The woman whose face became the 'overly attached girlfriend' meme has reflected on the ups and downs of going unexpectedly viral.
Unlike the modern creators who create and engineer content with the specific goal of going viral, the early days of social media saw people create content without the hopes of being catapulted on to everyone and anyone's timeline.
Which meant going viral often felt a lot more authentic — and also daunting.
One person to experience this was US content creator Laina Morris, who achieved internet fame overnight as the 'overly attached girlfriend.'
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Back in 2012 Morris, then 20, entered a Justin Bieber contest to promote his new perfume 'Girlfriend'.
Laina's entry saw her parody the song by singing about a girlfriend who tapes a 'recording device taped under your sleeve' and steals the key to her boyfriend's house so he shouldn't 'hide secrets' there.
Watch the video below to refresh yourself on Laina's fan video and it's stalker-ish lyrics:
Laina hadn't intended the video to go viral online, however, a clip would make it to Reddit and from there, the 'overly attached girlfriend' character was born.
The 33-year-old was able to capitalise on her sudden viral fame, creating numerous skits which racked up 1.23 million followers on YouTube as well as hundreds of thousands of followers on other sites.
"I remember waking up, going out to my living room and my roommates [said] 'You're a meme'," she explained in a new interview with PEOPLE.
However, having your face attached to a meme about being a clingy partner is understandably not always easy.
In 2019, Laina would share a video confirming her departure from YouTube, opening up about her ongoing struggles with mental health and guilt at being 'stressed and overwhelmed' by the opportunities the platform brought.
"Mentally, I wasn't in a place where YouTube was working for [me]," she explained to the outlet.
"I was just really overthinking. Every time I would try to film a video, I couldn't do it."
Speaking about the pressure which viral fame can place on you, she added: "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."
This isn't the first time that Laina's spoken about how YouTube has influenced her life, revealing on Anthony Padilla’s Assumptions podcast that dating has been a 'challenge' over the years.
"It’s been a challenge," she said, revealing that one date once ended with a romantic interest exclaiming: "I can’t believe I just went on a date with the ‘Overly Attached Girlfriend.'"
Topics: Mental Health, YouTube, Viral, Social Media, Nostalgia
Brenna Cooper