“I also eventually noticed that she wouldn’t let on that we were dating. She always said she was single, so that was why she had all these women hitting on her wherever we went. It felt like a game, and I didn’t want to play.
After we broke up, she started dating a jazz musician who thought she was more popular than she actually was. It was very comical seeing them out in public together, trying to see who could get the most attention. I was amazed that they could both fit their big heads in the same car.”
“The couple of times I visited her in her country, we spent most of our time in the hotel or in places where her privacy could be guaranteed.
Eventually, she just quietly withdrew from the public eye and moved to my country. We’ve been married for seven years now, and I’m constantly on the lookout for signs that her talents got passed on to either or both of our kids. Honestly, I expected us to fall apart, so this was a happy surprise. None of my friends or family thought it would last because she’s Chinese and I’m Canadian. My Mandarin was functional at the time, and so was her English, so we communicated through a hybrid of Chinese, English, and Google Translate. My Mandarin has improved a lot because of her, and her English has improved because of our kids.”
“TBH, he was a total jerk, and had I not been 19 at the time, I’d have laughed in his face.”
“I put up with it for a while because she was okay with me seeing other people in the meantime (I only did once, and I didn’t enjoy it). And dating a celebrity has its bonuses. She paid for almost everything, and we went on some fun trips. But I wouldn’t really recommend it to anyone out there for the long term. From what I saw, every celebrity in their twenties is basically cheating 24/7.”
“Eventually, his career was too major to have a serious girlfriend. He played for over a decade and retired recently. It’s kind of fun teasing my now husband that I could have been a basketball wife and thrown water in someone’s face.”
“I liked him, but I couldn’t hand over my financial security for a guy I barely knew. I tried to slow things down, and he took it super personally. Then he wrote a song about me (which made me sound like a jerk), and it played on the radio constantly for the next few months. I know he wrote it about me because he left me a voicemail of him recording it in the studio.”
“One time, there was even a reporter from a magazine who would just follow us around, even when we asked her to leave us alone. It was just really uncomfortable all around. We broke it off when I left California with my family. We still talk occasionally, but she’s always busy with content and that super fast-paced lifestyle.”
“He would randomly text me when he was in my area for a couple of years after that, but I never really talked to him again.”
“I have a very non-metal job and still listen to pop music, and he can be pretty wacky in a This Is Spinal Tap sort of way. But it works for us. I keep him from acting too weird, and he keeps me from being too basic. Even after all this time, I still get surprised when people ask for photos with him. I’m like, ‘Omg, honey, they know who you are!’ I guess once you’ve seen a person poop, it’s hard to think of them as a celebrity.”
“I’m not going to lie, having your spouse bankroll your law degree at one of the better law schools in the world is an immense privilege. Though balancing law school with a very busy partner is its own challenge.
Also, social media matters. The amount of endorsement deals care about social media, and how finicky the damn algorithms are. I’ve spent a lot of time helping craft posts. We both hate it, but it’s the price you pay. I also have to censor myself on social media. No one likes the trophy partner who ‘gets mouthy’ on Twitter.”
Note: Some submissions have been edited for length and/or clarity.