Actors ARE NOT their characters!

I love Star Wars. But in some ways I'm afraid to say that because of the reputation the fandom has of being overly toxic and critical. They bullied Kelly Marie Tran off of social media when they didn't like her character in The Last Jedi. They bullied Rian Johnson for creating The Last Jedi. They bullied Hayden Christensen out of acting because his portrayal of a teen/young adult male was too awkward (Imagine that!) They even bullied a literal child into a life of anxiety and depression because they didn't like that he portrayed future Darth Vader as, get this, a CHILD. I gotta say, it seems nobody hates of Star Wars more than Star Wars fans.

But they reached a new low after Rise of Skywalker and started taking their shipping fantasies too far. I admit it, I was a Reylo shipper. I wanted to see the characters get together. Sure the dynamic was cliche, but I am a sucker for romance. And I was squealing in my seat when my ship had sailed. But do I want to see Adam Driver and Daisy Ridley themselves get together? No, not really. They have relationships of their own. I appreciate their abilities to breathe life into characters. But I know that Adam Driver is not Ben Solo, and Daisy Ridley is not Rey. That, my friends, is what we call--being a normal person.

However, some demented Reylo shippers got it into their head that because Adam Driver played Ben Solo, and Daisy Ridley played Rey, that the two actors must now become an item to fulfill their shipping fantasies. Well, guess what? That's not going to happen, because neither of these two have feelings for each other. Oh, well it seemed like they did in the movies? Yeah, that's because they're actors. It's literally their job to act like they have feelings for each other if that's what the director asks them to do.

Also, Adam Driver is a married man. But that's not going to stop these lunatics from still pushing for Adam and Daisy to get together. People have doxxed Driver and his wife, trying to get them to divorce, telling Driver that his wife is cheating on him, calling his wife fat and ugly on social media, etc,.

Did you know Adam Driver has a two-year-old son? Neither did I until recently. That's because he (very responsibly, I might add) kept it a secret to protect his child. These losers had the NERVE to drag his child into it--saying they would harm him if Driver didn't leave his family to get with Daisy Ridley.

Guys...

Let me get one thing in the open: Yes, while actors did choose to live a life of fame--that does NOT make it okay to drag the people they love into it. ESPECIALLY a child. (On one hand though, Adam Driver is an ex-Marine so I kind of would be entertained to see what would happen if one of these basement-dwelling luddites actually tried anything.)

This is all very disturbing, to say the least. But sadly, this is not the first time something like this has happened. Anna Gunn who played Skyler White in Breaking Bad received death threats because of things her character did that people didn't like. Malcolm McDowell got death threats after he played Soran in Star Trek: Generations--a character who killed Captain Kirk. More innocuous, but still creepy--Jamie Dornan who played Christian Grey in the Fifty Shades of Grey series got weird obsessed fans approaching him on the street as if he were Christian Grey--while he was with his child, just minding his own business. "I just don’t know how to respond to it," he said. “I’m not like him. I always just like laugh, sort of panicking, and I think they think I’m just really weird."

You could say that this is a compliment to the actors' ability. And while I don't fully disagree, this shouldn't be used to excuse--in some cases even, praise--people for overstepping boundaries. Just because a celebrity is in the public eye doesn't mean they are in the public domain--their right to privacy and security is still valid. They don't owe you a single thing just because you liked (or in some cases, didn't like!) their character.

If you want to know why so many Hollywood actors have nervous breakdowns and problems with addiction, this is it. Psycho fans harassing them and their families, gaslighting, forced dissociation between their self and their character, etc,.

I'm a big advocate for just leaving people who aren't hurting anyone alone. Being an actor, though glamorous as it is, is still just a job.

Literally just leave them alone.