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28 March 2024, 16:20
Olivia Rodrigo is one of the biggest pop stars in the world with over 37 million followers on Instagram. So why doesn’t she follow anyone back?
Olivia Rodrigo may only be 20 years old but she’s taken the world by storm, especially with the release of her second studio album ‘GUTS’ and the start of her GUTS World Tour across North America and Europe.
But her level of stardom came with a price and now Olivia can’t act like regular twenty-year-olds and that has included the way she uses social media.
With over 37 million followers on her Instagram, Olivia’s popularity makes it hard for her to have a private life at all. From her low-key relationship with Louis Partridge to her 21st birthday celebration, Olivia’s life has been an open book for her fans.
So what is the real reason why Olivia doesn’t follow anyone on Instagram? She revealed the answer on The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon.
Speaking to Jimmy Fallon on his late-night talk show, the host asked Olivia about her social media. “I follow you on the social media… and I noticed you don’t follow anyone back,” he said.
Olivia immediately apologised and tried to make it up to Jimmy, saying, “I’m sorry, if there was one person I would follow, it’d be you though.”
Despite her impressive following, Olivia revealed one of the reasons she doesn’t want to follow people on the app. “I try to follow zero people cause it helps me be off of my phone and off of social media,” she told Jimmy.
The lack of followers meant Olivia’s feed wouldn’t be as engaging and has been a simple way for the star to reduce her screen time. In general, a healthy choice for the 20-year-old to make.
But as the conversation continued, it became obvious that low screen time was just a bonus by-product of her choice, but it was not the reason for it.
She finally admitted to Jimmy why she kept her follower count at zero. “I had this very embarrassing encounter once where I was stalking my ex as one does. Sue me, sorry,” Olivia began to explain, “And I accidentally followed him ‘cause I was stalking him!”
“I was just following one person, so it was super obvious that I was following him.”
Olivia’s choice to not follow anyone came to bite her on the backside in this situation, as it became obvious when she followed anyone at all and in this mortifying case, it was her ex.
She continued her story with Jimmy, saying, “My friend ran into my room and was like ‘Oh my god! Did you mean to follow him? Unfollow him!”
“And I went and I grabbed my phone and I was like ‘Oh Sh**! Oh my god! And I went to open the Instagram app and the second I went to open the app my phone died”
“I couldn’t find a charger so I was just following my ex for a while,” the star finished.
When you have 37 million followers, even seconds is enough time for a wrong post or a slip of the finger to have dire consequences, which Olivia learnt the hard way.
However, she revealed that she was able to cover up her faux pas quickly, telling Jimmy, “People were like, ‘Oh my gosh, she’s hacked!’ And I’m like, ‘Yeah, you guys be safe! Get your two-factor authentication, you guys.’ ”
So now Olivia keeps her following at zero and she’s created a fake Instagram account (also known as a ‘finsta’) to do any stalking business she needs to do.
“I have a Finsta now, so I’m safe,” Olivia told Jimmy, revealing the account is there solely for her to “just lurk and be curious.”
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