Another day, another fun example of celebrity fan culture, beauty ideals, fatphobia and the internet intersecting. How parasocial! Isn’t modern life a ride! 

Lana Del Rey has had one of the most engaged and die-hard fan bases since her debut single Video Games was released in 2011. Not only do people love her music, but they love the way she looks – her coolness coveted, her style emulated, her beauty put on a pedestal. And, like most pedestals, the person on top eventually falls off. These expectations put on her were unrealistic and unattainable. In short, society manic-pixie-dream-girled her on a mass scale.

Type in ‘Lana Del Rey’ in the TikTok search bar, and the third suggestion is ‘weight gain’. Videos of her body ‘transformation’ can be found, set to the lyrics ‘Will you still love me when I’m no longer young and beautiful?’ with comments asking ‘what happened to her?’

Beyond the blatant body-shaming is a more subtle trend. ‘Fans’ who seemingly still support her, and her new music, will create adoring videos. The catch? All the clips are about a decade old. Some users are grasping that this is not okay. A video with 408k likes says, ‘I hate fans that say they don’t body shame yet they refuse to post photos of lana after her weight gain and it’s so upsetting’ ​​ 

This isn’t unique to Lana. Society, at large, romanticises women’s teenage bodies over adults – sexualising youth and demonising ageing. The beauty standard is one that does not account for anthropology and the very natural process of growing. As humans grow, so do our bodies. That is a fact. But we expect women, especially those in the public eye, to look the same at 18 as at 30. They are expected to be immune from the realities of life (illness, age, childbirth), and miraculously stay frozen in time. 

Selena Gomez has been another victim of this pressure and shaming. She even felt the need to address the comments in a video where she explained the side-effects of her Lupus medication. In the recent Hailey-Selena-saga, ‘fans’ of Selena’s created questionable videos in support of her. And, just like Lana, all the imagery was old. People claim to support her, but in reality they only support one version.