Halsey’s Taking a Social Media Break After Being Slammed for Eating Disorder Insensitivity
Don Arnold, Getty Images
Halsey is doing what we should probably all be doing at the end of this long, horrible year: Taking a social media break. Unfortunately, her decision wasn’t really, entirely her choice—the singer apparently landed in hot water with some Instagram followers after sharing an old picture of herself in the midst of struggling with an eating disorder. Later, she issued an apology and hopped off her platforms.
The "Without Me" singer shared the photo on her Instagram Stories yesterday, December 28th, while participating in the “share a photo of” prompt. A fan asked to see a picture of Halsey at her lowest point. She Storied the photo (then took it down), along with the text: “TW: ED, ask for help.”
We don’t know what kinds of messages she got after posting that photo, but they were clearly critical of her decision to share such a triggering image. Later that day, Halsey apologized on Twitter, writing:
“TW: disordered eating. I am very sorry for posting a photo of myself depicting my struggle with ED without a sufficient trigger warning. I was very nervous to post it and didn’t think properly. I had positive intentions. I would never want to harm someone who shares my struggle.”
TW: disordered eating
I am very sorry for posting a photo of myself depicting my struggle with ED without a sufficient trigger warning. I was very nervous to post it and didn’t think properly. I had positive intentions. I would never want to harm someone who shares my struggle.— h (@halsey) December 28, 2020
She continued, “with that being said im gonna log off now because this has turned into something I am not emotionally equipped to handle for the time being. I hope that’s okay.”
with that being said im gonna log off now because this has turned into something I am not emotionally equipped to handle for the time being. I hope that’s okay 🤍
— h (@halsey) December 28, 2020
Again, we don’t know what kind of hate Halsey was getting on Instagram—but on Twitter, fans are overwhelmingly supportive of her.
You shared such a vulnerable moment with us and now they are weaponizing it against you. SMH, this is why it’s so rare to find authentic artists willing to be real with their fans because the public takes their vulnerable and rare moments of opening up and crushes it to pieces.
— Celeste (@celeste_1717) December 28, 2020
you were vulnerable and got attacked, and with all the drama we understand, you do what you need to do, relax, drink some tea, whatever you need to do for however long you need to be away, we understand and appreciate you being real and showing us authenticity as well!
— v (@strwbrryqt_) December 28, 2020
you had the best intentions. mentally ill girl to mentally ill girl, sometimes shit happens and we don’t think everything through and that’s okay, because it’s impossible not to make mistakes. but they should know better than to attack you like this, and i’m sorry.
— alex (@alexsearcy) December 29, 2020
We hope Halsey’s social media hiatus, however long it lasts, gives her the peace she deserves. (But we also hope she catches all these incredibly supportive messages.)