More ‘ships than the Suez: Why do we care about celebrity dating?

Recently, it seems as though celebrity relationships have become the next form of popular entertainment, with TikTok videos magnifying all aspects of these romances and every news outlet posting headlines about them on Instagram. A recurring topic of conversation with friends at the moment revolves around these romances; “Did you see that Timothée Chalamet is going out with Kylie Jenner?” or “I bet that Taylor Swift and Matty Healy won’t last.” But why are we so obsessed with celebrity relationships? Why are there TikTok fan accounts and whole news stories dedicated to them? The answer isn’t as obscure as we might think.

Humans like to believe that we’re more complex than we actually are. However, the central reason that we are so invested in celebrity relationships is simple: because they’re entertaining! With social media providing near-enough direct access to celebrity romance, it can feel as if there’s no difference between watching your favourite romcom and reading about who one of the Kardashians is with currently. It’s not just the happily ever after style relationships that get our attention either; we’re also hugely into all the scandals, break-ups, PR stunts, and rumours.

We don’t actually need much drama or even news about a relationship for people to become significantly invested. The most recent example of this is Taylor Swift’s relationship with NFL player Travis Kelce. As we all know, Swift has garnered one of the largest fanbases of all time and is always facing media speculation and coverage of her romances. Her romance with Kelce has led to considerable attention not just from tabloids but from mainstream news outlets like the BBC and Fox.

This story has only been in the news for a matter of weeks but already Kelce has said that he thinks the NFL are “overdoing” its coverage of Swift at games “for sure”. According to the Washington Post, they briefly changed their X bio to “NFL (Taylor’s Version)” and during games Swifties wore Eras Tour merch and traded friendship bracelets as they do during concerts.

The pairing has been dubbed a “pop culture moment” by the NFL who have seen a massive boost in viewings since their relationship became public: BBC News wrote that “Swift’s attendance at the Chiefs-Jets game” made it the “most watched Sunday show since the Super Bowl”, averaging 27 million TV viewers. Kelce’s jersey sales have increased by a staggering 400% too which is astonishing for a relationship that has only been in the public eye for a little over two weeks.

American broadcasters seem to be even more invested in the relationship than fans do, with Fox announcers calling it “the romance that we all need. It feels like it’s right for America” and Nora Princiotti of The Ringer saying that “[i]ntellectually it feels right.”

However, Swift’s relationships haven’t always faced such swells of media support, for instance regarding her relationship with Matty Healy earlier this year. This romance received the opposite reaction, largely due to backlash towards Healy for various incidents concerning racists remarks and kissing fans at concerts, with some very strong pejorative opinions being posted online.

Unfortunately, none of this is new and has been prevalent since the early 2000s if not earlier. There does seem to be a newer unhealthy obsession with celebrity relationships, which can probably be attributed to social media providing insight into these pairings.

The internet has lost all sense of nuance when it comes to celebrity relationships with media outlets even making fans choose sides during breakups and divorces. We’ve seen it with Joe Jonas and Sophie Turner currently, or the deluge of memes created about Timothée Chalamet and Kylie Jenner’s recent romance. All of this makes it seem as if these relationships are games or storylines, rather than people’s real lives.

This is largely down to how the media depicts these relationships. Using flashy headlines and insider sources, fans feel as though they have a special bond with the celebrity and are closer with them. It’s essentially playing into the notion of parasocial relationships which has become more apparent than ever. Obviously not all fans experience this, but they do enjoy uncovering Easter eggs hidden in song lyrics and Instagram captions to distinguish themselves as ‘true’ fans of these celebrities. For instance, when Olivia Rodrigo released her hit single ‘Vampire’ a couple of months ago, the Internet took to demystifying which of her ex-boyfriends the lyrics were about and posting their theories online.

Then comes the question of PR relationships; which romances are created for media publicity, and which are true love? We’re all familiar with co-stars falling in love on set but some are long-lasting whereas others have now been dubbed as PR stunts. Blake Lively and Ryan Reynolds met on the set of Green Lantern, Tom Holland and Zendaya while filming the Spider-Man franchise and both relationships seem to be well-received by fans due to their longevity and public appearances. On the other hand, that Kristen Stewart and Robert Pattinson dated during the filming of the Twilight saga only to break up when they’d wrapped up shooting led people to view this as a PR stunt rather than a real romance.

The increase in PR relationships or ‘PRomances’ is unsurprising given how invested we are in celebrity relationships; of course, the manufacturing of such pairings is going to lead to increased popularity when we are so obsessed with them. Even in the 1960s the media was aware of this concept when actors Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton’s relationship drew so much attention. YouTuber Mina Le has a whole video on “the cult of celebrity relationships” where she quotes The New York Times who wrote that “neither Mr. Burton alone, nor Miss Taylor by herself, attracts the thousands. Rather, it has created a kind of third personality that has excited the imagination of the public.”

Celebrity relationships may be entertaining but it’s important that people view them from a distance and respect that they aren’t watching a fictional romance drama. Instead, they’re seeing people’s actual romances unfold in front of them practically in real time.