Celebs Who Might Be Using Body Doubles
It is completely commonplace for film and television stars to use stunt doubles and professional stand-ins during the course of any given screen production. Sometimes it's simply too dangerous or expensive with insurance for them to complete a tricky shot themselves, and there are also plenty of occasions where they just need to be doing something else while a bit of B-roll is being snapped by second unit photographers.
What's not so ordinary, however, is for a celebrity to hire said look-a-like to fill in for them in a real life situation or to pretend to be them when it's not quite expected (or even appropriate). For these people, fame can be a little too much to handle sometimes, so they may have brought in their doppelgänger to do the dirty work of facing their adoring public or perhaps subbing in on a shoot that they hope no one notices. Whether it's right or wrong, here are some celebrities who may just be using body doubles.
Faking out loud
Being a dead ringer for Ed Sheeran is not always fun. In 2016, a Manchester-based look-a-like for the British singer-songwriter named Ty Jones revealed that he was having a heck of a time getting along thanks to the unwanted attention he tends to receive thanks to his similar height, signature red hair color, and facial features.
Jones told The Sun, "I can't escape it ... It's made my relationships worse I'd say because now I have to weigh up if they like me for me or are they're just interested in me because I'm the next best thing to Ed if they really like him."
While Sheeran has has been spotted employing a look-a-like on at least one music video set, there is another doppelgänger making a mint off of impersonating the crooner in public. When the real deal Sheeran wasn't available for Madame Tussaud's Berlin launch of his wax figure, the company hired Nico Eckl to replace him, fooling everyone with a limousine arrival and stop on the photo line. "[We] hoped the fans would go berserk and that is exactly what happened," a spokesperson for the company later said. Considering how convincing Eckl was in the role, it wouldn't be too surprising if Sheeran snapped up his services to divert some attention in other situations as well.
FLOTUS POCUS
The First Lady of the United States has, perhaps accidentally, invited a lot of critical attention. From her controversial jacket choice while visiting detained immigrant children to her arguably ironic #BeBest campaign effort, Melania Trump's time at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue has not been without a fair share of controversy and malign. When she underwent an unexpected kidney operation in May, 2018 and proceeded to disappear from public view for several weeks, however, things started to get especially weird.
Not only did her absence invite gobs of jokes about what she was potentially up to during her time away from cameras, but the oddity of how long she was away had some people wondering whether there was any truth to those long-simmering "Fake Melania" stories that'd been on the fringe of social media.
In 2017, one Twitter thread went viral after claiming that a body double had filled in for the FLOTUS during a routine press event. The decoy debate was ultimately debunked, of course, but a similar story began to emerge after her surgery, with some people simply convinced that the public isn't always seeing the real deal Melania Trump behind those signature thick sunglass frames. Even if there were any truth to the matter, it would probably be classified as top secret, so the world may never really know the truth.
R.I.P. Avril Lavigne
Although it might make more sense for fans to suspect Avril Lavigne of being part of the celebrity vampire club (see also: Paul Rudd, Halle Berry, Rob Lowe, Winona Ryder, and Keanu Reeves), the Canadian pop star has been the subject of a very strange body swap theory that doesn't seem to be going anywhere.
Apparently, there are some people who genuinely believe that the real Lavigne took her own life all the way back in 2003 and has been replaced by a clone imposter named Melissa Vandella. They argue that she gave away the game by switching up the "Sk8er Boi" singer's signature red carpet style with dresses instead of the usual pants, men's tie, and trucker hat aesthetic she'd been rocking before.
The evidence surrounding this theory is spare, to say the least: some point to her eye shape in certain camera shots; others claim it doesn't sit right that Lavigne forgot her lyrics at a concert one night. However, efforts to track down the real Vandella, if she even exists, have been in vain, which means people will continue right on believing that Lavigne is not what she seems.
Keeping up with Kim Kardashian isn't that easy
One person who has been pretty forthright about her use of body doubles is Kim Kardashian. In 2016, the reality star brought along a body double during her vacation to Joe Francis' estate in Punta Cana, Dominican Republic and managed to fake out the paparazzi who were on site, trying to take a bikini snap of her, by having her double sport a very similar (if not the same) bathing suit outside. By doing so, Kardashian was successful at taking some of the camera focus off of herself and enjoy her vacation with a little more privacy from prying eyes.
Following her harrowing robbery at gunpoint in Paris, France, Kardashian reportedly decided to start using the same fake-out method a little more often, citing her safety. As a source told Page Six, "There's a circus that follows Kim's every move. Her new security team is recommending she employ a body double to help confuse would-be assailants."
It hasn't always been about her wellbeing, however; she's also been known to use body doubles for such simple life tasks as trying on maternity clothes and possibly even shooting some footage for Keeping Up with the Kardashians.
Jim Carrey's joke on the paparazzi
Another A-lister who has been known to hire some help to enjoy some alone time on a major getaway is Jim Carrey. In 2007, the actor managed to check an item off of his bucket list by visiting Israel's holiest sites without the paparazzi tailing him. He had to pony up some cash to pay off someone pretending to be him, of course, but it was money well spent to hear the actor talk.
"I've been wanting to go my whole life, and I had so much fun there. I never got a picture taken of me the whole time I was there," he told Contact Music (via Bangitout) "I got a local guy who sort of looks like me as a body double. ... I hired him and checked him into the King David hotel where all the celebrities go."
The ruse worked, as Carrey said the press waited outside the swanky lodging for days while the media reported that he was holed up inside, ordering room service. "I was completely unmolested going around to all the wonderful holy sites," Carey said. "I was pretty happy about the whole thing!"
Considering how well it worked out for him, it's hard to believe he hasn't pulled that trick out of his hat (er, mask?) again since then.
Miley wasn't such a master of disguise
Hannah Montana fans were seeing double in an entirely different way back in 2008, when Miley Cyrus was caught using a look-a-like on-stage during one stop on her "Hannah Montana/Miley Cyrus Best of Both Worlds" tour. Although the situation made gobs of major shock headlines, her PR firm immediately threw cold water on the fire, releasing a statement that explained why she brought in a sub while performing the song "We Got the Party.'
"After Hannah has completed the featured verse on the duet with the Jonas Brothers, a body double appears approximately one to two minutes prior to the end of the song in order to allow Miley to remove the Hannah wig and costume and transform into Miley for her solo set," they explained. "Other than during this very brief transitional moment in the show, Miley performs live during the entirety of both the Hannah and Miley segments of the concert."
Innocent as that may sound, it still didn't help to quell the litany of conspiracy theories that surrounding the actress-slash-singer, especially since it was around the same time that many believed her reps pulled an Avril-to-Melissa move and secretly replaced her with a look-a-like after an unexpected passing.
Oops... She did it again
Miley Cyrus isn't the only musician who has been accused of having someone else bust a move on her behalf. Britney Spears was also said to have brought in a body double to dance for her 2011 music video for "Hold It Against Me." TMZ reported that the pop starlet — who, to be fair, was still trying to stage a comeback around that time, after a very bad string of years — could not complete the required choreography for the video, so the director Jonas Akerlund had to bring in some help with body double Allison Kyler.
Spears' rep issued a denial (via Cafe Mom) by saying, "The accusations could not be further from the truth. Britney worked extremely hard on this video and rehearsed for six weeks prior to shooting. Fans will immediately see how inaccurate these claims are once they see the video."
However, two years later, severals sites caught wind of a casting call for a Britney Spears body double for her then-forthcoming music video, and she had to step forward with yet another denial that she'd done the same thing in her 2016 video for "Slumber Party." If it looks like a duck and quacks like a duck ...
Jenny from the sound stage
Talk about phoning it in. Jennifer Lopez's 2011 commercial for Fiat became a hot topic of controversy because reports had it that the singer-actress who had risen to fame on her "Jenny from the Block" persona allegedly could not be bothered to return to her old stomping grounds in the Bronx, New York to film the street scene portions of the ad.
The company all but confirmed the buzz by admitting in a statement (via Entertainment Weekly), that Lopez may have had a body double sub for her in the car scenes while she filmed her bits from the comforts of an L.A. studio. "As you may know, in today's world, people are increasingly mobile and their work takes them to a variety of locations. As a result, we took the opportunity to film wherever Ms. Lopez was working at the time to accommodate her schedule," the company explained. "The commercial tells the story of how the simple elements of our upbringing can help explain who we are, where we're going and serve as a source of inspiration to achieve our goals in life. One does not need to be in a specific location to be inspired or continue to be inspired."
Considering the ads were trying to capitalize on her purported connection to that neighborhood, though (with lines like, "they may be just streets to you, but to me they're a playground"), her physical location definitely mattered to quite a lot of people. Oops.