs. Let Halle Bailey’s situation be a reminder of this—and please, for the wellbeing of everyone involved, limit your time on the internet. If you find yourself feeling angry and hurt that your “celebrity bestie” has a private life that doesn’t include you…you might want to put your phone down.
