Social media can be all-consuming, especially if you’re good at it — watching those follower counts climb upwards, seeing people “like” your photos, commenting their thoughts. In today’s society, so much of our life is lived online and, especially on platforms like Instagram, it’s easy to derive more personal satisfaction from getting more likes and follows than ever before. There’s an adrenaline rush, a high, the feeling of validation – pretty wild stuff!
The same is true for celebrities who rely on social media to further their brand, land lucrative endorsements, and share glimpses of their ultra-private lives outside of red carpet appearances or IMDb credits. However, having an open profile on sites like Twitter or Instagram also opens the floodgates for haters and trolls who seem to relish the idea of making the live of a famous person absolute hell. Behind the safety of a screen, anonymous commentators can levy judgment against a celeb’s appearance, abilities, or relationships, ignorant to the fact that their words have impact and that there is a real live person on the other end of their words! No wonder so many stars have opted to ditch social media for a little while – or, for some, altogether!
In 2018 alone, we have 20 instances in which the rich and famous decided to take a break from their social media. Some came back right away, others took their time, and still more have kept a low profile.
20 Kanye West Was Back And Forth In February
Kanye West has a history of deleting and then reactivating his social media frequently, so we understand if you couldn’t keep up with this one with everything going on in 2018. After deleting his Instagram years ago, West reactivated his account in February to post several photos of iconic celebrity couples (think David Bowie and Iman, Carrie Bradshaw and Mr. Big, and Lisa Bonet and Lenny Kravitz) for Valentine’s Day. The very next day, however, he deleted his Instagram again, but this was a blip in the rapper’s social media usage.
19 Cheryl Burke Needed A Break In March
We all need to take a step back sometimes, and Dancing With the Stars pro Cheryl Burke did just that this past March when she announced that she was “dealing with some personal things right now” and was going to take a break from social media for an indefinite amount of time.
By the end of the month, Burke announced that the reason for her absence was that she was mourning the death of her father. She was back in full force in May to announce her engagement to actor Matthew Lawrence, who you might remember from Mrs. Doubtfire!
18 Blake Lively Promoted A Film In May
Rather than dealing with some drama or personal issues, Blake Lively wiped her social media clean for something a lot more interesting: she was promoting a film! In May, the actress erased her entire Instagram profile and unfollowed everyone on her list, except for a bunch of accounts with the name “Emily Nelson,” which was the same moniker as her enigmatic character in the film A Simple Favor.
At first, people were up in arms, since Lively had unfollowed her own husband, Ryan Reynolds, but the whole thing was just a clever promotional tool.
17 Cardi B Took A One-Week Break In May
For a woman who likes to air out her dirty laundry via Instagram, it seems strange that once upon a time (this past May, to be exact) the rapper deleted her account entirely (for one week at least)!
Fellow rapper Azealia Banks accused Cardi B of being a “caricature of a black woman,” and the two engaged in some back-and-forth in the comments on their own posts until Cardi posted a long message defending herself and her roots before deleting her Instagram altogether. By May 20, though, everything was back to normal.
16 Millie Bobby Brown Left Twitter In June
This was a weird case of trolling and general vindictiveness, especially when we consider that the subject of the online torment was a 14-year-old girl! Actress Millie Bobby Brown, best known for her role as Eleven on the hit show Stranger Things, was forced to abandon Twitter once she was harassed after being made the subject of a series of homophobic memes, seemingly attributed to the actress herself.
Despite some claiming that the memes were meant to be satire and the originators of the “jokes” identified as LGBT themselves, Brown left the platform in June and has yet to return.
15 Kelly Marie Tran Deleted Instagram In June
For people who call themselves fans, they sure have a strange way of showing it! Actress Kelly Marie Tran faced tons of online backlash after her character, Rose Tico, wasn’t so well-received in the movie Star Wars: The Last Jedi. Trolls swarmed Tran’s Instagram account posting awful and insulting messages directed toward the actress and the vitriol became so intense that Tran removed herself – and her account – from the platform entirely (something costar Daisy Ridley had done as well back in 2015). Star Wars alum Mark Hamill spoke in her defence and she opened up about it in August, saying that she went down a “spiral of self-hate”.
14 Demi Lovato Disappeared In July
Unlike many of the others on this list, Demi Lovato’s radio silence wasn’t the result of a conscious choice when she unexpectedly left social media in July. The actress had previously opened up about her struggles in the song “Sober,” but she experienced a scary incident in July that saw her leave all social media because she was hospitalized, and then, subsequently, because she wanted to keep a low profile.
The singer-actress did return to the online world in November, encouraging her followers to go out and vote in the mid-term elections.
13 Miley Cyrus Removed Her Insta In July
It was unexpected when Miley Cyrus decided to remove all of her photos from Instagram in July 2018, and had people expecting the worst. Optimists thought she might be prepping for a reveal of new music, while pessimists worried that something was amiss in her relationship to Liam Hemsworth (the pair have since married).
In fact, the reason was much more low key: she just wanted a break! With her health taking more priority in recent years, Cyrus allegedly felt that she needed a long break. The star returned to the platform in November, but all of her old posts have completely disappeared!
12 Pete Davidson Was Tired Of The Attention In July
With a relationship that was as publicized as Pete Davidson’s and Ariana Grande’s, we’re surprised that the scrutiny didn’t get to the Saturday Night Live comedian sooner! In July, Davidson ditched Instagram entirely and deleted his account, explaining in a post (before he deleted it),
“No there’s nothing wrong. No nothing happened. No there’s nothing cryptic about anything. I just don’t wanna be on Instagram anymore.”
Calling the Internet an “evil place”, Davidson said he was sick of the negative comments he was receiving about his relationship with Grande. He later returned for more PDA-filled snapshots.
11 Ariel Winter Quit Twitter In July
Before deleting her Twitter, Modern Family actress Ariel Winter let her Instagram followers know that she was in the process of removing herself from the social media. The move came from months of harassment from online trolls, haters, and even paparazzi, who called out the star for posting a copyrighted paparazzi shot, amid other remarks about the actress’s physique. (Celebs posting pap shots without permission has recently become the subject of much debate.)
While Winter is still active on Instagram, she has yet to return to Twitter and is, according to her representative, on an “indefinite” social media break.
10 Ruby Rose Handled Backlash In August
It seems that you’re damned if you do and damned if you don’t! Take actress and model Ruby Rose, for example. In August, it was announced that Rose had been cast as Batwoman for an upcoming CW show. Rose, who identifies as gender-fluid, was apparently “not gay enough” for the fandom, who pointed out that Batwoman was the first openly gay superhero at the helm of a TV show. Plus, Batwoman (real name: Kathy Kane) is also Jewish, which Rose is not, and something even more haters took issue with.
In response to the outsized hatred, Rose deleted her Twitter account entirely and disabled comments on her Instagram. Even now, comments are suspiciously limited on the star’s photos.
9 Selena Gomez Focused On Herself In September
Selena Gomez has actually taken multiple breaks from social media, usually amid relationship drama, but the most recent instance was back in September, when the singer-actress decided to check herself into rehab for her mental health, and she hasn’t posted again since sharing an image of herself on Instagram on September 23.
Her last post addressed her plan to take a break from social media, explaining that she wanted to “live her life in the present” and reminding her followers that “negative comments can hurt anybody’s feelings.” Gomez has previously talked about her love-hate relationship with the app, which she admits to deleting off her phone regularly.
8 Kanye Quit Again In September
After his performance on SNL, which devolved into a rant following a few questionable interviews, Kanye West decided to hop off both Instagram and Twitter back in September. According to People, the rapper (or the people who handle him) realized that his rants – both on and offline – were becoming unhealthy, which explained the star’s absence from social media.
Alas, like all the time previous, West returned to both in short order, where he is recently undergoing a pretty intense beef with fellow rapper Drake over diss tracks, secret children, Kim Kardashian, and probably more.
7 Ariana Grande Took A Breather In October
As one-half of the breakup that broke the Internet (even though everyone saw it coming), Ariana Grande needed to take a breather from social media in October following her split from fiancé Pete Davidson.
In a video, Grande explained that she was saying “bye bye again to the Internet for just a lil bit,” but the announcement came after the singer had endured a particularly tough few months, most recently the death of her ex-boyfriend Mac Miller the month before. She returned shortly after with new music, and has recently announced a headlining gig at this year’s Coachella!
6 Pete Davidson Wiped Things Clean Again In October
After news broke that Ariana Grande and Pete Davidson had ended their engagement, the former took a brief hiatus while the latter wiped his presence from social media (again). By the end of November, the comedian had returned to Instagram with the announcement of an upcoming movie. The next month, he advised all his haters that, “No matter how hard the Internet tries to make me [hurt] myself. I won’t.” Davidson did post a troubling post towards the end of December, which led to many celebs to express their worry over his mental state, but he was found unharmed.
5 Shawn Mendes Took A Holiday Break In December
Hey, isn’t this like a low-key Canadian boy to announce that the reason for his absence from social media isn’t anything dramatic or nefarious or even interesting – he just wants to enjoy his holidays unencumbered by the pressure of the platforms!
On December 17, Shawn Mendes announced that he was going to press pause on Twitter and Instagram in order to enjoy the holidays with his family, saying he would be taking a few weeks to enjoy himself. Of course, that didn’t last, and just two days later, the singer returned to Twitter with new remixes of his song.
4 Sarah Hyland Went Offline In December
When you’re a celebrity, you pretty much can’t do anything right: just ask Sarah Hyland. Like her Modern Family costar Ariel Winter who was mentioned earlier in this article, Hyland has dealt with her fair share of harassment, but last month the actress reached her breaking point.
After attempting to crowdfund donations for her family after her 14-year-old cousin was killed in a car accident, Hyland was met with incredulity online by people who wondered why the actress didn’t just use her own cash for the funeral expenses. The harassment led the star to post that she would be leaving social media for a while.
3 Aaron Paul Stepped Back In December
In what sounds like a pre-New Year’s resolution, Breaking Bad actor Aaron Paul announced to his Twitter followers on December 17 that he was going to take a break from social media because he needed “some time to focus on work and family.” (The actor welcomed a daughter with wife Lauren Parsekian in February.)
In addition to removing himself from the platform, the actor also wiped his tweets from his timeline. His tweet stating his goodbye is the only one that remains. The star also hasn’t shared anything on Instagram since October.
2 Lili Reinhart Was Over Twitter In December
The same day that Aaron Paul announced his decision to ditch Twitter, Riverdale actress Lili Reinhart likewise chose to remove herself from the social media site, but more a very different reason.
Following harsh criticism about her show from YouTube personality Elijah Daniel, Reinhart wrote that she was fed up with all the hatred on social media, calling it a “cesspool” and deciding that it wasn’t healthy for her to stay on the platform amid all the criticism. Reinhart still continues to use Instagram, but her Twitter account has been silent since.
1 Dove Cameron Was Sick Of Criticism In December
The most recent addition on our list, actress Dove Cameron decided she needed to step back from social media just days before ringing in the New Year, on December 28. Explaining that she was receiving criticism and hate for basically everything she was doing, Cameron wrote, “Social media creates a lot of negative thinking and makes people more desensitized to others and how cruel thy are being.” She elaborated that her anxiety was at “an all time high” and that she hadn’t been “the best version of [her]self”. The break didn’t last long: the actress is already back on both Twitter and Instagram.
References: Insider.com, People.com, StyleCaster.com
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