Earlier this week, the world was saddened to hear that our favourite funny pair Anna Faris and Chris Pratt had announced they were separating after eight years of marriage.
Unsurprisingly, their social media announcements were met with devastation by fans, with Facebook users commenting the couple 'seemed so perfect for each other' while others pleaded for them not to 'stop trying' to make their marriage work.
However, after the sadness came anger, with some fans looking for someone else to blame for the break up, most noticeably Chris' co-star Jennifer Lawrence from his hit 2016 film Passengers.
Last year, the pair were accused of engaging in an affair – a claim both Jennifer and Chris vehemently denied – which even forced Anna to open up about in her podcast Anna Faris Is Unqualified.
Discussing the pain of hearing the accusations, the Scary Movie actress admitted: 'I take pride in how great my relationship is with Chris, but having said that, of course, in this crazy world where he's off doing movies and I'm in L.A. raising our child, of course I'm going to feel vulnerable, like any normal human would.
'It made me feel incredibly insecure', she added, later revealing to US Weekly that the false reports were particularly 'stinging' to both her and Chris.
Unfortunately, in light of Anna and Chris' break up, their fans look to Jennifer (who is rumoured to be dating director Darren Aronofsky) to point the blame, speculating the 26-year-old Oscar winner and Chris will 'be dating soon' and even acusing her of causing the split between Liam Hemsworth (her Hunger Games co-star) and Miley Cyrus' split in 2013.
For starters, let's just clarify how deeply disrespectful and offensive it is, for all three parties involved, to accuse another woman – or man, for that matter – for the downfall of another couple's marriage for no good reason.
Let's not forget, the same thing happened when Angelina Jolie filed for divorce from Brad Pitt last September.
In the days that followed the announcement of the dissolution of their marriage, memes of Jennifer Aniston gloating and enjoying Jolie's pain sprouted up across the internet. While they were found merely to be a joke by some, many women took to social media to question why females (because, let's be honest, it is women in the majority of cases) must be pitted against each other in an endless catfight for dominance and attention.
Then came the accusations that the split was due to Pitt's alleged affair with his Allied co-star Marion Cotillard, forcing both a then-pregnant Cotillard and her partner actor Guillaume Canet to address the rumours, revealing how painful it was to deny the claims rather than enjoying the impending arrival of their baby.
So far, the only information we have regarding Chris and Anna's split is their statements on social media, in which they both asked for privacy both for themselves and their son.
To suggest Jennifer Lawrence had anything to do with the split, solely due to her on-screen romance with Chris (it's called acting FYI, look it up) is deeply insulting, sexist and downright unfounded.
Katie O'Malley is the Site Director on ELLE UK. On a daily basis you’ll find Katie managing all digital workflow, editing site, video and newsletter content, liaising with commercial and sales teams on new partnerships and deals (eg Nike, Tiffany & Co., Cartier etc), implementing new digital strategies and compiling in-depth data traffic, SEO and ecomm reports. In addition to appearing on the radio and on TV, as well as interviewing everyone from Oprah Winfrey to Rishi Sunak PM, Katie enjoys writing about lifestyle, culture, wellness, fitness, fashion, and more.
