Popular TikTok couple Chris Olsen and Ian Paget are opening up about their sudden split, and how TikTok might have been to blame.
The duo casually announced their breakup on their individual TikToks over the weekend, presenting a united and positive front.
“When you break up but are still best friends,” Chris wrote on his, while Ian’s video took an even more lighthearted approach.
@ianpaget_And remember... Focus. On. Your. Blooming. We love you❤️
“The past couple of weeks have been difficult for Chris and me, but ultimately, he’s my best friend and always will be,” Ian told E! News. “While we’re not boyfriends anymore, we’re excited to explore our new relationship moving forward. We thank everyone for their continued love and support, in a way, this is just the beginning.”
The news rocked social media, as the two had collectively amassed around nine million TikTok followers in the less than two years they have been posting content.
Unfortunately, it seems this kind of attention may have contributed to the demise of their relationship.
In a YouTube video explaining for fans why they called it quits and what to expect from them moving forward, Chris shared that they had started making videos just seven months into their relationship — and just for fun. But they gained popularity so rapidly that it soon warped into a level of responsibility to their audience that it was too much pressure for their relationship to take.
“When you’ve only been together for seven months, you don’t even know each other that well, so to suddenly be shipped as this like, perfect, amazing couple who, if we were ever to break up, people aren’t going to believe in love, was just a lot of pressure,” he said.
Add in COVID speeding up the time table of them moving in together, and it sounds like they didn’t have the time or opportunity to take things at a normal pace.
“Being in the public eye the way we’ve been for these past like, year and a half, two years, is wild. And extremely complex, layered, pressurized, so many things,” Ian said. “For now, we’ve just decided that it would probably be in our best interest to be moving through the world unromantically.”
In addition to remaining friends, both men have expressed an interest in continuing to create content for their fans — who will definitely need some cheering up as the breakup news continues to sink in.
