“Hey, Upper East Siders. Gossip Girl here.”
Just thinking about that line gives me a rush of serotonin. What could rival the rush of hearing, “Spotted: Blair Waldorf seen on the steps of the Met with Nate Archibald…”
Back in the early 2000s, in the age of Blackberry and Instant Messaging, it was harder to access information. Texts didn’t arrive as quickly and we didn’t have social media. Can you believe we relied on toxic tabloids and like … Perez Hilton and TMZ to get all the information we needed.
The information we needed? Where our favorite celebrities are right this very second, who they’re dating, and what drama is ensuing under the surface. We’ve become accustomed to believing we deserve to know every single thing going on in our idols’ lives.
So when I learned of our generation’s real life Gossip Girl, I followed immediately. During the pandemic, my friend clued me into the elusive world of @Deuxmoi, where people send in their anonymous tips about all things Hollywood.
Deuxmoi started on Instagram, but has expanded to Twitter, a podcast, and an upcoming book. Followers submit posts via email or Instagram DMs that will eventually be featured on her Instagram story for the entire world to see and speculate upon.
Scandals, concerts, baby names, cheating stars. Deuxmoi will tell you all of this information months before it’s announced to the general public. For example, I found out about Beyonce’s music far before Queen B dropped a hint.
A typical Deuxmoi post
Whether the posts are true or not is up to you, dear reader. It’s important to realize that these messages are often sent in by fans, so not all information is necessarily fact. Celebrities like Hailey Bieber follow the account and some have even posted about their disapproval.
Sebastian Stan recently told Variety about his experience seeing a post about himself talking heatedly on the phone. That’s right, you aren’t even safe walking down the street, talking on your phone in Deuxmoi’s world.
If we flipped the script, we would be horrified if we learned that a random person took an anonymous photo of our whereabouts and sent it into a platform of a million followers…but since it’s someone famous, it’s okay.
It goes along with our sick need to feed into the drama of those around us, distracting us from our own baggage. But I am no different from the rest, I am too curious not to snoop around. I’m a writer, after all…
These days, Instagram stories are a new way to consume news. Google reported that Gen-Z prefers TikTok and Instagram as their search engine methods. Who can blame them? Social media caters to our short attention spans. With Deuxmoi, all day long you are getting a constant stream of celeb news.
You don’t have to dig around or search for news, Deux doesn’t stop. Hundreds of blind items and sightings are sent in daily. I know we say Kris Jenner works hard, but I think Deuxmoi may work harder.
Just like Gossip Girl, whispers of DeuxMoi’s completely anonymous identity became just as thrilling as the drama itself. Little hints and clues were dropped, but no one could figure it out. We pondered, but couldn’t get very far…constantly asking who is Deuxmoi?
Deuxmoi’s personal brand became so compelling that their identity was finally revealed by Journalist Brian Feldman. In a Substack post, Feldman explains his interest in finding Deuxmoi’s identity:
“Deuxmoi has chosen to tie their individual identity to their increasingly public line of work. I support people telling their own story — which is not mutually exclusive from also believing that, at this point, the identity of whoever is telling that story is, in itself, newsworthy. Deuxmoi is a public figure.”
It turns out, Deuxmoi was founded by daughter of fashionable socialite Nan Kempner, Meggie Kempner and is currently being run by former model Melissa Lovallo. This information was confirmed when Hailey Biebs liked a post on Instagram regarding their identities, as she previously stated she knew who ran the account.
Yves Saint Laurent, Loulou de la Falaise, and Nan Kempner at the Opium launch, Studio 54
Deuxmoi does more than start drama amongst the public, posting news that often ruffles the feathers of fandoms. They’ve pioneered a new form of journalism in which the public is the source, and the outlet is completely disconnected from the story. This new way of community-sourced information is making the story more important than the network, with the network becoming a completely separate empire in the process.
In this new era of Gossip Girls and Serena Van Der Woodsens, I will continue to ravenously devour the Sunday Spotted and blind item reveals. The world of Deuxmoi is upon us, and everyone’s invited to share.
