Avril Lavigne spoke about the long-standing “Melissa” conspiracy theory on Wednesday’s new episode of the Call Her Daddy podcast. The unsubstantiated rumor is that Lavigne passed away in 2003 and was replaced by a woman named Melissa Vandella, who was sometimes used as a body double to help her evade the paparazzi. Once again, Lavigne said that this is false.
“I mean, it’s just funny to me,” the 39-year-old said. “Like, on one end, everyone’s like, ‘You look the same, you haven’t aged a day.’ But then other people are like, there’s a conspiracy theory that I’m not me. Honestly, it’s not that bad. It could be worse, right? I kind of feel like I got a good one. I don’t think it’s negative or anything creepy. We’re good.”
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Podcast host Alex Cooper asked Lavigne if they could put this rumor to bed once and for all, and Lavigne laughed: “Obviously, I am me. It’s so dumb. I knew you half believed it.” Cooper didn’t respond to that, but she did note how uncanny it is to see Lavigne in person after following her for all these years.
“I’m staring at you and I’m picturing you with your auburn hair. And I’m like, ‘Oh my god.’ You literally look the same from when you were younger,” she said.
According to a 2017 report by the BBC, this conspiracy theory about Lavigne began in 2011 on the Brazilian blog Avril Esta Morta – meaning “Avril is Dead.” Some believe that the blog was created as a joke, but its extensive posts comparing photos of Lavigne across time garnered a lot of attention online – especially after BuzzFeed News covered it in 2015.
The idea here is that Lavigne committed suicide in 2003 after her grandfather’s death, but that her record label was unwilling to give up an artist like her at the prime of her career. Conspiracy theorists go on to claim that the label had already hired Vandella as an impersonator to help Lavigne evade the press, so they simply promoted Vandella to keep the career alive.
There’s nothing substantial to back this conspiracy theory up, and many fans have condemned it as offensive and cruel. Fortunately, Lavigne seems to have reached a state of equanimity when it comes to her own take on the hoax. Her full interview with Cooper is available now on Spotify.
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