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Cassidy Joy Watson went on a romantic getaway with her ex-boyfriend four days after they broke up.
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Watson told Insider she’d already signed a contract to film it for TikTok, so they “went for it.”
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But going viral for posting about a breakup led to a wave of followers weighing in on her personal life.
Four days after ending a three-year relationship, 24-year-old Cassidy Joy Watson found herself at a romantic resort eating a forkful of fluffy pancakes. She was sitting opposite “the most stunning” views of Waikiki that she, a lifelong Hawaii resident, had ever seen, and diagonal from her now-ex, Jake White. It was the first day of a three-day staycation.
Watson, a TikTok creator with about 380,000 followers at the time, told Insider she had already signed a contract to create content for the Twin Fin Hotel resort where they were staying. (A representative for the agency representing the hotel confirmed the partnership in an email statement to Insider.) White — her long-time plus-one and, after much practice, her best content creation partner — had agreed with her that it was best they not rock the boat with last-minute changes.
Couple content on TikTok is hugely popular. As Watson put it to Insider, “people love to see people in love.” But making your relationship publicly available puts “a lot of eyes” on it, and that attention comes with pitfalls. When you end said public relationship, you may feel — or be, by invested viewers — compelled to share the details of your own gruesome heartbreak publicly, too. For Watson, this led to a wave of virality she never expected.
Eventually, Watson deactivated her TikTok account and retreated further from the magnifying glass of public life. (Her Instagram account, while public, is markedly more distanced than the once-casual candor of Watson’s TikTok). However, while Watson has since opted out of TikTok, completely deactivating her account, stitches and screen recordings of her breakup explanation and staycation videos remain online.
She declined to comment on the reasons behind her sudden disappearance from the app, but did share with Insider the backstory behind her viral moment, which took her by surprise — and led to some unforeseen consequences.
Watson’s TikTok about the couple’s unusual circumstances wasn’t intended to go viral
Watson and White embarked on a sardonic relationship-post-mortem staycation at the time — a plot rarely seen outside of the rom-com genre — alongside other coupled influencers and honeymooners.
Their hotel room had separate beds — by luck, rather than by design, Watson told Insider — and the pair ate at romantic, dimly lit dinners, enjoyed “glorious platonic sunsets,” and splashed around pristine blue waters. White filmed picturesque, aspirational content: Watson reclining on a poolside cabana in a swimsuit and sipping from a branded mug in bed.
“When you and your boyfriend of three years break up but you already signed a contract to create content at a resort together,” Watson’s on-screen text read over a December 13 sizzle reel of tropical vistas and cute-couple content set to a sped-up version of SZA’s “Kill Bill.”
Initially, Watson said, the video was meant mainly for her friends. But it blew up, eventually garnering more than 5.8 million views.
As a viewer herself, Watson knew the value of sharing a breakup story
After going viral, Watson followed up with another ironic TikTok montage on December 15.
“Unlike my ex,” Watson said in a voiceover, “the hotel really went out of their way to make me feel special … the best part of this trip was definitely the breakfast at their coconut Club Lounge. They had delicious food and, much like the turn my relationship took, a full 180-degree view of Waikiki.”
“I spent most of this vacation just taking in these breathtaking views,” Watson continued, “and exercising self-control to not throw my ex off the…