A TikTok content creator who split up with her boyfriend of three years just days before they were due to film a romantic getaway for TikTok, went viral on the platform as she documented the aftermath of their break-up in real-time.
24-year-old Cassidy Joy Watson, who went by the username @caesthetically, had signed a contract with her then-boyfriend to go on a romantic holiday to Hawaii, where they would record promotional content for their social media channels.
Explaining how she dealt with the situation, Watson posted a video to TikTok caption: “When you and your boyfriend of three years break up but you already signed a contract to create content at a resort together,” which was paired with a sped-up version of SZA’s song “Kill Bill.”
Watson, a TikTok creator who had about 380,000 followers at the time, went viral on the platform, after receiving more than 5.8 million views.
The content creator told Insider that “people love to see people in love”, but making your relationship publicly available puts “a lot of eyes” on it, and that attention comes with pitfalls, she revealed.
After Watson shared details of her breakup, she found that people were hooked on her story. She started sharing real-time updates on the situation with her followers, as she and her ex-boyfriend decided to go on the holiday anyway.
In one now-deleted video, Insider reports she said in a voiceover: “Unlike my ex, the hotel really went out of their way to make me feel special … the best part of this trip was definitely the breakfast at their coconut Club Lounge. They had delicious food and, much like the turn my relationship took, a full 180-degree view of Waikiki.”
“I spent most of this vacation just taking in these breathtaking views and exercising self-control,” she reportedly said.
Watson told the publication she wanted to give a “raw” explanation of the breakup, unlike other influencer couples who she says don’t share the “messy” parts of their relationships on social media.
“All the cute stuff that you see in videos, they’re really just snippets of our relationship, and, at the end of the day, we’re both adults and we’re communicative with each other, and I don’t mind sharing the messy parts of my life online too,” Watson said.
The content creator has now deactivated her TikTok account, but stitches and screen recordings of her viral breakup explanation remain on the platform.
