Like most celebrity publications, People relies heavily on the social media posts of famous people for imagery and story ideas. As such, they keep a close eye on most of them. Perhaps its this acute familiarity with the Instagram habits of most famous couples that caused them to be so shocked by Benji Madden’s recent post wishing his wife, actress Cameron Diaz, a happy 45th birthday.
Their story, entitled Cameron Diaz Receives Rare Social Media Love Note from Husband Benji Madden on Her 45th Birthday, begins:
The actress celebrated her 45th birthday on Wednesday and received a sweet Instagram dedication from husband Benji Madden, who very rarely posts about their romance on social media. (In fact, the Good Charlotte rocker last shared a shout-out to Diaz in April 2016).
While People would probably claim the tone of this post is celebratory, there’s something inarguably condescending about calling out Madden’s last post about Diaz. It’s as though they don’t believe a couple should be taken seriously unless they turn their love into a never-ending performance piece, like Spencer and Heidi Pratt, Chrissy Teigen and John Legend, these two, these two, or these two.