Megan Fox’s sudden disappearance from Instagram after a cryptic post blindsided the internet Sunday. 

Complete with a lyric from Beyoncé’s “Pray You Catch Me,” the post showed a video of a burning letter and Megan posing in a bathroom mirror after deleting all evidence of her highly publicized relationship with Machine Gun Kelly from her page. 

While rumors swarm around Fox’s post, some fans continue to speculate on the possibility of red flags in their relationship indicating Fox was a victim of abuse while with MGK. 

Despite speculation, the idea of Fox as a victim might be difficult to understand as she doesnt fit the mold of the “perfect” victim stereotype, or someone who is perceived as weak and blameless in all situations. 

Due to the constant objectification of Fox throughout her career, her willingness to appear beside MGK  and the couple being close in age, red flags might not have been as obvious, especially with jokes online about their relationship. But even those close to Fox allegedly expressed concern over the “toxicity” of their relationship early on. 

The public view was that their relationship was clingy without considering it could possibly be a normalization of unhealthy behavior. Let’s take a closer look at the couple’s history and some moments that caused concern for Fox’s wellbeing. 

May 2020

The first time the pair met was on set for their movie Midnight in the Switchgrass, which premiered in 2021. The couple began dating in May 2020 shortly after Fox ended her marriage to actor Brian Austin Green, and she starred in MGK’s “Bloody Valentine” music video.    

[Review: Jeff Draco shines at 9:30 club with a 2000s west coast vibe]

June 2020

The couple, after months of speculation and candids of them together, seemed to make their relationship official when MGK tweeted the lyrics to “Bloody Valentine,” “‘I’m calling you girlfriend, what the fuck. Life imitated art on that one.” It was reported June 17 that the couple was officially dating, and they had a “strong connection.” The following month, the couple would give their first joint interview on the Give Them Lala … With Randall podcast, with Fox calling MGK her “twin flame.”

November 2020 to September 2021

Fox and Kelly made their first of many red carpet appearances in November 2020 at the American Music Awards. Engagement rumors surfaced after Megan was spotted wearing what appeared to be a massive ring during MGK’s Saturday Night Live performance. 

Alongside support for his SNL debut, Megan continued to join him at events, such as the Billboard Music Awards, MTV Video Music Awards and Indy 500 weekend. 

The couple was also active on social media with couple posts and Megan posting a video of them listening to “Bloody Valentine” on the radio. MGK also met Megan’s kids at this time.

In July, during an interview for her upcoming film Till Death, Megan told The Washington Post she believed MGK was her soulmate.

October 2021

The couple’s reputation as red carpet staples began to shift to something more difficult to understand after an interview with GQ in October. In the interview, Fox described their relationship as intense, adding there was a “demonic” side to it. 

“It should be light [like first love], but also we go to hell with each other,” Kelly said. “I don’t want people to think anything’s perfect with us.”

January 2022

The couple announces their engagement on social media with separate photos and videos of them under a banyan tree. However, it was Fox’s engagement ring that caused concern. In an interview with Vogue, Kelly described the design of the Colombian emerald diamond ring with its magnetic band of thorns.

“If she tries to take it off, it hurts,” Kelly said.

[Review: ‘Your Place or Mine’ tells a story we’ve seen too many times]

April 2022

In her engagement post, Fox says after she said yes to MGK, the couple “drank each other’s blood.” When asked again about this in an interview with Glamour, Fox joked the couple did in fact drink drops of each other’s blood for “ritual purposes.” 

Although celebrity couples drinking each others blood gained the most attention from Billy Bob Thornton and Angelina Jolie’s relationship in the late ’90s and early 2000s, one Twitter user noted abusers can use drinking blood as a way to bind their victim to them, referencing Evan Rachel Wood’s terrifying experience being forced to drink Marilyn Manson’s blood after trying to leave their relationship. 

July 2022

Kelly’s documentary Life in Pink premiered on Hulu with one scene in particular shocking viewers. In it, Kelly describes an episode where while Fox was in Bulgaria shooting a movie, he threatened to take his own life with her on the phone during what he called a “paranoid” episode. 

“I called Megan. I was like, ‘You aren’t here for me.’ I’m in my room and I’m freaking out on her,” Kelly said. The episode, Kelly claims, was an awakening for him to quit substance abuse. But his troubling behavior, particularly blaming Fox for not being there, aligns with a form of emotional abuse the National Domestic Violence Hotline lists.

February 2023

The couple made their final red carpet appearance at the 2023 Grammys, with less than a week later Fox wiping her Instagram clean of their relationship amid rumors he cheated on her with a member of his band. Immediately memes flooded social media with many wondering if Pete Davidson will swoop in to start dating Megan.  

Speculation aside, it dawned on me that we’re not necessarily taught when to draw the line at certain relationship behavior, especially when it appears consensual. At what point could the couple have gone from cringye and different to concerning, and might’ve fans noticed too late?