53 How the "Overly Attached Girlfriend" Finally Detached Herself From YouTube | Laina Morris

Laina Morris was 20 years old when she entered a Justin Bieber fan contest in 2012. She uploaded a video of herself to YouTube singing a creepy parody song. She didn't win the concert tickets, but when she woke up the next morning, she had won a very different prize. Reddit, a website she had never heard of, got a hold of the video and turned her into the poster child for obsessive, co-dependent relationships. "Overly Attached Girlfriend" was born, and Laina became one of the most recognizable memes on the Internet. Rather than fight her unexpected memehood, Laina leaned ALL the way in, and rode the wave into an online comedy career. Her hilarious vlogs and sketches often featured OAG, while others branched into broader concepts with her signature awkwardness. At just 21 years old, she was making a living as a full-time YouTuber. But in 2019, at the height of her fame, she broke up with YouTube forever... Or did she? This week, Laina joins Matt to discuss how "being in on the joke" created a positive relationship with memehood, her favorite comedy collaborations, getting recognized in public by people who aren't quite sure how they know you, and the mental health challenges that prompted her to leave a massive audience behind. Follow Laina for shorter videos these days: https://www.instagram.com/laina/ https://www.tiktok.com/@laina622 This show is made possible by listener support: https://www.patreon.com/influencepod Listen & subscribe wherever you get podcasts: 🍎 https://apple.co/44FeACS 🟢 https://spoti.fi/3UGQjrN ⏯ https://amzn.to/3wCdueF Join our Discord community! https://discord.gg/influencepod Call the show and leave a message: (347)-871-6548 Email me with guest & trivia suggestions! [e-mail] (NOICE) Follow me: 🦋 https://bsky.app/profile/mattsilverman.bsky.social 🧵 https://www.threads.net/@matt_silverman 📸 https://www.instagram.com/matt_silverman Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices