10 Celebrities Who Just Can’t Quit Twitter
Twitter is the celebrity oracle, allowing them to spout endless missives in 140-character lines. Some famous folk use it for good -- shameless self promotion, charity endeavors -- and others go on bizarre rants. Either way, a lot of celebs end up regretting some of their posts (or in some cases, all of them) and pulling the plug on the social media outlet entirely.
But they almost always return.
These celebs have all quit Twitter just to come crawling back. Sometimes it takes days, sometimes it takes hours, sometimes it takes months or years -- but who doesn't love the @replies and attention?
Take a gander at 10 celebs who left Twitter, only to come right back to it like a boomerang. #addicted!
Alec Baldwin (@alecbaldwin)
Alec Baldwin is almost as famous for his temper as he is for his now-legendary portrayal of Jack Donaghy on '30 Rock,' and his temper is why he's left Twitter more than once. Most of his posts were innocuous, but he lashed out at paparazzi pretty often, with one post even comparing himself to Trayvon Martin.
Baldwin left Twitter in July 2013, only to return three weeks later. He then deleted all of his previous posts, and now his feed consists solely of retweets about his newborn daughter with wife Hilaria.
Chris Brown (@chrisbrown)
Chris Brown is prone to lengthy rants, most of which he later erases. But his feud with professional troll Jenny Johnson (who pretty much harassed him, as well as fellow celebs like Kim Kardashian, incessantly) led him to delete his account for over a month. For a while his team took over his tweets, but Breezy is back in full form ... for now.
Miley Cyrus (@mileycyrus)
Miley Cyrus was addicted to Twitter and one of the first celebs to pretty much use it nonstop. Realizing her dependency and desperation for attention, Cyrus ditched the medium in October 2009, explaining just those reasons why in a rap video she released to YouTube. However, by April 2011, Cyrus realized that she wanted to show off her haircut, her dogs and her nouveau "urban" lifestyle so much that she finally came back.
Liam Payne (@Real_Liam_Payne)
The One Direction singer threw in the Twitter towel after angry Directioners lashed out at him and his new girlfriend on the microblog. (He was probably especially sensitive to it since the fans' cyber bullying was a factor in his last breakup from Danielle Peazer.) After lecturing fans on why they should be nice -- or at least not harass strangers -- Payne tweeted, "#done."
Of course, "#done" simply meant "for four days," after which he returned, partly due to trending topics like "#WeLoveLiam" and "#ComeBackLiam."
James Franco (@JamesFrancoTV)
James Franco first joined Twitter with the simple moniker @JamesFranco, but left in April 2011. Why? He explained to POLITICO, "Social media is over. Still up there. Going down. You heard it here first ... my thought was 'This is my Twitter. I can do whatever I want.' But certain companies I work with contacted me about what I was saying."
Despite the medium being "over," the ever avant-garde, "above it" Franco rejoined Twitter in May 2012 to promote 'Gallery Tramps.' Guess it's only over when you don't have anything to promote!
Jennifer Love Hewitt (@TheReal_Jlh)
Jennifer Love Hewitt comes under a lot of fire for everything from her weight to her engagement ring habit, and it started to take a toll on the 'Ghost Whisperer' star. She didn't go into details, but apparently people were mean enough in July to make her quit the medium:
https://twitter.com/TheReal_Jlh/statuses/352545264776650752
Of course, Hewitt was back within a month, because bad vibes are still better than no @replies.
Ashton Kutcher (@aplusk)
Ashton Kutcher was one of the first and most prolific Twitter users, but even he took a hiatus. The 'Jobs' star handed over control of the account to his management when he and estranged, soon-to-be-ex wife Demi Moore first split, likely because both of them were known for oversharing in 140 characters or less.
"It used to be a personalized experience that I could share," he bemoaned later. "I think media f—ed it up. There’s a lot of people selling s--- that I don’t want in my feed. Maybe I need to curate my feed better. When I first started using it it felt like the democratization of media ... When they added the retweet button, it created a lot of noise in the system that hurt the experience."
Demi Lovato (@ddlovato)
Demi Lovato has been through a lot in her short life, making her one of the most mature, well-adjusted young celebs out there -- but even she's got issues with Twitter. She's taken plenty of "breathers" from the site, some relating to relationship or friendship drama, some related to rehab, some related to the media scrutiny she faces -- and they all seem to go down in the winter.
In January 2012, Lovato took a break for a "cleansing retreat." In early January 2013, she wrote, "I don’t get how people get ‘stories’ from very vague twitter posts…About friendship….??" She added, "Blehh. I really love my fans but I hate gossip sites…Gonna take a breather from twitter..I love y'all!" Later that month, she claimed Twitter "just gets me into trouble."
She keeps coming back though, often posting inspirational messages to her super devoted Lovatics, so we hope she stays.
John Mayer (@johnmayer)
Back when he had his @johncmayer handle, John Mayer was a hilarious and prolific Tweeter, but it took a toll on his songwriting ability. He left Twitter in fall 2010, explaining on his blog, "It occurred to me that since the invocation of Twitter, nobody who has participated in it has created any lasting art. And yes! Yours truly is included in that roundup as well," he wrote. "No artwork created by someone with a healthy grasp of social media thus far has proven to be anything other than disposable."
He added, "I'm not knocking Twitter for those who are trying to make a name for themselves. Some people need all the RTs they can get today. But for those who have already established themselves it's a slow erosion of the artistic notion."
Interestingly enough, his current girlfriend, Katy Perry, is the most followed person on Twitter. We guess you just love who you love.
Kanye West (@kanyewest)
Prone to lengthy rants which he later deletes, similar to Chris Brown, Kanye West deleted his entire feed in May 2013 to build hype and mystery for his 'Yeezus' album -- and he promptly got right back on the microblog horse, which he continues to use to promote his work.