Music

Avril Lavigne Conspiracy Theorists Sound off After New Pictures of Her Surface

Avril Lavigne is on the road back to the public spotlight, which brings up the old conspiracy […]

Avril Lavigne is on the road back to the public spotlight, which brings up the old conspiracy theory that the singer is dead and was replaced by doppelgänger. The theory, which dates back to 2012, is not true.

On Thursday, the Daily Mail published new photos of the “Complicated” singer with her boyfriend, Phillip Saofrim, whose billionaire father owns the Houston Texans. The two were seen on vacation in Lake Como, Italy.

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The photos surfaced just a few weeks after Lavigne made her first red carpet appearance in two years on April 20. Four years ago, she was diagnosed with Lyme disease.

“I’m feeling a lot better,” Lavigne said in an interview with Entertainment Tonight. “It’s been a long time. For me to be able to be here and I’m making a record right now. I have my life back which is amazing. It’s something I continue to work at every day. And just, like, grateful to be making music.”

Lavigne said she is working on her first album since 2013’s self-titled release. She hopes to get the new album out before the end of 2018 after working on it for three years. She finished recording on May 3.

“Wrapping this album is bittersweet. It kind of freaks me out to be this close to the end,” Lavigne wrote on Instagram. “So I’m going to continue with writing because I have been loving it so so so much. I have been able to lose myself in the music and pour my all into it.”

According to Snopes, the conspiracy theory that Lavigne is dead and was replaced by a fake dates back to a 2012 Portuguese-language blog. Since then, “evidence” sprouted to support the idea. One person claimed the fake’s freckles on her arm are in different places, proving Lavigne was replaced. The lyrics and album covers also prove Lavigne took her own life before she released her second album, according to the theory.

In 2015, the conspiracy theory spread after Gawker, Vice and other mainstream sites picked up on it. But eventually, the Portuguese blog came forward and admitted it was all a fake. The blog’s author said it was meant to be a lesson that you cannot believe everything you see on the Internet.

Of course, the debunked theory never dies. Even though Lavigne is clearly not dead, her recent reappearances have brought the theory back from the dead.

“Spent thirty minutes last night reading an article about a conspiracy theory that Avril Lavigne is really dead and is using a body double,” one fan wrote.

One fan admitted this is the only conspiracy theory she belives.

It is one of two theories this user believes in.

This Twitter user is fascinated by conspiracy theories.

Photo credit: Instagram/Avril Lavigne