mermaid blood wrote:oh that's interesting, Stakhanov, that you interpret them that way. I always took those askfm replies pretty much on face value, they don't sound hugely bitter or mean to me. i think it dashed some fan's hopes who liked to romanticise that these 4 guys hung out all the time and knew one another better than anyone in the world, but what he said was pretty realistic and i don't think reflects badly on any of their intentions/motivations. he's not saying what we do see and know is 'fake', just that's it's not the whole story. which should be obvious to anyone except maybe the very young. that's applicable in any life; 'knowing' someone is partly an illusion dependent on what you are exposed to, a judgement or sensation in some respects. add a camera and a stranger and that is magnified.
I assume Chris had genuine fun at times being friends with the other three and seeing them socially, and it appears he still has respect for them, if his recent tweets are anything to go by. the intersection of any pulling away due to depression with the natural tendency for social connections to drift over time can only be guessed. being asked about it constantly when he was (admittedly) very lonely though, would make anyone come across antsy. i don't blame the poor guy.
yeah I agree with everything you said.
I don't believe there was no friendship at all between Chris and D&P (and PJ too i guess but it's another story as they are all still friends with PJ). I think they had fun spending time together and Chris invited them on the holiday in Italy that he won, this already proves quite a good level of friendship.
He also describes them positively here:
But yeah with the "I don't know him" about Dan, I think he wanted to put to death this idea that they are
besties and hang out together
all the time and know everything about each other. He probably went in a bit too hard implying that they were never friends or friends only for the cameras which i don't believe is true, even though the friendship was enhanced by the camera.
As for the falling out, I never believed there was a huge story behind it. Chris was very clearly in a bad place already in 2013 and from his own admission it went even worse until end of last year. I have lost a lot of friends pushing them aside and isolating myself when I was depressed so I think that's what happened here. Plus coupled with the fact D&P probs didn't reach out/imposed themselves enough to stay in his life at that moment (maybe they were a bit pissed with the phan 2022 wedding, but i just think it was that life happened) and bam they didn't see each other for 2 years.
I would't judge D&P too hard on this because it is very difficult to reach out to someone depressed, especially when you are not that close in the first place. Obviously I wouldn't judge Chris either.
jaej I absolutely love you graphic of the level of friendship!!