On the Sam/Zara split

The number of articles and speculative posts around Sam Thompson and Zara McDermott’s alleged split in the media has been crazy.

Both of them have, so far, remained completely silent. While that silence does seem, in itself, quite telling, i find it odd that anyone who asks in comments whether there is any truth to the rumours is shouted down by others with ‘none of your business’/‘they don’t owe anyone an explanation’.

While I think it’s entirely fair that they don’t need to go into detail on why they’ve split etc if they have, I do think generally public figures who make the their relationships so public should expect to need to post a ‘we have split - still have respect and love for each other - won’t be commenting further’ type post just to resolve the speculation.

Obviously no one is owed the details of their split or why it might have come around, but when both are still posting about other stuff, if they are together there’s no reason not to shut it down with a quick post. Not doing so, and letting speculation continue, feels a little bit like engagement bait - particularly given they’ve trolled paparazzi etc before. They’re in the media in a way that otherwise wouldn’t be, and every post is getting more eyes on it because people are interested, so something to put the speculation to bed feels appropriate.

Not to take away from what I’m sure is a deeply unpleasant and difficult time if they have split, but I do think the ‘none of your business’ attitude to whether they should confirm one way or another misses the point a bit