Ritu Rathee, Gaurav Taneja trolled for requesting privacy amid separation: 'You chose this life'
Ritu Rathee and Gaurav Taneja's plea for privacy did not go over well with fans who said they had built an entire career by putting their lives on social media.
Social media-famous couple Ritu Rathee and Gaurav Taneja have asked their followers for privacy after their marriage hit a rough patch. In separate statements released on Instagram, both Rathee and Taneja indicated that they do not want to discuss their relationship in public.
What Ritu Rathee and Gaurav Taneja said
In his Instagram post, Gaurav Taneja addressed divorce rumours by saying, “I will remain quiet for my kids and the mother of my child. Ready to live with all the negativity and hate for my entire life. Please don’t expect any public explanation.”
“Social media is not a place to discuss family matters. I have nothing to say,” he added.
Ritu Rathee echoed this request in a video released yesterday where she went so far as to bash her followers for ‘gossiping’ about their marriage. People outside a marriage, she said, have no idea what goes on inside it. She asked her followers to stop villainizing Taneja.
Rathee also slammed people for ‘exposing’ her as the woman who appeared weeping in a satsang with spiritual guru Premanand Govind Sharan.
Why the backlash?
The request for privacy did not go over well with fans who pointed out that the couple had built an entire career by putting their lives on social media. Ritu Rathee and Gaurav Taneja together ran the extremely popular channel Flying Beast, which has over 9.2 million subscribers on YouTube. Gaurav Taneja is also the man behind the YouTube channel FitMuscle TV, which has more than 2 million subscribers.
Ritu Rathee and Gaurav Taneja put much of their lives online for public consumption on their daily vlogging channel, where followers were privy to everything from their morning routine to pregnancy announcements to trips abroad and more. They also, somewhat problematically, exposed their two young daughters to the camera frequently.
“You chose the limelight”
In backlash that highlights the pitfalls of public scrutiny, followers questioned what right the couple had to ask for privacy after exposing their lives online.
“They literally built their careers by exposing their lives on social media, and now they blame society for discussing them. You chose this life, now deal with it,” reads a viral post on the social media platform X.
Similar sentiments appeared in a Reddit post discussing the couple’s marriage.
“This lady [Ritu Rathee] was one half of a daily vlogging channel. They lived a luxe lifestyle based on that channel and its subscribers . They have practically thrown their personal lives into our faces and made a career out of it… She also chose the limelight . She must understand it comes with both good and bad,” read part of the post.
Several people also wondered if the couple had started divorce rumours as a publicity stunt.