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Avril Lavigne has finally addressed the dark rumor circulating on the web that she’s not actually the real Avril Lavigne. In 2005, a conspiracy theory made its round on the internet claiming that the Canadian singer had actually died and was replaced by one Melissa Vandella, The Daily Mail reported.
The rumor went on to claim that Avril Lavigne took her own life in 2003 after the death of her grandfather and this Melissa Vandella character took over her career after. Thirteen years later, the “I’m With You” singer finally voiced her sentiment about the conspiracy during her interview on the KIIS FM's "The Kyle and Jackie O Show."
When host Jackie 'O' Henderson brought up the topic and asked Avril Lavigne whether or not the punk icon found the rumor funny, the singer said she actually found it bizarre that such stories exist. “Yeah, some people think that I'm not the real me, which is so weird! Like, why would they even think that?” Lavigne said.
As the rumors would have it, Avril Lavigne was allegedly suffering depression in the early years of 2000s and Melissa Vandella was brought into the team due to her uncanny resemblance to the punk princess. Vandella would pose for paparazzi and attend events in order to take some of the pressure off the singer. The pair supposedly bonded during those years and when Lavigne allegedly took her life in 2003, Vandella replaced the icon since the tragedy was never made public.
With the press and the masses none the wiser, Vandella’s transitioning into Avril Lavigne went swimmingly. And with Vandella having bonded with the “Sk8er Boi” hitmaker, it wasn’t too difficult to imitate the behavior and idiosyncrasies of Lavigne.
That was until her music changed. While Avril Lavigne built her career of being a tomboyish superstar singing about skating, hanging out, and being your emotional teenager, her music slowly changed from punk-pop to mainstream pop.
This is one of the factors that conspiracy theorists are heavily leaning towards, adding that the real Avril Lavigne wouldn’t have made such music to begin with. And after the punk turned pop singer married Nickelback frontman Chad Kroeger, the rumors solidified even more and persisted 13 years after it first surfaced on the web.
As for this Melissa Vandella, it’s still unclear if she’s a real person or an imaginary character created by those pushing this narrative. There are little traces of her on social media and her identity has never really been scrutinized to a point that would’ve made this Avril Lavigne rumor permanently go away.
