So far, 2017 has been a great year for the internet. Our phone screens and social media have been blessed with tons of new content, from the Oscar mishap to April the Giraffe, and now even the “Spongemock” meme. But the latest and greatest internet trend is definitely more unconventional.
Recently, a conspiracy theory involving former teen pop singer Avril Lavigne has gotten plenty of attention over the past weekend. The theory isn’t anything new, I’ve personally initially heard about this before several years ago after falling into a deep, dark Tumblr hole. But nevertheless, it is still absolutely ridiculous.
So the theory begins back in 2002, the beginning of Avril Lavigne’s music career. At only 16 years old, Avril Lavigne had already had several hit singles off of her debut album “Let Go;” and audiences fell in love with her punky rock n’ roll attitude. After becoming such a big celebrity, Lavigne hired an actress by the name of Melissa Vandella to pretend to be her during public appearances that way Lavigne could carry on a normal teenager life. Vandella was a distraction to paparazzi while Lavigne went about her everyday life; a very popular practice with celebrities in Hollywood. Then in 2003, tragedy struck after the sudden loss of Lavigne’s grandfather. So distraught from her grandfather’s death, Lavigne falls into a deep depression and ultimately ends up taking her own life. By this time, Lavigne was at the peak of her career and had just finished recording a second album. Therefore the record label decided that it would be best for both the fans and the company to have Vandella take over Lavigne’s career and pretend like her death had never occurred.
My thoughts exactly. So naturally when this conspiracy went viral over the weekend, everyone kind of started to freak out. While some blew it off as fake news or spread it around the internet as a joke, other people really began to investigate into this theory and believe that it is true. Fans went as far as to do analysis on old pictures and interviews throughout Lavigne’s career.
