After a nearly six-year hiatus, Star Wars' Daisy Ridley ends her social media blackout. The highly esteemed actress is most notably known for her starring role as Rey in the Star Wars sequel trilogy. Ridley first appeared in The Force Awakens in 2015, reprising the role for both The Last Jedi and The Rise of Skywalker. Outside the Star Wars universe, Ridley played roles in films such as Murder on the Orient Express, Ophelia, and Chaos Walking. She recently made a surprise appearance in Judd Apatow's Netflix film, The Bubble, which has been overwhelmingly met with harsh criticism and negative reviews.
In 2016, Ridley deleted her Instagram account after amassing more than 2 million followers, citing immense pressure to deliver new posts consistently. At the time, the lightsaber wielding actress went so far as to say her use of both Instagram and Facebook would be forever "cut off like a Skywalker limb." Ridley also publicly shared her beliefs regarding the adverse effects of social media and praised other celebrities for walking away from their respective accounts.
Nearly six years after abandoning social media altogether, Ridley has returned from her hiatus with a fresh post on Instagram. In the photo, Ridley sips tea in a bathrobe donning a very Star Wars appropriate set of eyewear. Check out the post below:
Ridley was not the only Star Wars actor to leave the world of social media to fend off negative mental health implications. Kelly Marie Tran reportedly deleted her accounts after suffering through months of racial harassment. Tran was first introduced to audiences in The Last Jedi as Rose Tico, a maintenance worker for the Resistance. In the fallout of Tran disappearing from social media, support for the actress came flooding in from all over. Nevertheless, the Star Wars franchise is not alone when it comes to actors ditching social media. Stranger Things star Millie Bobby Brown deleted her Twitter account in June 2018 after users began flooding her page with a homophobic meme seemingly attributed to her. Brown briefly resurfaced in 2019 but has since kept away from the platform.
While social media can boast many positive elements, including quickly accessing information and remaining connected with friends or family, many adverse side effects come with it. Netflix's Social Dilemma paints an alarming picture of how serious a threat social media can be. The documentary film interviews former employees and top executives from social media platforms to shed light on social media's personal, political, and cultural consequences. From that perspective, it is entirely understandable why someone in the public eye, such as Star Wars' Ridley, would need to step away from it all to ensure the sanctity of mental health. However, maybe a refreshed and recharged Ridley can start influencing a more positive trend in the world of social media.
Source: Daisy Ridley
