By Faith Jarrell
Elm Staff Writer
Musician Machine Gun Kelly, otherwise known as Colson Baker, and actress Megan Fox continue to make Hollywood headlines as their contentious romance seemingly hits a snag.
According to Elle, the pair began dating in May 2020, but rumors sparked this February regarding a potential breakup. Speculation started after Fox deleted all pictures of herself and her fiance from her Instagram profile on Feb. 12, 2023.
She then followed Eminem, Baker’s known rival, on Instagram. According to USA Today, Baker and Eminem feuded in 2018, spurring the pair to release diss tracks about each other. Before following Eminem, Fox only followed two other profiles: Harry Styles and Timothée Chalamet.
Following this, she made a post with the caption “You can taste the dishonesty/ it’s all over your breath,” which are lyrics from Beyonce’s 2016 song “Pray You Can Catch Me.” According to Vogue, the song is rumored to be about Jay-Z and Beyonce’s marital problems and Jay-Z’s potential affair. After Fox’s post, she deleted all of her Instagram photos.
The pair allegedly “had a fight over the weekend” of Feb. 12, according to People. Additionally, the magazine alleges that while the engagement is not called off, Fox no longer wears her ring.
The ring’s design has been controversial since Fox and Baker announced their engagement. In a 2022 interview with Vogue, Baker said that the ring’s design inhibited Fox from removing it.
“And you see this right here? The bands are actually thorns. So if she tries to take it off, it hurts,” Baker said in reference to the ring.
This revelation led to an initial speculation that Fox and Baker’s relationship might be unhealthier than what the public sees.
“That’s a damaging message that allows abuse and toxicity to be misinterpreted for love. Love is wanting each other to be happy and to feel good. Romantic. Platonic. Self. Love for a pet. Pain is never the barometer. I promise,” Twitter user @kimcaramele said in a quote tweet about the pair’s rings.
According to Billboard, there is also speculation that Baker cheated on his fiance with guitarist Sophie Lloyd. Fox attempted to dispel these rumors by commenting under one of Lloyd’s instagram posts on Feb. 19 after reactivating her own Instagram account.
“Why are people so…so dumb. Sophie you are insanely talented,” Fox said. “Welcome to Hollywood. Your first unwarranted PR disaster. You have now been baptized by the flames of fame. It only gets worse from here unfortunately. Just ignore it as much as you can. Middle finger up.”
However, this does not seem to absolve the problems within the relationship between Fox and Baker. A source told People that the pair are “still not in a good place.”
Fox and Baker are not the first Hollywood couple to face both scrutiny and a publicized falling out, as many seem to be obsessed with following the love lives of Hollywood’s biggest stars.
Take Pete Davidson and Kim Kardashian, for example. While the pair only dated for nine months between Oct. 2021 and Aug. 2022, stories about their relationship were all over the internet.
Despite the fact that the pair were “getting serious,” according to a source from Us Weekly, Davidson started a relationship with actress and model Emily Ratajakowski several months later. However, the pair also did not last long, as it was rumored that they were dating from November to December 2022.
Once again, both stars moved on quickly, as Ratajakowski is now dating comedian Eric Andre, while Davidson is dating actress Chase Sui Wonders.
There are rumors that all of these relationships, from Davidson and Kardashian to Davidson and Ratajakowski, and finally Ratajakowski and Andre, were all relationships meant to grab the public’s attention.
PR relationships are not uncommon in Hollywood, especially with such big names as Megan Fox, Pete Davidson, and Kim Kardashian.
In a Harper’s Bazaar article, entitled “Love in the age of the celebrity fauxmance,” writer, Grace O’Neill, said, “Celebrity romance is a product that sells, and as A-listers have become more obsessed with milking their relationships for profit, the public have become equally as obsessed with unveiling the frauds.”
O’Neill’s statement rings true. There are dozens of TikTok accounts, like @justanotherprgirl and @mollybmcpherson, dedicated to unraveling supposed PR relationships. Videos about these relationships get millions of views, with audiences eager to get to the bottom of celebrity mysteries.
Fox and Baker’s relationship is no exception. It has been highly publicized since its genesis, with people quick to inject their opinions about the state of their romance.
As of the time of publication, Fox and Baker remain together. While their relationship could simply be feeding the desire for celebrity couple drama, the demand will always exist for the next controversial power couple.
Photo courtesy of Wikimedia Commons
Photo Caption: Fox and Baker have been together since May 2020 after meeting on the set of the 2021 film “Midnight in the Switchgrass.”