Dear Gossips,

It was Thanksgiving weekend here in Canada and for the last few days, I tried to check out. So the first thing I read this morning when I got back into it was the new cover interview with Megan Fox and Machine Gun Kelly for British GQ Style. If this sets the tone for the rest of the week? No regrets. First of all, the piece was written and reported by Molly Lambert – I’ve been a fan since Grantland because, well, for a story like Megan + MGK, you need someone who knows good gossip and how to deliver it. In this case, good gossip is both the small details that make an article like this come alive (“I am weed”) and that give real insight into what this couple is all about but a wider focus on these two and how the cultural relevance of their relationship situates them as the descendants of a certain kind of Hollywood romance that pop culture is already familiar with. If they were a movie, they’d be a remake. And the movie they’d choose? As they said themselves, it’s True Romance. As Molly writes:

“… they are bringing back Sunset Strip rock’n’roll glamour for the 2020s, as the kind of couple that’s fun to watch be in love with each other and who have what Fox calls the ‘combustible element’ of all celebrities. They walk in the footprints etched by the platform boots of partnerships such as Tommy and Pam, Kurt and Courtney or Mick and Marianne, but with a key difference: they’re trying their damndest to make sure things don’t blow up. They’re both at a place in their lives where they’re really willing to lay it all on the line for love.”

“Combustible” is the perfect word for it. And the idea of their combustibility, the intense connection between them, the drama between them, it comes up often during the interview – not necessarily as observed by Molly but as something that both Megan and MGK seem to insist upon themselves in the telling of their love story.

The thing is, a lot of what they say here with Molly seems pretty healthy. MGK talks about trauma and overcoming it, that he’s doing a lot of work on himself and that they’re doing the work together, to understand themselves and each other more. It sounds to me like these two, at least so far, are prioritising communication, mental wellness, and knowing their love languages. Which is great…but maybe not as sexy to perform, lol. So they’re here to make it clear that they’re not boring, don’t you dare think that.

“Fox agrees the relationship has ‘euphoric highs’. But it isn’t all fun and games. ‘This is a very intense relationship,’ she says. ‘Our souls chose this to absolutely have to face our shadow selves; to face things about ourselves we didn’t want to have to know, that we tried to push away.’ I say it seems like they have the intensity of a first love. ‘It should be light, but also we go to hell with each other,’ MGK says. ‘It’s ecstasy and agony for sure... I don’t want people to think anything’s perfect with us. I didn’t say it was the darkest fairy tale for no reason. God help you if you would’ve met us last Saturday.’ She laughs. ‘There’s also the demonic side,’ she notes, with a devilish smile.”

I don’t know that anyone was out here under the impression that anything is perfect between Megan and MGK. If anything, “ecstasy and agony” is exactly the brand that they’ve been performing and selling. But this is less about how we see them than it is about how they want to see themselves. This is the version of their love that they strive to live up or down to, ostensibly both in private and in public. It’s licking faces on camera, and licking souls off camera.

Yours in gossip,

Lainey

Machine Gun Kelly Gossip

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