DISCLAIMER: SOME INFORMATION in this article may be inaccurate. I get all of it from YouTube and news articles, so that the media could've easily twisted any of this. I also love each of the celebrities mentioned and do not in any way want to slander or speak ill of them. Enjoy! TW: death, threats, health, abuse, eating disorders Here we go again. SIGHS... On January 8th of 2021, all eyes were on Olivia Rodrigo. Olivia Rodrigo was just 17 years old when she released her first single, "Drivers License." Olivia was fresh off a popular Disney show at the time, "High School Musical: The Musical: The Series." And rumor had it that her Co-star and love interest on the show, Joshua Basset, was dating. When "Drivers License" was released, the media almost INSTANTLY ran with it and made assumptions, saying it was about Joshua and his brand-new (rumored) girlfriend, Sabrina Carpenter. Four years later, two popular Disney (!!!) franchises went on tour. Kylie Cantrall and Malachi Barton, two co-stars from that tour, were rumored to be dating but allegedly broke up after he flirted with other cast members. He also (ALLEGEDLY) ended up kissing and eventually dating fellow tour star and, more importantly, Kylie's best friend, Malia Baker, three days later. In July of 2026, Kylie Cantrall released a song called "Space Between," written about the situation. See the parallels? In this article, I will be getting into the dangers of making Celebrities and public love triangles as complicated as possible, and how dangerous it can be. PART 1- The common denominator I'd like to mention that 5 of the 6 people I mention in this article release original music, and most of the time, the drama stems from the music itself. As a musician and someone who writes songs, I do think it's extremely important that you're able to express your emotions, especially when it comes to things like heartbreak. However, in some instances, you could be more careful when mentioning personal details, such as their physical appearance or text messages/phone calls. Those things tend to stir up more drama than necessary. The main point, is that in both of these situations, the drama didn't start reaching an extreme point until music was released. PART 2- How does this drama affect them? Drama like love triangles can easily hurt celebrities, especially with the paparazzi eye on them 24/7. It gets quite annoying having to deal with rumors and people sending you death threats constantly because of one breakup song. This affected Joshua Basset in particular. In January of 2021, Joshua's heart failed, and he was rushed to the hospital, with the doctors saying that if his hospital visit was delayed, he wouldn't be alive. In his book, "Rookie: My Public, Private, and Secret Life," he wrote that it was due to constant backlash and threats. Yes, he made a horrible mistake by getting with someone quickly after a breakup. But death threats? Because your favorite artist wrote a few songs about him? I understand that nothing that he did was ok, but hurt people hurt people, and Joshua WAS ABUSED AS A CHILD. And just a reminder: Olivia and he broke up before he started dating Sabrina. I'm not justifying his actions, but this is why I prefer romances to stay private rather than public. He almost died. Not to mention Malia Baker, most recently. I hate making assumptions, especially about one's eating habits, but I can't be the only one who sees how incredibly skinny she looks. Looking at videos from a while back, she looks happy and in shape. Now she's practically withering away. It doesn't help that Kylie is dissing her in so many songs now. Nothing is confirmed, but I feel horrible. Malachi Barton recently liked a post saying, "Maturing is realizing that Liamani helped Malachi gain his confidence back and relight his spark from all the negativity that tore him apart." ABSOLUTELY WILD. Even the people involved confirm it hurts them. PART 3- So, who's in the wrong? If I'm being honest, I think every person I've mentioned has been affected by the situation, but none of them are completely in the right. Sabrina shouldn't have been talking to Joshua while he was with Olivia; Olivia shouldn't have shared so many personal details about the breakup; and Joshua shouldn't have gotten together with Sabrina so quickly. Malia shouldn't have broken her best friend's trust, Kylie shouldn't have made so many negative songs about Malia, and Malachi shouldn't have been talking to so many people while he was with Kylie. None of them is right. But none of them is truly the main issue, either. They were/are all TEENAGERS!!!!!. That's final. They're bound to make mistakes. And yes, they should take responsibility for their actions, but does the public really need to get involved? NO! It's not our business, and that's simply a fact. (continued)
(continued) I think before we blame anyone, we need to take some accountability. Imagine how it would feel to have people thinking horrible things about you because of one situation when you were a teen. Joshua Basset hasn't really been as successful as the other two because of that problem, and Malia Baker hasn't been doing much as Kylie and Malachi either. No, I can't change major news articles, and people will still talk about these things, but I'm on here to encourage people to step away from things like spreading rumors online and such. It's problematic. Most importantly, let's not forget that the celebrities are humans too. They make mistakes, just as you and I do. Give them grace for the mistakes that they made. No one cheated, no one physically hurt anyone, nothing was wrecked except friendship and emotions. Maybe they'll figure it out on their own. For now, we have to take a big step and stop ourselves from interacting. Thank you for reading! I hope you enjoyed this article and all of the information. Sources: Google, a variety of news articles, YouTube Celebrities mentioned: Olivia Rodrigo, Sabrina Carpenter, Joshua Bassett, Kylie Cantrall, Malachi Barton, and Malia baker.
