Catfishing Doesn’t Turn Out Like the Movies
Healthy relationships don't begin with a lie.
Netflix has a holiday movie out right now called “Love Hard” where the tagline is “A romantic comedy about the lies we tell for love.” In the movie, the main character, Natalie, matches with Josh on a dating app. Because they live across the country from one another—she lives in Los Angeles; he’s in New York—they spend hours a day and days a week chatting first through the app, and then on the phone. When Josh wishes aloud that Natalie could spend Christmas with him in New York, she decides to jump on a plane and do just that.
Spoiler alert: When Natalie shows up, she realizes that Josh has been catfishing her, using his buddy’s photos to lure in Natalie. And while Natalie loves Josh’s personality over the phone, she’s nonplussed that he lied to her, and she’s not physically attracted to him. Through the miracle of Hollywood and the course of the movie, she realizes that physical attraction isn’t as important to her and she falls in love with all of Josh.
When I was catfished, the outcome was very different. I was in my mid-20s without a lot of dating experience and cautiously tried my luck on a dating app. I had been on a couple of first dates (but no second dates) with guys who seemed funny over messaging but were missing that whip-smart…
