Overly Connected Girlfriend Will get Trustworthy About Turning into a Meme (Unique)

• Laina Morris went viral in 2012 when a screenshot of her face from a Justin Bieber parody video was changed into a meme.
• Dubbed the “Overly Connected Girlfriend,” Morris constructed an internet following off of the viral fame, although she admits the strain of continually creating for an internet viewers was troublesome.
• 12 years later, Morris displays on her virality and the pressures it got here with, admitting to PEOPLE why she left her YouTube channel 5 years in the past.

Laina Morris isn’t significantly hooked up to the meme that made her face a viral sensation.

On June 6, 2012, Morris uploaded the now-famous video, titled “JB Fanvideo,” as an entry for a contest Justin Bieber was internet hosting to advertise his Girlfriend fragrance. Set to the beat of his then-brand new single “Boyfriend,” Morris delivered a parody mimicking behaviors that may warrant a restraining order from any potential romantic pursuits — all whereas sustaining intense eye contact with the digicam.

“If I used to be your girlfriend, I’d by no means allow you to depart with out a small recording gadget taped underneath your sleeve. And also you’ll solely look your greatest and shave your face for me. Don’t conceal secrets and techniques in your own home, cuz boy I stole the important thing,” Morris threatens the fictional romantic curiosity.

The bit was meant to be a humorous entry for the competition, and he or she ultimately shared it on her Fb web page that night to snigger about it along with her family and friends. Ultimately, it morphed into one thing completely totally different.

It wasn’t till the subsequent day that Morris says she actually grasped simply how far her contest submission had reached after the clip went viral on Reddit.

“I keep in mind waking up, going out to my lounge and my roommates have been already awake on their computer systems and so they have been like, ‘You are a meme,’ and confirmed it to me,” she remembers to PEOPLE solely. “After which I simply spent all day these memes on-line.”

“It has been so lengthy that I am not 100% certain on the numbers, however… at the least the primary couple days it was at like 1 / 4 of 1,000,000 views, which on the time was fairly a bit for having simply posted it,” she continues. “In order that’s once I knew. I keep in mind calling my dad and being like, ‘Have you learnt what a viral video is? I believe I might need one.’ “

It wasn’t the video that made Morris’ face a staple of meme tradition, however the single screenshot of her staring unblinkingly on the digicam, usually overlaid with numerous phrases and shared across the web. “It took you quarter-hour to get dwelling. Google Maps stated it takes 12. Who’s she?” one common iteration of the meme reads. “Your bed room seems totally different via binoculars,” one other bout of textual content superimposed over Morris’ face threatens.

The unique video, which now has greater than 22 million views, has numerous feedback from viewers discovering the supply of the meme years later. It nonetheless makes the occasional look on an internet discussion board or in group chats with pals.

“It was loopy. It was within the arms of the web virtually instantly,” Morris recounts. “I did not identify this character Overly Connected Girlfriend, I did not make any of those memes — it was sort of like I used to be in on the joke, but additionally, I do not know, I used to be simply following together with everybody else as nicely on the similar time.”

Because the views continued to roll in, Morris says it was her brother who inspired her to monetize the submit, although she was initially hesitant, apprehensive that it will disqualify her from the competition. (She was ultimately named a runner-up.) However regardless of the video’s viral notoriety, Morris admits, “I actually do not keep in mind how a lot [it made].”

“I assure it isn’t as a lot as anybody would guess,” she says. Sooner or later, the video was ultimately hit with a copyright strike, so whereas there are nonetheless adverts on it, she says, “I do not generate income from it anymore.” As a substitute, Morris jumpstarted an internet profession from the memes, altering her profession path.

A then 20-year-old, Morris was taking a semester off from faculty when her face grew to become an web staple. She had been learning to grow to be a instructor, which she admits she was solely pursuing as a result of each her mother and father have been lecturers, although she knew it wasn’t what she wished to do. 

“I used to be attempting to determine what I wished to do, and behind my thoughts, I at all times had leisure, comedy, performing, writing, one thing — like I would love to do that, however I do not suppose I can,” Morris says, noting that she resigned herself to going again to highschool for promoting after the brief break. “Proper once I went again was when the YouTube movies took off. And so I positively jumped on the alternative that it gave me.”

Although Morris has deleted lots of the movies she made following her web launching level, another Overly Connected Girlfriend skits — like a spoof of Carly Rae Jepsen’s “Name Me Perhaps” and the memed character attempting to be a “Usually Connected Girlfriend” — additionally introduced in 20 million and 11 million views, respectively. 

In an age the place being a YouTuber or content material creator was removed from a standard and even common profession path to pursue, Morris was in a position to assist herself from the content material she made. Her channel at present sits at 1.23 million subscribers, and he or she nonetheless holds a lofty following on her different platforms.

“It fell into my lap and was like a door open that I did not suppose I might have the ability to do,” she says of her time on YouTube. “So I do not know that I might’ve pursued something in that world had that not occurred — however I actually wished to.”

Although she wasn’t the winner of the Girlfriend fragrance contest, Bieber did see her video, posting a clip the place he recreated her wide-eyed stare. That, coupled with a present basket and a quick look within the industrial for the perfume, was her official winnings for the competition entry, regardless of being the one “JB Fanvideo” nonetheless dwelling rent-free in most web customers’ minds. (“I do not blame him for being a bit scared,” Morris jokes.) 

As her viral fame grew, Morris appeared on late-night speak exhibits and met her followers at occasions like VidCon and Playlist Dwell. She made skits that had nothing to do with the Overly Connected Girlfriend, attempting to insert “simply Laina” into her content material the place she may. 

However at the same time as she tried to detach her on-line picture from the meme she didn’t imply to grow to be, Morris discovered that the movies that includes the fictional creepy character introduced in essentially the most views, “or was what folks wished to see essentially the most,” she explains.

“I do not know when this occurred, however I really feel like in some unspecified time in the future I used to be in a position to disconnect myself from the meme,” Morris says, admitting she nonetheless stumbles on the picture ever so usually in her on-line scrolling. “I do not actually know clarify it, however it appears like, ‘Oh, there’s my meme,’ somewhat than, ‘There’s my face,’ or like, ‘There I’m.’ ”

“I do not know. I really feel like there’s some sort of disconnect occurring that perhaps I needed to do so as to absorb what it grew to become,” she continues.

Trying via Morris’ YouTube web page, the uploads ultimately dwindle. Because the web tradition shifted away from the meme, even the movies of the Overly Connected Girlfriend character capped out at simply over 200,000 views. Although she didn’t share this publicly, on the time, she shares now that she was struggling along with her psychological well being and the strain that her viral fame placed on her.

“My time on YouTube as a consequence of going viral,” Morris admits plainly. “The toughest half for me was most likely when my psychological well being was not nice and I wasn’t in a position to totally do my job in addition to I might’ve appreciated to. I really feel like I wasn’t performing nicely.”

Morris initially dove into YouTube headfirst, sustaining a weekly add schedule for a lot of her time on the platform. One among her newest uploads, in 2017, celebrated her two-year anniversary of adopting her canine, Gilly. It was one of many solely posts she made to the channel that yr.

“Mentally, I wasn’t in a spot the place YouTube was working for [me],” she confesses. “I used to be simply actually overthinking. Each time I might attempt to movie a video, I could not do it.”

This, Morris admits, is among the hardest elements of being as public-facing and trend-dependent as content material creators are.

“It was on the market for everybody to see. I imply, folks did not actually know that I used to be struggling mentally, however I really feel like in case you’re in a tricky spot and you are not performing nicely at your job, that is not a factor that everybody’s going to actually know,” she continues. “However it’s proper there for everybody to see with the numbers and the followers and no matter. And on the time, that is one thing I actually cared about for some purpose.”

“I knew I wasn’t doing nicely, and it was laborious for me to know that everybody else may additionally see I wasn’t doing nicely,” she provides. “And I imply, on the finish of the day, everybody else most likely did not care, however in fact I simply assumed like, oh, everybody can see I am doing terribly and no matter. I used to be in my head about it.”

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Two years after her adoptaversary video, Morris uploaded a virtually 30-minute video breaking apart with YouTube. It’s a candid video, the place she confesses to her viewers for the primary time simply how severely she was struggling along with her psychological well being as she tried to take care of that diligent add schedule. 

“Beginning round 2014 … I landed myself in an actual deep melancholy, and I used to be maintaining it an actual deep secret from everybody round me,” Morris shared within the 2019 video. She was cautious along with her phrases as she made this admission, the background nonetheless showcasing items of fan artwork devoted to the Overly Connected Girlfriend character. “I felt ashamed and I felt guilt for being pressured and overwhelmed in a world and with the job and alternatives that have been so nice. I did not perceive why I could not deal with it for years,” she continued.

In between her sincere dialog about her personal psychological well being, Morris shared the intimate video diaries she took throughout these darkish occasions. She admitted to having breakdowns in between filming and enhancing new movies, grappling along with her personal self-doubt and definition of success. 

“It simply feels very egocentric to be this upset as a result of I am unable to achieve success and what I wanna do once I’m high quality,” she admitted in a single tearful video diary. “I personal a home and a automobile and I am doing high quality.”

Although Morris started coping with these struggles only one yr after she devoted herself to creating content material on-line, it wasn’t till 2018 that she started looking for skilled assist. After attending remedy for 9 months, she started taking medicine for her melancholy and anxiousness in December of that yr — a call she brazenly says was extremely laborious for her to make, however was finally good for her. It was this era of self-reflection and dedication to getting the psychological well being help she wanted that led to her resolution to add the breakup video.

“I do not suppose something’s mistaken with stepping away and never addressing it, however I simply personally actually wished to try this. In order that’s why I posted that video,” she says to PEOPLE. “And I believed if it may assist anybody who’s fighting their psychological well being, it may be value posting.”

A whole lot of that battle was attributed to the fast recognition she discovered from the meme — one thing Morris is aware of was not practically as monumental or life-tilting as going viral now has the potential to be. However nonetheless, the meme adopted her all through her on-line profession.

“It felt like beginning on the high, and there was simply nowhere else to go however down a bit bit. Such as you’re not constructing as much as that success, you are simply sort of like handed it,” Morris says. ”I had no concept the place to go from there and lots of people have been watching me to see like, what’s gonna occur subsequent? And I did not have the reply to that.”

Since that video, Morris has returned to her channel sporadically and on her personal phrases, celebrating the 10-year anniversary of Overly Connected Girlfriend and reflecting on 5 years since formally breaking apart with YouTube.

Whereas taking time away from her on-line platform, Morris says she spent her time freelancing and enhancing movies for different creators. She calls her present interval of life “transitional,” confessing that whereas she’s attempting to get again into making content material for her on-line viewers (focusing extra on short-form along with her TikTok and Instagram), there’s nonetheless “lots of issues I might actually prefer to attempt.”

“I really feel like I do not actually know do lots of the massive issues I might like actually love to do,” she says. “I am sort of attempting to determine that out proper now.”

“It appears like a completely totally different life I lived. And once I look again I am like, man, I do not really feel like I used to be totally current in all the actually cool elements of that.”

Morris’ expertise is one which isn’t usually proven in an age the place the shelf life for a viral second continues to get smaller and smaller. She is aware of going viral in 2012 was a wildly totally different expertise than that of those that discover themselves raking in thousands and thousands of views on TikTok, and although she repeatedly emphasised how grateful she was for the experiences changing into a meme gave her, her journey is a transparent instance of how troublesome it may be to take the bull by the viral horns. 

“I’m the place I’m due to [Overly Attached Girlfriend], however I do suppose if I may return and simply inform myself to sit back a bit bit,” Morris displays. “I believe I let myself get actually overwhelmed. It was lots of eyes on me in a short time. There are alternatives I had that I did not take and that I form of remorse or I really feel like as a result of I used to be so overwhelmed, I did not totally benefit from these alternatives and benefit from the actually cool, good elements.”

If you happen to or somebody you realize wants psychological well being assist, textual content “STRENGTH” to the Disaster Textual content Line at 741-741 to be linked to a licensed disaster counselor.