There are nearly two million pictures uploaded daily to Instagram tagged #Relationshipgoals. Most of the pictures caption celebrities enjoying each other amid a lavish lifestyle. Kylie Jenner and Tyga romancing near her new Ferrari, Beyonce and Jay Z canoodling atop a yacht on yet another exotic island, and, of course, pop culture’s favorite couple Kanye and Kim on yet another psuedo-romantic outing accompanied by the ever-present paparazzi. While there are some pictures of POTUS and FLOTUS giving each other an endearing pound or a hot young couple engagement in PDA, most of the pictures detail a successful celebrity couple flaunting status alongside each other. Have two independently successful people flaunting their success become the epitome of a successful relationship?
Celebrity relationships are the most delicious gossip for fans hungry for a glimpse into the coveted world of privilege. It provides the ultimate fantasy; handsome successful male meets beautiful flawless starlet and they fall in love right before our very eyes. More times than not, they break up before our very eyes and fans champion each side finding physical perfection again and offering us a front row seat as they do the entire scene all over again … and again. Perhaps it makes us feel closer to them as their antics mimic our own as we enter and exit relationships without the six-figure cars or bank accounts or complicated settlements. Still our idolization of their status as the foundation for a relationship goal seems ill-placed.
“I can’t believe people look at celebrities for relationship goals” says Avada Thomas. Married to Theron Thomas, one half of Grammy-winning singer-songwriter pop duo R.City (RCA/Kemosabe), Thomas qualifies as a member of the black card carrying privileged. Her husband has written some of the biggest relationship and breakup songs on the charts and currently has one of the top 10 records in the country. Rock City, aka R City’s pop debut hit “Locked Away” focuses on the dynamics behind a successful relationship that pictures on social media are unable to capture. “If I showed you my flaws, if I couldn’t be strong, tell me honestly would you still love me the same?” It’s no wonder, Thomas sides with her husband’s written views when it comes to relationships and disagrees with the Instagram majority of independent achievement merged being equivalent to relationship success. While her husband may write songs for Beyoncé, Beyoncé and Jay Z aren’t the relationship she is looking to for leadership. Instead, Thomas says her goal is to be like the older couples she sees walking at the park or even in the grocery store. “That’s my example of a relationship goal,” she insists, “people that have put time in and seen each other through thick and thin, 40 or 50 years and they’ve stayed together. That’s our goal.”
