"Over the course of 45 minutes, Howell and Lester, now in their thirties, share the apocalyptic constant stress of the Dan and Phil dating conspiracy, where fans subjected them to frenzied speculation for 16 years straight. Whole subsets of the Dan and Phil fandom were dedicated to proving, once and for all, that the pair known as Phan, a la Brangelina were more than just friends."
"As Lester describes, being a fan of Dan and Phil was as much about their funny videos as it was about the secret mirror world of content fans became obsessed with: the supposed hints and clues they dropped that would out a relationship they didn't want to make public. Howell describes the impact of his extremely homophobic childhood, which kept him deep in the closet for many years (Howell and Lester individually came out as gay in 2019)."
"In my mid-20s, I felt we had to hide the relationship because I was still hiding who I was to my friends, family, myself, Howell says. This is why all of the digging from people online hit a nerve, because Phil was my safe space. [] what we had was the most important thing to me and I wanted to protect it, so when other people tried to grab it and drag it into the light, I felt completely violated."
Dan Howell and Phil Lester uploaded a video confirming a secret romantic relationship that lasted 16 years. Fans developed intense parasocial bonds and obsessive conspiracies about the duo, nicknamed Phan, which fueled doxxing, harassment, and stalking, including being filmed at a supermarket. Fans focused as much on alleged hints and clues as on the creators’ content, pressuring them to disclose a relationship they did not want public. Howell recounts the influence of an extremely homophobic childhood that prolonged his closet and amplified the pain of intrusive fan digging. The pair describe feeling violated and humiliated by the loss of privacy.
Read at www.theguardian.com
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