Over the weekend, if you have any form of social media, you may have seen a meme or Instagram picture having to do with R&B singer Kehlani Parrish, PartyNextDoor, or Cleveland Cavaliers player, Kyrie Irving. However, if you didn’t know what was going on with this trio, here’s the story:
PartyNextDoor is Kehlani’s first love and they were together until they went through a nasty breakup. She claims she is “severely utterly in love with [her] first love” and after they broke up, she eased into a relationship with one of her best friends, Kyrie Irving, until they both realized neither of them were really in a place to do so. However, as far as everyone else knew, they were still happily together. Over the weekend, PartyNextDoor posted a photo on Instagram of him and Kehlani holding hands in his bed, with the caption “After all her shenanigans, still got the R&B singer back in my bed.” Kehlani subsequently deleted her own Instagram account and disappeared. It was speculated that she was cheating on Irving with her ex and rumors started flying. She was torn apart on the internet, tons of memes and name calling (i.e. “hoe,” “thot,” “cheater,” etc.) directed towards her, even though nobody really knew the whole story.
Kehlani opened up Monday by reactivating her Instagram account and posting a picture of PartyNextDoor sitting next to her while she was lying in a hospital bed, with the caption “thank you for saving my life.” He reportedly took her to the hospital when he learned of her suicide attempt. That evening, she posted this photo on Instagram. (All of these photos have since been deleted.)
I think this whole incident serves the purpose of showing everyone that just because you follow someone on social media that you do not know them. And what you hear and think they might have done, gives nobody the right to be mean to them and bully and team up against them to the point where they feel suicide is their only option. Nobody knows what Kehlani’s life is like outside of her Twitter and Instagram accounts, and for us to assume we know her based on those things is wrong. We don’t know every detail about her love life or her personal life, yet we all still jump the gun and think we know all about her just based on what she posts online. Social media can quickly become a very dangerous and ugly thing when used for the wrong reasons and it’s important that we remember what we post online is seen and can affect people very significantly. There is no benefit to being mean to people on the internet and to be kind costs nothing.
Kehlani is only 20 years old, and though she’s clearly had to grow up faster than the rest of us, due to being in the spotlight, she is still only 20 years old. If I had to endure all the hate that she gets daily, not just because of this, I don’t know how I would deal with it. However, updates on Kehlani state that she is healing and resting with loved ones, and getting the help she deserves.