DeuxMoi: The rise of Instagram’s anonymous celebrity gossip sharer with 1.7 million followers
On 21 March 2020, the anonymous woman behind the Instagram account known only as DeuxMoi posted a message on an old account that had become dormant.
“Ok, better than… my amazing & captivating commentary… DM me any celeb stories (first or second hand) you are willing to share.” It didn’t take long for the responses to come in, the encounters to be shared, and the followers to rack up.
While those who don’t spend hours on the social media site may never have heard of DeuxMoi, to many it is the go-to source for pop culture, posting behind-the-scenes stories, anecdotes and rumours from insiders, as well as celeb sightings, casting info, and even details of who tips well at restaurants – and who doesn’t. (Tipping, especially the difference between UK and US stars, is a hot topic.)
Followers share their encounters and inside info, DeuxMoi reposts their stories; only moderated to sometimes remove a name or identifying details, should the sender not want to disclose. These are known as “blinds” – leaving followers to do their own detective work.
Speaking to Sky News, the nameless woman behind the account insists her content is mainly innocuous and isn’t presented as fact or as if she is an authority, but “in reality, the audience is on the same journey I am to finding out the truth about a rumour. We’re all in it together”.
DeuxMoi says she makes it clear she is not a journalist, nor a Hollywood insider. “Curators of pop culture,” reads the bio. “Some statements made on this account have not been independently confirmed. This account does not claim information published is based in fact.”
But many of the followers are. From publicists, assistants and nannies to record label workers, TV runners, restaurant workers and even celebs themselves, many are willing to spill the tea. As a result, DeuxMoi has been first with some big celeb stories, such as Olivia Wilde and Harry Styles‘ relationship, and Kim Kardashian and Kanye West’s break-up.
While some celebs understandably aren’t fans, there are others who can’t get enough. Kardashian herself has reportedly described it as “the Bible”, Cardi B and Chrissy Teigen are among the account’s followers, and Drew Barrymore recently interviewed Deux on her podcast, Drew’s News.
There is now merchandise. A podcast. A recently released novel, Anon Pls – referencing the request by all titbit submitters to keep their names private. And in the works, according to reports, a HBO drama.
More than just gossip?
There is an obvious argument against unverified stories being shared publicly. DeuxMoi appears to have filled the hole left by many celeb gossip mags of the noughties as they toned down – but with a follower count of 1.7m and rising, there is clearly an appetite for it.
Most is low-stakes. The “blinds” are for the content that is less so. In an era in which the rich and famous have almost complete control over the content they put out on social media, the appeal seems to be that this is unfiltered. DeuxMoi says the account is not just about gossip. Growing during the pandemic, as people were stuck at home, it created connection, she says.
“Drew, she understood, like, the humanistic side to it,” she says, speaking about her interview with Barrymore and the A-lister’s love of the site (she is also among its followers).
“In quarantine, when everything was closed down, people were sending in stories from five years ago, 10 years ago, 20 years ago, it was almost like a study in like human interaction. Like, how certain celebrities would interact with fans or how they would be at certain points in their career. I felt like Drew understood that aspect of the account and didn’t take it… as just a gossip account, because I do think it’s more than that.”
While there has been much speculation about her identity – with names reported in the US – DeuxMoi says who she is doesn’t matter. “I don’t think it’s an important factor. I’m not posting about myself.”
We know she lives in New York and she doesn’t use anything to alter her voice, she says, so apparently I’m hearing the real DeuxMoi. There are about 20 people in total, close friends and family members, who know her identity. At first, she was holding down a job and running DeuxMoi at the same time – living in constant “anxiety” for fear she might be unmasked. Now, DeuxMoi is the job.
And while she remains nameless, most celebrities are certainly aware of DeuxMoi. In an interview with Rolling Stone around the release of her fourth album in November 2021, Adele joked about the difficulties of dating. “You can’t set me up on a f****** blind date! I’m like, ‘How’s that going to work?’ There’ll be paparazzi outside and someone will call DeuxMoi, or whatever it’s f****** called! It ain’t happening.”
Rihanna headlining Glastonbury (rumours) and the next Bond…
Two rumours the account has posted about recently: Rihanna apparently headlining Glastonbury, and Aaron Taylor-Johnson being named as the next James Bond.
She addresses Rihanna first: “I want to go on record saying I don’t know how reliable that information is, but she has new music, she’s doing the Super Bowl. Her name has been thrown around for Coachella. Somebody wrote in and said she was close to confirming. But I’d like to say I don’t know how reliable that information is, so not to get everyone’s hopes up.”
British actor and Marvel star Aaron Taylor-Johnson she is more confident about. “Someone messaged me yesterday with some information that I can’t share because that would probably give them away. But he’s being heavily considered, if not already chosen.”
The Bond information “came from somebody I’ve been messaging with for years and they’ve given me information about stuff in the past”, she says. “The Glastonbury information came out of the blue from somebody I don’t really know.” This is how she differentiates “something from being reliable to not very reliable”, or not knowingly reliable.
Aaron Taylor-Johnson: the next 007? Pic: AP/Lee Jin-man
Most recently, mentions of Styles and Wilde in her messages have been on the rise following their break-up. “People think they are fake broken-up,” she says. “So there’s interest in that.”
As the account has grown, she now has several people she considers trusted sources for information. “I won’t give a number but [I have] a handful of people I trust explicitly.”
With 1.7 million followers, there must be a sense of responsibility? She says there are certain issues, and celebrities, she won’t share information about. “I don’t like to post about somebody’s sexuality unless it’s been discussed publicly. And anything to do with anyone under the age of 18. Also… I really wouldn’t feel comfortable posting about things that have to do with rehab.”
Information that might have legal implications, she says she also passes on – but will sometimes give the information to journalists to investigate. And there are five individual celebrities you won’t see featured in DeuxMoi posts either, she says – two she says have made their feelings clear publicly, and three she has had private conversations with.
But there are celebrities and brands who want to be associated with DeuxMoi; the brand she has built has earned her invites to all sorts of exclusive events. She says she doesn’t accept. “I’ve been out in New York to restaurants that are celebrity-frequented that I post about all the time, I’ve sat very close to celebrities who I DM (direct message) with, and it did not make me feel good.”
The celebs on the DeuxMoi nice list
Pic: Richard Shotwell/Invision/AP
Following the release of Anon Pls, a novel based on the story of DeuxMoi – mixing stories of fictional celebrities with real ones – there is now the TV show to prepare for. “It’s being produced by Greg Berlanti,” [The Flight Attendant, Batwoman, Free Guy, Dawson’s Creek] she says. “They are securing writers right now and the person who was named to me, I can’t say who because it’s not 100% signed, sealed, delivered. But it’s exciting, so cool.”
DeuxMoi ends the interview on the question anyone who works in the entertainment industry always gets asked: which celebs are the good ones? Giving the caveat again that these are not based on her own experiences, but on positive intel, she reels off a list of names: “Drew Barrymore, Paris Hilton, Hugh Jackman, Mark Ruffalo, Julianne Moore… I don’t know if this one is going to be controversial, but Will Smith, he was always someone that, stories were submitted about him and he always [seemed] like really, really nice to people he’d meet.
“Tom Cruise, another one who conducts himself very professionally and in that same manner. Oh, and Harry Styles, obviously. Those are the ones I think stand out. Colin Farrell, he’s a name that always comes up. Oh and Rupert Grint, Daniel Radcliffe. The Harry Potter kids, always nice. And the Jonas Brothers.”
But, she adds, you have to take into consideration “what type of environment… is it a red carpet event? Like, of course a celebrity’s going to be nice at a red carpet event!”
And DeuxMoi is diplomatic about the not-so-nice ones, choosing not to name names. “I haven’t had personal experiences with these people. Somebody could have caught them on a bad day, do you know what I mean? We’re all human, right?”
You’ll have to read the posts and decide for yourselves.
US
Democrat senator Chris Van Hollen who met wrongly deported man Kilmar Abrego Garcia says photos of pair with margaritas are staged
The Democrat senator who flew to meet the man wrongly deported to El Salvador has said photos of them with margaritas were staged by officials working for the country’s president.
Chris Van Hollen added that Kilmar Abrego Garcia, who was deported from the US last month, told him he has been moved from a notorious high-security prison in El Salvador to a detention centre with better conditions.
The deportation of Mr Garcia has become a flashpoint in the US, with Democrats casting it as a cruel consequence of Donald Trump’s disregard for the courts, while Republicans have criticised Democrats for defending him and argued his deportation is part of a larger effort to reduce crime.
Mr Garcia, a Salvadoran citizen who was living in Maryland, is being detained in the Central American country despite the US Supreme Court calling on the White House to facilitate his return home.
Trump officials have said Mr Garcia has ties to the violent MS-13 gang. However, Mr Garcia’s attorneys say the government has provided no evidence, and he has never been charged with any crime related to such activity.
Mr Van Hollen flew to El Salvador and met with Mr Garcia this week in an effort to help secure his return to America.
Chris Van Hollen and Kilmar Abrego Garcia, seen in a photo shared by El Salvador’s president. Pic: Nayib Bukele on X
Van Hollen (right) says margaritas were later brought to the table. Pic: Press Office Senator Van Hollen/AP
Speaking to reporters at Washington Dulles International airport after returning to the US on Friday, Mr Van Hollen said: “As the federal courts have said, we need to bring Mr Abrego Garcia home to protect his constitutional rights to due process. And it’s also important that people understand this case is not just about one man.
“It’s about protecting the constitutional rights of everybody who resides in the United States of America.”
Mr Van Hollen added the Trump administration is “asserting a right to stash away residents of this country” in foreign prisons “without the semblance of due process that is the foundation of our constitutional order”.
The senator also revealed Mr Garcia was brought from a detention centre to his hotel after initial requests to meet or speak with him were denied.
Mr Van Hollen said Mr Garcia told him he was “traumatised” after being detained at El Salvador’s notorious CECOT prison, but he had been moved to a “different facility” with better conditions nine days ago.
The senator said Mr Garcia told him he was worried about his family and that thinking about them was giving him “the strength to persevere” and to “keep going” under awful circumstances.
Mr Garcia’s wife, Jennifer, was at the news conference and wiped away tears as Mr Van Hollen spoke of her husband’s desire to speak to her.
Earlier, Mr Van Hollen had posted photos of himself meeting with Mr Garcia.
Chris Van Hollen speaks at Washington Dulles International Airport. Pic: AP
It came before El Salvador’s President Nayib Bukele shared his own images of the meeting, which he claimed showed the pair “sipping margaritas” in the “tropical paradise of El Salvador”.
In an apparent sarcastic remark, Mr Bukele wrote that Mr Garcia had “miraculously risen” from the “death camps”.
Giving an account of what he says happened when the photos were taken, Mr Van Hollen said: “We just had glasses of water on the table. I think maybe some coffee.
“And as we were talking, one of the government people came over and deposited two other glasses on the table with ice. And I don’t know if it was salt or sugar round the top, but they looked like margaritas.
“If you look at the one they put in front of Kilmer, it actually had a little less liquid than the one in me in front of me to try to make it look, I assume like he drank out of it.
“Let me just be very clear. Neither of us touched the drinks that were in front of us.”
He added that people can tell he is telling the truth because if someone had sipped from one of the glass there would be a “gap” where the “salt or sugar” had disappeared.
Mr Van Hollen said the image shows the “lengths” the El Salvadorian president will go to “deceive people about what’s going on”.
“It also shows the lengths that the Trump administration and [President Trump] will go to, because when he was asked by a reporter about this, he just went along for the ride.”
Donald Trump has threatened to “take a pass” on attempts to secure a peace agreement between Ukraine and Russia, as he denied the Kremlin was playing him.
The US president’s past confidence he could do a quick deal to end the conflict has proved to be misplaced, and now his administration has floated the prospect of abandoning its efforts to broker one.
US threatens to abandon peace talks – latest updates
Mr Trump’s secretary of state, Marco Rubio, has said the White House is prepared to “move on”, with little sign of fighting coming to an end some two months after talks began with Vladimir Putin.
Negotiations have since taken place with both Kyiv and Moscow, the latter of which Mr Trump has been accused of being soft on, but the war has continued well beyond its three-year anniversary.
Asked what it will take to secure a deal, Mr Trump told reporters at the White House he needed to see “enthusiasm” from both sides.
“I think I see it,” he added.
“It’s coming to a head right now.”
Donald Trump spoke about the war during a White House event on Friday. Pic: Reuters
‘I know when people are playing us’
Mr Trump dismissed the idea he was being played by Mr Putin, saying: “Nobody is playing me. I’m trying to help.”
“My whole life has been one big negotiation and I know when people are playing us and when they’re not,” he added.
Nonetheless, Sky News’ Moscow correspondent Ivor Bennett said the White House raising the spectre of walking away from peace talks showed Mr Trump was frustrated by the lack of progress.
Before winning last November’s presidential election, he infamously claimed he could end the war in a day.
Echoing Mr Rubio, he’s now said “we’re just going to take a pass” if Russia or Ukraine “makes it very difficult”.
Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov insisted progress towards a deal had been made, but acknowledged the “complicated” situation was “not an easy one” to solve.
A 30-day moratorium on striking energy infrastructure targets was previously agreed, but both sides have since accused one another of breaching it.
Russia has also continued to launch deadly airstrikes on civilian infrastructure – the bloodiest of the more recent attacks saw at least 35 people killed in Sumy.
Kyiv and its European allies have said the continued attacks show Russia is not serious about peace.
Read more from Sky News:
Godfather-style gang war grips Scotland
How Israel’s attack on aid workers unfolded
Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player
‘No military solution to Ukraine war’
Looking ahead, Ukraine’s Volodymyr Zelenskyy has indicated a “memorandum of intent” on a much vaunted US minerals deal could soon be signed.
Mr Trump wants to profit from the country’s natural resources in what he says is repayment for military aid.
It’s hoped America having a stake in the country could also help maintain any truce.
The deal was due to be done weeks ago but was derailed by his falling out with Mr Trump at the White House.
👉 Follow Trump 100 on your podcast app 👈
More meetings are also expected among the so-called coalition of the willing, assembled by Sir Keir Starmer and Emmanuel Macron to help police any peace deal.
Sir Keir spoke with Mr Trump on the phone on Saturday, with ending the Ukraine war a topic of conversation.
Hip hop mogul Sean “Diddy” Combs has lost a bid to delay his upcoming sex-trafficking trial by two months.
US district judge Arun Subramanian said the 55-year-old rapper made his request too close to his trial, which is due to start next month.
Jury selection is currently scheduled for 5 May with opening statements set to be heard seven days later.
Combs has pleaded not guilty to five criminal counts including racketeering and sex trafficking.
Prosecutors with the Manhattan US attorney’s office accuse Combs of using his business empire to sexually abuse women between 2004 and 2024.
Combs’s lawyers say the sexual activity described by prosecutors was consensual.
In a court filing on Wednesday, Combs’s lawyer Marc Agnifilo asked Mr Subramanian to delay the trial because he needed more time to prepare his defence to two new charges which were brought on 4 April.
The charges were of sex trafficking and transportation to engage in prostitution.
Mr Agnifilo also said his team needs extra time to review emails it wants an alleged victim to turn over.
The new allegations brought the total number of criminal charges against the rap mogul to five – following the three original counts, which also included racketeering conspiracy, filed in September.
Federal prosecutors were opposed to any delay, writing in a Thursday court filing that the additional charges brought
earlier this month did not amount to substantially new conduct.
They also said Combs was not entitled to the alleged victim’s communications.
Read more: Everything you need to know about the Sean Combs trial
A sketch of Combs during one of his court appearances. Pic: Reuters
Meanwhile, Mr Subramanian is weighing other evidentiary issues, such as whether to allow alleged victims to testify under pseudonyms.
Also known during his career as Puff Daddy and P Diddy, Combs founded Bad Boy Records and is credited with helping turn rappers and R&B singers such as Notorious B.I.G, Mary J. Blige, Faith Evans and Usher into stars in the 1990s and 2000s.
But prosecutors have said his success concealed a dark side.
They say his alleged abuse included having women take part in recorded sexual performances called “freak-offs” with male sex workers, who were sometimes transported across state lines.
Combs has been in jail in Brooklyn since September, having been denied bail.
He also faces dozens of civil lawsuits by women and men who have accused him of sexual abuse.
Combs has strenuously denied all allegations of wrongdoing.
-
Sports2 years ago‘Storybook stuff’: Inside the night Bryce Harper sent the Phillies to the World Series
-
Sports1 year agoStory injured on diving stop, exits Red Sox game
-
Sports1 year agoGame 1 of WS least-watched in recorded history
-
Sports2 years agoMLB Rank 2023: Ranking baseball’s top 100 players
-
Sports4 years ago
Team Europe easily wins 4th straight Laver Cup
-
Environment2 years agoJapan and South Korea have a lot at stake in a free and open South China Sea
-
Environment2 years agoGame-changing Lectric XPedition launched as affordable electric cargo bike
-
Business3 years agoBank of England’s extraordinary response to government policy is almost unthinkable | Ed Conway