Image courtesy of Sophie Turner from Instagram

By Charlie Sawyer

Published Sep 7, 2023 at 12:18 PM

Reading time: 2 minutes

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It’s official: Joe Jonas and Sophie Turner have filed for divorce. Let’s all take a second for the heartbreak to set in… We wished it was all a lie, we wished that it was nothing but tabloid gossip. But on Wednesday 6 September 2023, Jonas and Turner published a joint statement on Instagram declaring that they’d made a “united decision” to end their “four wonderful years of marriage.”

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A post shared by S O P H I E T U R N E R (@sophiet)

While this news in and of itself is quite literally devastating, especially for someone like me who has spent many a night watching compilation videos of ‘Jophie’ cute moments, what’s made this entire situation worse is the fact that it now seems as though Jonas and his extensive PR team have launched a really dirty and gross smear campaign against Turner—something a lot of us Jonas Brothers fans would have never predicted.

It all started when rumours began to swirl that the singer had implied mid-divorce proceedings that Turner was quite absent as a mother, prioritising drinking and going out with friends over motherhood. Jonas’ camp was making it their top priority to insinuate that Jonas was the primary caregiver and that he had tried to salvage the marriage, but that Turner had been too preoccupied with being a young celebrity… It’s the sexism for me.

Only one day after the divorce news spread, pictures were circulated of Jonas taking the couple’s two young children out to breakfast, solo. Once again, the promotion of these images is solely working to reinforce the idea that Turner is not equally participating in the relationship.

Why the ‘Sucker’ singer has embarked on a campaign aimed at vilifying Turner is unknown. Some people on TikTok have been speculating that, potentially, Jonas messed up or did something bad towards the end of their relationship, which would explain why he’s now so focused on trying to control the narrative before any secrets come to light. It definitely wouldn’t be the first time a male celebrity has done that.

Nevertheless, just a little bit of digging and this entire ‘addicted to partying’ narrative regarding the Games Of Thrones actress completely falls apart. For example, an old video from a few years ago shows Jonas and Turner playing a game of ‘Who’s the _’ game. In the clip, you can hear the prompt ‘Who’s the homebody in the relationship?’ to which both Jonas and Turner point towards the actress. Coincidence? I think not.

Either way, the entire force of gen Z is resolute in defending Turner from this kind of criticism. You mess with Sansa Stark, you mess with us. I think, as sad as this news is, one of the best things to have come from it is the fact that now everyone has come to the realisation that Turner is just way too cool for Jonas. Not only is she a badass, but she’s also being smart about keeping quiet during this time—a move that, unlike Joe, screams ‘not guilty’.

I mean, this video of Turner downing a plastic cup of red wine at a hockey game might be my favourite thing on the internet:

This isn’t the first time that a woman has been accused of being a bad mother because she actively enjoys her life, and it certainly won’t be the last. However, it is increasingly disappointing to see a man go out of his way to paint the mother of his children as a party girl who’s uninterested in being an active mother. It’s giving 1950s energy, and I’m seriously over it.