Addicted: Celebs Who Tried To Leave Social Media But Failed

Fans have been able to get an inside look into the lives of their favorite celebrities thanks to social media platforms like Instagram, Twitter, Snapchat, and TikTok. Whether they are posting about their new business ventures, red carpet looks, or what they just had for lunch, celebs are some of the most watched people on the internet. However, these platforms have not always been kind to some of the biggest names in Hollywood, with many A-list stars taking much-needed breaks from posting about their day-to-day lives. 

Selena Gomez is just one celeb who quit social media for good. The star hasn't used platforms like Instagram for over 4 years, despite her account, with over 300 million followers, still in full swing. She told "Good Morning America" in April 2022 that she has a team that posts her online content and added, "I am happier. I am more present, I connect more with people. It makes me feel normal." 

Several stars have removed themselves from social media to feel "normal," but as much as they would like to step away from the limelight, not every celeb can totally quit social media like Gomez. In fact, a few celebs have claimed they were never returning to social media, only to jump right back on no less than a day later. Check out the stars below who took a social media cleanse but failed to stay away for good. 

In some ways, celebrities are just like us. When a star suffers a tragic loss in their family, they may log off of social media to spend time with loved ones. That's what happened to "Dancing With the Stars" professional dancer Cheryl Burke, who, after losing her father in March 2018, took a step back from platforms like Instagram to mourn her loss. 

In an Instagram post, Burke told her fans, "I'm dealing with some personal things right now and need to take a break from social media. Thanks for understanding and remember to tell the people who are important to you just how much you love them each and everyday." However, Burke's social media break was not for long, and she posted photos of her father a few days later. The "Dance Moms" star shared a photo of herself as a little girl hugging her dad and touchingly wrote, "Dad, If I had one more chance to have you here with me today, I would do things differently. Every day I would tell you how much I love you. I miss you so much already." Another photo showed her dancing with her father. 

In 2012, Burke explained on Bethenny Frankel's talk show that she was estranged from her father. However, after he was involved in an accident, they reunited. "I have a wonderful stepfather who has been my father, but it was really important for me just to reach out to my dad. Just for me and just to have some closure if anything really were to happen," she shared.

Justin Bieber had enough of social media when his fans appeared to be jealous of the multiple photos he posted on Instagram with then-girlfriend Sofia Richie. According to Us Weekly, Richie and the "Baby" hitmaker had a brief romance that began in August 2016, but it set off a firestorm with Beliebers who were not fans of his new beau. 

Bieber posted a photo with Richie and wrote, "I'm gonna make my Instagram private if you guys don't stop the hate this is getting out of hand, if you guys are really fans you wouldn't be so mean to people that I like." Rolling Stone reported that before ultimately deactivating his account on August 16th, Bieber's ex, Selena Gomez, chimed in on the matter and in the comments section wrote, "If you can't handle the hate then stop posting pictures of your girlfriend lol – it should be special between you two only. Don't be mad at your fans. They love you." 

A feud sparked between the exes, with Bieber writing, "It's funny to see people that used me for attention and still try to point the finger this way. Sad. All love." Per Rolling Stone, Gomez added, "Funny how the ones that cheated multiple times, are pointing the finger at the ones that were forgiving and supportive, no wonder fans are mad. Sad. All love." Bieber reactivated his account two weeks later, but told fans on Twitter, "Still no Instagram it was an accident." He was officially back on Instagram on February 3rd, 2017, with a T-mobile ad. 

Miley Cyrus is known for reinventing herself ever since she left her Disney days behind her. Since the release of her 2020 album "Plastic Hearts," the songstress has taken a rock and roll approach to her music and fashion style. In July 2018, she took extreme measures to let fans know there was a whole new Cyrus in the making after she deleted her Instagram account and all the photos that accompanied it, per Glamour. 

Fans initially believed Cyrus removed her Instagram because she and her then-fiance actor Liam Hemsworth, had split. However, Glamour reported that Hemsworth still had photos of the singer on his Instagram. Proving any break-up rumors wrong at the time, a source clarified to ET, "Miley says she simply likes to change things up! She is taking a long needed break and she feels it's healthy."

Cyrus came back to Instagram on November 30th, 2018, and released her song and its accompanying music video, "Nothing Breaks Like a Heart." The very next month, Cyrus and Hemsworth tied the knot, but after just eight months of marriage, the couple separated, per People. 

Chrissy Teigen has been known as the unofficial Queen of Twitter thanks to her witty and hilarious tweets, brutal comebacks, and complete honesty. So it came as a shock when she told her over 13 million Twitter followers in March 2021 that she was backing off from her account, stating that it "no longer serves me positively." 

In a series of tweets dated March 24th, 2021, Teigen wrote that she was "deeply bruised" from her time online and added, "I have made my mistakes, throughout the years and in front of hundreds of thousands, and been held accountable for them. I've learned an incredible amount here. ... But one thing I haven't learned is how to block out the negativity." However, it didn't take the model long to return to her much beloved Twitter account and on April 16th, 2021, she tweeted, "turns out it feels TERRIBLE to silence yourself and also no longer enjoy belly chuckles randomly throughout the day and also lose like 2000 friends at once lol."

A month later, Teigen took to Twitter to publicly apologize to model Courtney Stodden for allegedly bullying her online. This ultimately led others to come forward to accuse Teigen of further bullying. "Not a lot of people are lucky enough to be held accountable for all their past bulls*** in front of the entire world. I'm mortified and sad at who I used to be. ... I'm so sorry, Courtney. I hope you can heal knowing how deeply sorry I am," she wrote. Teigen didn't return to Twitter until June, with an apology letter to all those she bullied. 

In April 2010, John Mayer hinted at disabling his Twitter account when he shared at an Expo (via E! News), "Every night I think about cancelling my Twitter account because I think it's pretty much done. I just think Twitter as a form of communication, I think it's over, to be honest with you." In September of that year, Mayer deleted his Twitter and left behind millions of followers with a final tweet that read, "What does this button do?" per NBC New York. 

In 2011, speaking at Berklee College of Music, Mayer further explained his reasoning for saying farewell to Twitter and called himself a "tweetaholic." "I had four million Twitter followers, and I was always writing on it. And I stopped using Twitter as an outlet and I started using Twitter as the instrument to riff on, and it started to make my mind smaller and smaller and smaller. And I couldn't write a song," he shared (via Rolling Stone). 

Mayer returned to Twitter in January 2014 and tweeted, "I'm back. What'd I miss?" He also jokingly shared a YouTube link to Rebecca Black's 2011 song, "Friday," stating, "Been waiting SO long to share this with you. It's so bad it's good. Take a look."

Celebrities are often the main targets of hateful messages across social media, and these negative comments have led some stars to leave Instagram and Twitter for periods of time. Fifth Harmony's Normani Kordei took a break from social media when she became a victim of racist internet trolls on Twitter, and she didn't return until a month later. 

On August 6th, 2016, Kordei penned a letter to her fans that read that she was leaving Twitter due to the endless amounts of "racially charged" comments she read about her. She wrote, "I am taking a break from Twitter for now. Over the past four years of being in the public eye I've learned to grow a thick skin to critics and those who may not like me. I've never been one to deny anyone of their opinions, but over the course of this last week and especially over the last 48 hours I've not just been cyber bullied, I've been racially cyber bullied with tweets and pictures so horrific and racially charged that I can't subject myself any longer to the hate." 

According to Billboard, Kordei was bombarded with negative comments after she struggled to come up with one word to describe fellow girl group member Camila Cabello in a Facebook interview with Galore. While she called Ally Brooke "sunshine," Dinah Jane the "turn-up queen," and Lauren Jauregui the "therapist" of the group, Kordei paused before stating that Cabello was "quirky" and "cute." However, Kordei returned to Twitter on September 13th, 2016, to share that she was working with the non-profit The Cybersmile Foundation, which helps those who have experienced online bullying. 

Kim Kardashian suffered a horrific ordeal in October 2016 when she was robbed at gunpoint while in her apartment at the No Address Hotel in Paris, France. According to Intelligencer, robbers restrained Kardashian and took millions of dollars worth of jewelry. It appeared that the robbers had been following Kardashian's moves days before the robbery, keeping an eye on her many social media accounts, with Kardashian posting photos of her location on Snapchat just hours before the scary encounter. 

Kardashian is known for her social media presence on multiple platforms, but after the robbery, the reality star kept a low profile, with People reporting that she refrained from posting anything on Instagram, Twitter, and Snapchat for three months. Talking about how robbers must have known about her whereabouts that night on "Keeping Up With the Kardashians," she said (via People), "What I think happened now after like thinking about it so much is that there was probably a group of guys that were following us the entire trip." 

According to E! News, Kardashian returned to Instagram after posting a photo of her family on January 3rd, 2017. The photo showed Kardashian with ex-husband Ye West, their daughter North, and their son Saint while standing outside on a patio.