US singer Chappell Roan has called out the “creepy behaviour” she’s experienced in person and online as her star status continues to build.
In two TikToks, she says she feels “harassed” and mentions her family being “stalked”, bullied online and being yelled at from car windows.
Chappell’s debut album The Rise and Fall of a Midwest Princess reached number one on the Official Chart earlier in August.
Her pair of posts on the app have since been viewed more than 12 million times in total.
“I don’t care that abuse and harassment is a normal thing to do to people who are famous or a little famous,” she says in one of the videos.
“I don’t care that it’s normal. I don’t care that this crazy type of behaviour comes along with the job, the career field I’ve chosen. That does not make it OK.”
Chappell is one of the year’s most successful popstars with Good Luck, Babe! becoming a breakout hit at home in the US and around the world.
Established stars including Adele and Lady Gaga have fuelled her popularity with the former describing her as “phenomenal” and “spectacular”.
“It’s weird how people think that you know a person just because you see them online and you listen to the art they make,” she continues in her post.
“I’m allowed to say no to creepy behaviour.
“[Being a singer] doesn’t mean that I want it. It doesn’t mean that I like it.
“I don’t [care] if you think it’s selfish of me to say no for a photo or for your time or for a hug. That’s not normal, that’s weird.”
In her caption, she said her post wasn’t about a specific person or experience.
“This is just my side of the story and my feelings.”
‘No means no’
Chappell is not the only famous name to warn fans about overstepping the line, or to set boundaries for their fans based on difficult experiences.
In 2022, actress and singer Keke Palmer posted on social media that “no means no, even when it doesn’t pertain to sex,” describing being filmed against her will in a bar.
Justin Bieber has previously said he was “done taking pictures” with fans in an Instagram post.
The Canadian star said he wanted to “keep his sanity”, with demands for selfies leaving him feeling like a “zoo animal”.
Game of Thrones actress Emilia Clarke has also decided to say no to requests for photos.
Speaking on the podcast Table Manners in 2019, she described two encounters with fans: one woke her on a plane to ask for a selfie and another asked for a photo while she was crying and having a panic attack in an airport.
At the time, Emilia said she prefers instead to sign something: “When you do that, you have to have an interaction with that person, as opposed to someone just going, ‘Give us a selfie, goodbye.’
“Then you have a chat and you’re actually having a truthful human-to-human thing.”
‘Healthy boundaries’
What we’re seeing with Chappell and her fans is known as a parasocial relationship.
Dr Veronica Lamarche, a social psychologist and relationships researcher at the University of Essex, describes it as a “one-sided relationship”.
Dr Lamarche tells Newsbeat we often turn to celebrities and “feel like they can help us fulfil our emotional needs” – even more perhaps than our real friends.
“It can become dangerous when we don’t set healthy boundaries in terms of those expectations,” she says.
When a chance comes to cross paths in real life, “you’re imagining that when you meet them, they’re going to be your best friend, they’re going to like you as much as you like them.
“But the reality is this celebrity that you’ve been projecting onto doesn’t have any idea who you are.
“So for them, it can be really destabilising because they feel you’re being too familiar with them.”
Parasocial relationships are “nothing new”, Dr Lamarche says, but social media means we have a “constant sense of interaction”.
“If your favourite celebrity posts on Instagram and you comment on those pictures, it really feels like you’re having a two-sided conversation when at the end of the day it really is still one-sided.
“A lot of fans might be feeling hurt or disappointed by what Chappell Roan has come out to say,” she says.
“It’s natural because this is someone we admire telling us we’re doing something wrong and that feels rejecting and hurtful.
“But also it’s important to be mindful of the healthy boundaries these people are trying to set for themselves.”
Fan reaction: ‘I praise her for it’
Newsbeat’s been asking Chappell Roan fans about her TikTok posts, including 20-year-old Leah from Birmingham.
“I honestly praise her for it,” she says.
“You have no idea what they’re going through or what it takes to be famous and because stans (super fans) put them on pedestals, we expect them to be perfect, all the time.”
Olivia, who’s 25 and lives in London, told Newsbeat: “Chappell’s gone from zero to a hundred incredibly quickly. It must be overwhelming.
“I can see why some fans might think she’s maybe a bit too forceful with it but it’s her life and she’s allowed to feel passionate about protecting her safety and her boundaries.”
By BBC
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