Remember the couple you were absolutely smitten by? Undoubtedly, their mere presence on screen strewn flowers around your aura. Until, years later, you re-watched them and replaced those flowers with some glaring red flags.
A successful relationship isn’t simply propelled by jaw-dropping romance; it calls for effort, a lot of it. Pop-culture got it wrong most of the time, except we couldn’t spot the red flags. This Reddit thread is discussing some iconic fictional characters who turned out to be toxic AF. Better late than never.
1. “Anastasia Steele and Christian Grey. Seriously, they are awful and their relationship is a toxic mess.”
2. “Heathcliff and Catherine. Heathcliff had no business being in a romantic relationship.”
3. “Literally all of Rory’s relationships in Gilmore Girls, I’m pretty sure she cheats in every single one of her relationships and also had an affair with a married guy they kinda glamorize and glorify cheating in that show and it really turned me off from it.”
4. “People need to stop using Romeo and Juliet as the stereotypical teen romance. He was 17. She was 13. It lasted 3 days and 6 people died.”
5. “Cinderella and Prince Charming. He couldn’t remember her face? What was he looking at the whole time?”
6. “The Notebook – Allie and Noah. She slapped him, he yelled at her, fought all the time, kissed and made up. Weird that people thought they had a healthy and beautiful relationship.”
7. “Ross and Rachel from Friends. He was terribly insecure and jealous, while half of the time it seemed she barely even seemed to like him, much less love him.”– Harleye
8. “Edward and Bella?!? Like, yes Twilight was peak romance but ???? I cannot make a list because just thinking about them gives me a headache.”
9. “Joker and Harley Quinn. I love both of them to death but Jesus Christ Joker is toxic.”
10. “Don’t know about every body love part but Jaime Lannister & Cersei Lannister were quite toxic.”– SuvenPan
11. “Jim and Pam from The Office. They had their moments but they basically bonded over bullying the office weirdo. Both of them had so many toxic red flags.”– vegg33k
12. “Any relationship with a superhero has to fit the bill. Spider-Man did the right thing. He kept getting MJ almost killed. Spidey did get Gwen killed.”
13. “Snow White and Prince Charming. She’s 8 or so when stricken by her stepmother; the dwarves put her in a glass coffin; then, years later, she gets woken up by a strange man who suddenly proposes and takes her away to his castle. Weirdo.”
The list is longer, for sure. Continue in the comments below.