Getty-E! IllustrationCall us un-evolved, but we could never quite get how Taylor Swift could happily hang out with Gigi Hadid and Joe Jonas, after what she went through with Joe.
Sure, she was dating Calvin Harris at the time, but still... Wouldn't that be awkward city, for everyone involved?
Same with Taylor and Kendall Jenner being all chummy, after it became blatant that Kendall was enjoying the company of Harry Styles, patient zero at the heart of Taylor's 1989 album.
Hats off to a level of maturity that just sounds exhausting, but we've seen love triangles tear the best of friends apart on TV—we know it can't be that easy to see your ex with someone else, even if you're the one who did the dumping or even have a new significant other yourself.
Which is why yesterday was so much more...relatable!
Bella Hadid unfollowed Selena Gomez on Instagram, just hours after a handful of pictures of Selena kissing The Weeknd, Bella's ex of only two months, came to light.
Now that's normal.
Bella and Selena do know each other, and Selena has mingled aplenty with Bella's big sister, Gigi Hadid, so if the walls felt as if they were closing in a bit for the 20-year-old model, who could blame her.
While it may be perfect-world mature to be able to be "happy for your friend" when she couples up with your ex, we also find the unfollowing to be a very mature move—and it burns several bridges with one match.
One, it's a private statement. (Bella can't help it that the Internet is obsessed with her and is closely following her follow-unfollow history.) That little click can provide great satisfaction, as in this digital age the "unfollow" has become a pointed symbol of rejection.
Two, despite the curiosity that can still be sated by just going to Selena's account directly, it saves Bella the unpleasant experience of having a certain type of photo pop up in her feed in the future. You're going along, having a lovely day, and because social media algorithms are all working against us... Boom. Blech.
So good for Bella. (She also doesn't currently follow The Weeknd, but that may have been the case for at least a few months.)
It just seems that not wanting to see what your ex is up to, especially when it's only two months after your one-and-a-half-year (albeit off-and-on) relationship just ended, is the healthy thing.
Since they're all famous, Bella might not have much of a choice if she enjoys going online, but we support her doing what she can to shield herself. Even Rihanna, whose picture is next to the word "fierce" in the dictionary, unfollowed Jennifer Lopez once the diva started keeping company with Drake, who, as we all know, has a history with RiRi...of some sort.
But perhaps we also feel for Bella because it just seems so fast, despite the celebrity relationship turnover rate being so swift, and a source told E! News yesterday that Selena had "been on his radar before."
Selena had been feelin' The Weeknd's performance of "I Can't Feel My Face" at the 2015 MTV Video Music Awards—as were a lot of people in the room.
Then The Weeknd gave her an even warmer reception when they both performed at the 2015 Victoria's Secret Fashion Show.
That Christmas, we learned that The Weeknd (whose real name is Abel Tesfaye) and Bella were on a break after about eight months of dating—"still in each other's lives...just not in the same exclusive capacity," a source told E! News then.
The couple were back in action a couple months later, however, in time to make an impressive red carpet debut together at the 2016 Grammys, where Selena was also in attendance with Taylor. All paths would cross again at the 2016 Met Gala.
Bella, meanwhile, made her VS Fashion Show debut this past November, after she and The Weeknd broke up—but they were both there!
"There is no awkwardness," the model told E! News. "He is my best friend, and I am excited because I am walking during his performance."
We've been told that The Weeknd and Selena—who made her emotional return to the public eye at the American Music Awards on Nov. 20 after taking a long break that included a stint in rehab—started chatting before the holidays.
At least in Taylor's case, Gigi didn't hook up with Joe until seven years after Taylor dated him. So maybe, yes, bygones could be bygones for that crew. (Not to mention, nobody has exactly married anybody's ex yet—Joe and Gigi broke up after about five months and Harry and Kendall's entire relationship was basically a series of sightings spread out over years.)
"It's almost like the sisterhood has such a higher place on the list of priorities for us. It's so much more important than some guy that it didn't work out with," Taylor told Vanity Fair in 2015, in light of Gigi's then-relationship with Joe, regarding any comments/questions/concerns she and her pals might have when it comes to playing musical boyfriends.
"When you've got this group of girls who need each other as much as we need each other, in this climate," the pop superstar continued, "when it's so hard for women to be understood and portrayed the right way in the media...Now more than ever we need to be good and kind to each other and not judge each other—and just because you have the same taste in men, we don't hold that against each other."
Well, that's great!
Drew Barrymore weighed in on the topic in 2012, about six months after she married Will Kopelman and close friend Kristen Wiig was dating Drew's ex, The Strokes drummer Fabrizio Moretti.
"It all seems so wacky and incestuous, but that's kind of how life works," she told Allure for its January 2013 issue. "It seems fitting that they would find each other. I was like, 'Right, of course, that makes perfect sense.'"
Again, she had four years and the gauzy rose-colored glasses of newlywed bliss to add to her perspective.
Who knows, maybe being fabulously successful at such a young age, as has been the fate of Taylor's squad, brings with it a certain ability to take an unnaturally high road. A friend, or former friend, dating your ex certainly isn't something that you should stress over. If your relationship had been so great, you'd still be together.
But when in doubt, unfollow.