With their newfound Internet stardom, Chris Olsen and Ian Paget should have been on cloud nine. But while most social media influencers can deal with some internet hate, the negativity lobbed at Olsen and Paget took a heavy toll on their relationship. They also felt a lot of pressure from fans, who became heavily invested in their relationship’s success, Olsen told Paper. “Very early on, people were like, ‘I sense a breakup coming,’ and then others were like, ‘If you two ever break up, I’m never going to believe in love,'” he said. “That really lodged this idea in the back of my head that it would be really stressful to share any issues we did have with people, considering they’re already picking apart things when we’re not having issues.”
The pressure and the scrutiny ultimately led the pair to break up, which they announced in an emotional January 2022 YouTube video, where Olsen appeared to be holding back tears. Olsen has since said he regrets sharing so much with the public, and that the public interference was just as much to blame for the split as the speediness of their cohabitation or the challenges of working together. “I’ve learned that moving forward, I’ll want to keep [my relationships] a little private. Because it’s very jarring to have your first long-term relationship trend on Twitter when you break up. Like, that’s not normal!,” he told Buzzfeed.
