Opinion
Germany’s most famous influencer Leonie Hanne received a marriage proposal – and millions of followers on social networks watched it all. One wonders: is nothing taboo these days?
It could have been an intimate moment: At the weekend, Leonie Hanne and her long-term boyfriend Alex Galievsky appeared on the deck of a yacht in the harbor of Portofino. In a video that later circulated on social media, he was seen getting down on one knee in front of the well-known influencer and putting a sparkling diamond ring on her finger. Hanne was amazed, there was a passionate kiss, everything looked as if Galievsky had surprised his girlfriend with a marriage proposal.
Although the influencer did her best to act astonished, the proposal was probably anything but surprising for her. The couple was not filmed by chance, but there were a whole bunch of photographers on the surrounding boats who accompanied the marriage proposal. Just as striking: Not only did Galievsky wear a beige suit, but Hanne also appeared in an elegant, white mini dress and with a chic updo. A look that was a bit too much glamour even for the always perfectly styled influencer.
The only people who were really surprised that day were Hanne’s fans. The 35-year-old’s Instagram posts are full of thousands of congratulatory comments. The fact that her followers were tricked into believing that it was a big engagement spectacle didn’t seem to bother her. It was almost as if they had expected nothing else from the influencer. After all, Hanne, who, like Caro Daur, is one of the most successful German influencers, lets her 4.8 million fans share in her glamorous life every day. And that is – as her posts and reels on social media show – peppered with fashion show events, celebrity parties and posts of designer clothes, for which she sometimes receives five- or six-figure sums.
Leonie Hanne: fake surprise for the fans
Hanne is not the first to have her marriage proposal filmed. Stars like Jennifer Lopez are also aware of the attention that images of celebrities in love generate. In 2019, the US singer was photographed in the Bahamas when she got engaged to her then-boyfriend Alex Rodriguez. Although the relationship did not last long, the images, which were shared around the world, gave her enormous visibility in the media. Privacy is a foreign word for celebrities like reality stars Kim and Kourtney Kardashian: For the series “Keeping up with the Kardashians”, they even had their children filmed.
Intimate moments? In the world of social media, they have taken on a new meaning. It is no longer about excluding the public – but about winning over as many people as possible. Terms like privacy sound like a relic from analogue times. Personal moments are exploited as best as possible, either through paid product sponsorship or through reach. What was once considered a taboo is now similar to public viewing events in the parallel universe of social media.
What’s next? Live sex on Instagram? Nobody would be surprised. But luckily, trends in the social media bubble often disappear faster than they appear. Back to philistinism? It almost sounds tempting in times like these.
Source: Stern
I am an author and journalist who has worked in the entertainment industry for over a decade. I currently work as a news editor at a major news website, and my focus is on covering the latest trends in entertainment. I also write occasional pieces for other outlets, and have authored two books about the entertainment industry.
