Is dating an influencer a sport?
Being in contact with a person who exposes his life on social networks, it is also atypical hours, and sometimes revealing publications.
The work of many influencers includes spreading their private life on social networks and involves being recognized on the street. It is their choice. But what do their love partners think? Métro offered them a date to talk about it.
Cassandra Bouchard talks about her private life at length in her YouTube videos, discussing often his relationship with his boyfriend, involving him in many of his contents.
“I'm living it super well,” says the main interested party, Cédric Lemieux, a very extroverted event host, who takes great pleasure in participating in all his girlfriend's follies, such as eating dodgy food or answering indiscreet questions.  ;
Seen itself his number of subscribers climb thanks to his girlfriend and from time to time accepts small contracts of influence.
In contrast, Patrick, a truck mechanic, spouse of youtuber Cynthia Dulude for 11 years, before she was known, is a man of few words. He doesn't mind her notoriety or what she shares, but doesn't want to appear in her content, even though she's already asked him to.
“I never wanted that. It does not attract me to be known,” he said. He mentions being a little embarrassed when the couple is recognized in public, but understands that it is part of his spouse's job.
No more anonymity
But being recognized, even at the convenience store, is not always easy for influencer partners.
< p>“When we go out in public, people take pictures, stop us. I did not expect it to be so intense, ”says Fabrice Gagnon Mckenzie, spouse of the former candidate of Double occupation Khate Lessard for almost three years.
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Panida, spouse of the former candidate of Double occupation Adamo, also says, like Patrick, that she is more reserved and appreciates her privacy.
“Sometimes when you just want to go shopping or go to a restaurant, it can attract a few looks and you feel observed. However, these are very commonplace activities. It can be exhausting when you have less good days, for example, but the majority of people just want to say hello and it's super nice!”, she explains.
On another planet?
For Panida, who works in the finance department of a creative agency, matching her lifestyle to that of her influencer boyfriend has been a challenge.
“We didn’ not the same work routine, which for me is a very normal 9 to 5. So we don't spend a lot of time together. We have to try to find a certain balance,” she says.
“At the beginning, it was a bit difficult to adapt because of our schedules, and also my condition [Editor’s note: multiple sclerosis], which made me more tired. We had several discussions to find the right formula that would bring us this healthy balance in our relationship, and it seems to work because we are happy.”
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Panida says she is very happy to see Adamo's career evolve, and he now has some 128,000 followers on his Instagram account.
“I knew him when he was a waiter in the restaurant, and there he is a multidisciplinary self-employed in music, real estate and entertainment projects, it’s quite different and fascinating what he manages to accomplish [in a short time]”, says Panida.
A job that still comes with a certain mental load: “The slightly more negative side is that there is a lot of stress, so sometimes I can feel it and I become anxious myself.” < /p>
For the couple formed by Fabrice and Khate, it was also necessary to find a balance during their moments together.
“At first, I found it heavy and disturbing that she always has to make stories everywhere we go. Slowly, I realized that it was part of his job. She needs to keep followingfor her influencer platform. Now, when we arrive at a festival, I tell him to take his pictures, make his stories when he arrives and then we enjoy. Otherwise, I thought it was wasting moments,” he says.
Intimacy exposed
Influencers practice their profession full time, not only during public outings. It therefore happens that certain “intimate” moments of everyday life are exhibited.
“I'm still comfortable with everything, but don't film me in the toilet, let's say,” laughs Cédric Lemieux.
The host says that he and Cassandra evolved together in this growing popularity and that the limit of what could or could not be shared was created naturally over the years.
When the couple went through a brief separation, Cedric didn't like the fact that it was public, but realized it had to be because thousands of people were writing Cassandra to find out what was going on with him.
“She talked about the reasons, but we didn't necessarily have the same version of the facts. We fell out in that time because of that. It will never happen again. We learned from that.”
Fabrice's private life is also very exposed on his partner's social networks. He too had to indicate his limits.
He has a boy from a former spouse, and he refuses to allow photos of him to be found on social networks. A limit that the new mother-in-law immediately understood so that the child would be protected from trolls, in particular.
As a trans woman, Khate Lessard was already extremely stressed about introducing Fabrice to her followers for fear that he would receive derogatory messages. He did, in fact, receive a lot of homophobic comments on Instagram, but did not let himself be affected, since they were strangers.
“If my friends had said something mean to me about me being with a trans woman, they wouldn't deserve to be my friends. I know them well. None of them made any inappropriate comments or were surprised.”
By making videos together, Khate and Fabrice make it their mission to de-stigmatize this kind of relationship.
“I am a Cree from James Bay. I have experienced racism, heard many prejudices about Aboriginal people and I have always tried to undo them. I saw a similar situation when dating Khate. We wanted to show that our relationship is normal, no reason to be embarrassed, ”says the man who considers himself a heterosexual man, and who had never had a relationship with trans people before. < /p>
S’he does not tolerate negative comments about his relationship or the identity of his spouse, he admits to smiling when his colleagues at Hydro-Québec (where he is an electrician) tease him because of his “photos Instagram star”.
