Featured Image Credit: YouTube/LainaMorris
Topics: Entertainment, Social Media, Mental Health
Bec Oakes
Topics: Entertainment, Social Media, Mental Health
The woman behind the 'overly attached girlfriend' meme has shared the ups and downs of going viral online.
In 2012, US content creator Laina Morris achieved internet fame as the 'overly attached girlfriend'.
Morris, who was 20 at the time, entered a contest to promote Justin Bieber's new perfume 'Girlfriend' by posting a parody of his popular song 'Boyfriend' on YouTube.
The hilarious parody saw her singing about a girlfriend who tapes a 'recording device under your sleeve' and steals the key to her boyfriend's house so he couldn't 'hide secrets' there.
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While Laina hadn't intended for the video to go viral, a clip soon made its way to Reddit and the 'overly attached girlfriend' meme was born.
The now-33-year-old capitalised on her sudden internet fame, racking up over a million followers on YouTube and hundreds of thousands more on other social media sites.
But it wasn't always sunshine and roses for the creator. Speaking to PEOPLE, Laina revealed a 'real deep secret' she kept from everyone and the difficulties of going viral.
"I remember waking up, going out to my living room and my roommates [said] 'You're a meme'," she explained.
"It's been so long that I'm not 100 percent sure on the numbers, but at least the first couple days it was at like a quarter of a million views, which at the time was quite a bit for having just posted it."
The original video has now been viewed more than 22 million times.
However, having your face attached to a meme about being a clingy partner is not always easy.
In 2019, Laina shared her ongoing struggles with her mental health, saying she was 'stressed and overwhelmed'. She also announced that she would no longer be making YouTube videos.
In her 'Breaking Up with You...Tube' video, Laina said: "Starting around 2014, I landed myself in a real deep depression and I was keeping it a real deep secret from everyone around me.
"I felt ashamed and I felt guilt for being stressed and overwhelmed in a world and with the job and opportunities that were so great. I didn't understand why I couldn't handle it. It just feels very selfish to be this upset because I can't be successful and what I wanna do when I'm fine."
She made the decision to quit YouTube after seeking professional help for her mental health struggles.
"My time on YouTube was a consequence of going viral," Laina admitted to PEOPLE. "The hardest part for me was probably when my mental health was not great and I wasn't able to fully do my job as well as I would've liked to. I feel like I wasn't performing well."
She continued: "Mentally, I wasn't in a place where YouTube was working for [me].
"I was just really overthinking. Every time I would try to film a video, I couldn't do it."
Laina also spoke about the pressure of achieving viral fame, adding: "It felt like starting at the top, and there was just nowhere else to go but down a little bit. Like you're not building up to that success, you're just kind of like handed it.
"I had no idea where to go from there."
If you're experiencing distressing thoughts and feelings, the Campaign Against Living Miserably (CALM) is there to support you. They're open from 5pm–midnight, 365 days a year. Their national number is 0800 58 58 58 and they also have a webchat service if you're not comfortable talking on the phone.