Here's Why You Can't Help But Grieve When Your Favorite Celebrity Couples Break Up
If you haven't heard already, Chris Pratt and Anna Faris are splitting up after eight wonderful years of marriage. Despite the fact that the celebrity breakup appears to be happening on pretty amicable terms, and the two insist they still maintain a mutually deep sense of love and respect for one another, the internet essentially cannot handle the news, like, at all.
Seriously, it's like people are devastated as if Faris and Pratt were their own parents or something (I mean, TBH, they totally were #CoupleGoals and #ParentGoals).
The world seems to react this way almost every time a Hollywood power couple breaks up, but is it really that serious?
Apparently, yes, it is.
People view these celebrities as their role models, and when your role models fall off of the pedestal you placed them on, it shatters your sense of reality.
You can no longer model yourself or your life off of something that has now been destroyed.
Lindsay A. Henderson, a psychologist who treats patients virtually via the telehealth app LiveHealth Online, spoke with Elite Daily to dive into the psychology behind the emotions tied to these celebrity breakups.
She says,
When a celebrity couple breaks up, the part of ourselves that we try to model after the celebrity, whether consciously or unconsciously, is questioned and even injured. Our over-identification with the celebrity ends up causing personal discomfort, and because we have elevated them to having achieved such enviable success, their failings can sometimes be more troubling to us than those of the people in our lives that we actually know and have relationships with.
When a couple you admire splits up, your utopian dreams of "true love" become something of the past, almost like a dream put to rest -- and it hurts. In the end, no one wants their dreams to be shattered.
But celebrities are human, too. Just because they appear "perfect" in the limelight doesn't mean they're not capable of making mistakes.
Dr. Henderson tells Elite Daily,
A breakup is a rude reminder that the pain and struggle that comes with a negative event can happen to anyone; if divorce can happen to them, it can certainly happen to us, too.
Of course, it's pretty unhealthy to place your dreams and expectations so heavily on the basis of someone else's life -- particularly people who you'll realistically never interact with in any capacity.
Everyone experiences breakups and hard times, regardless of celebrity status, or lack thereof.
Trust me, we're all feeling a bit sad for Faris and Pratt. But imagine what they're personally going through, and remember it can literally happen to anyone.
