LOVE: Bella Thorne and Tana Mongeau celebrate their one year anniversary in a polyamorous relationship.
By Clare O’Brien, Staff Writer
As people open either YouTube or Twitter, they will often find videos or tweets concerning the popular actress Bella Thorne and social media influencer Tana Mongeau on the trending pages. Thorne and Mongeau are two widely controversial young women who have been dating publicly since June 2018. What’s even more controversial is that they in an openly polyamorous relationship and are among the first figures to do so in the public eye. Polyamory is often masked by celebrities as well as in the mass media. Since confirming their relationship, the two have received immense backlash, as many feel their relationship is a publicity stunt. Despite all the hatred shown towards them, the two continue to show a type of love often publicly repressed, and this resonates deeply with people in the LGBTQ+ community.
Although the couple receives heavy public backlash for many reasons, the true issue at hand is the resentment the two undergo due to the open nature of their relationship. An example of this hatred is a comment on an Instagram post made by Mongeau announcing their one year anniversary. The comment read, “oh I thought Mac Miller was the love of your life…weird,” as after Miller’s death Mongeau had spoken publicly of her past relations with him, which showcases the confusion polyamory often receives. A common misconception of polyamory is that it consists of one couple that has multiple purely sexual partners, when in fact polyamory consists of multiple romantic relationships with no “core couple.” Thorne and Mongeau have additional romantic relationships, as well as their relationship with one another.
Bella Thorne and Tana Mongeau show a genuine and loving relationship, even referring to themselves as a yin and yang symbol, as they are opposites in many ways but their personalities complement each other. They have the capability to trust and love one another despite having other partners, and there is no reason to accuse the couple of being fake just because their relationship is not understood. Thorne and Mongeau showcase to their followers what love can be and that, as commonly believed in the LGBTQ+ community, love is love. Just as love does not have to be between a man and a woman, it also doesn’t have to consist of only two people. In the words of Mongeau, “Love has no gender or boundaries. It’s just love,” and this is what needs to be understood and what Thorne and Mongeau show.