Chappell Roan Says Fame Is Like 'an Abusive Ex-Husband'

'I told myself, if this ever gets dangerous, I might quit. It's dangerous now,' the recent MTV VMA winner said of her meteoric rise to fame.

By Allison Schonter

Chappell Roan isn't staying quiet about the negative aspects of her sudden stardom. Fresh off the heels of her Best New Artist win at the 2024 MTV VMAs, where she marked her first awards show performance with a Joan of Arc-themed "Good Lucky, Babe!," the pop star, 26, likened the negative aspects of fame to "an abusive ex-husband."

"I feel like fame is just abusive," Roan told The Face in a new interview. "The vibe of this – stalking, talking shit online, [people who] won't leave you alone, yelling at you in public – is the vibe of an abusive ex-husband. That's what it feels like. I didn't know it would feel this bad."

The "Pink Pony Club" singer – who previously said she would "pump the brakes" on her fame after dealing with fans with "stalker vibes" and recently called out "abuse and harassment" and "predatory behavior" from some fans – went on to recount a troubling encounter with two male fans at an airport. According to Roan, upon arriving at the airport at 5:30 a.m., she was approached by two "two guys waiting with a bunch of posters and s- for me to sign." When the singer declined, telling the men, "I don't sign anything at the airport, I'm sorry," she said she was verbally harassed.

"[One of them] follows me to the TSA line, starts yelling at me and everyone just turns and looks. He's like: 'You should really humble yourself. Do you know where you are right now? Don't forget where you came from.' I'm just like: 'What the fuck is going on?'" she recalled. "I told myself, if this ever gets dangerous, I might quit. It's dangerous now, and I'm still going. But that part is not what I signed up for."

Thankfully, Roan is receiving plenty of support from her fellow musicians. The Missouri native, who has risen to become an LGBTQ+ icon, said she texted "Green Light" singer Lorde, 27, while crying in the airport bathroom. Lorde "sent me a list of things I should do [in that situation]. Literally wrote down eight things she wished someone would have told her when she was going through it. And she went through f-king hell. She was a baby!"

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Roan previously told Rolling Stone that Lorde is among a group of female pop stars who have reached out to her since she began charting a meteoric rise to pop stardom. Others who have showed support, according to Roan, are Lady Gaga, Charli XCX, Hayley Williams, Katy Perry, and Phoebe Bridgers, among others.

Although Roan has been in the music business for a decade now, her fame skyrocketed earlier this year following her NPR Tiny Desk concert and Coachella performance. Her debut album, 2023's The Rise and Fall of a Midwest Princess, as well as several singles from the album, have been climbing the charts for weeks now. Roan recently reached a major milestone in her career when she took home her first major awards show win for Best New Artist at the VMAs, the singer dedicating her Moon Person "to all the drag artists who inspire me" and "the queer and trans people that fuel pop, to the gays who dedicate my songs to someone they love or hate. And thank you to the people who are fans, who listen to me, who hear me when I share my joy and my fears.

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