The Man Behind the ‘Distracted Boyfriend’ Meme Finally Reveals the Shocking Truth Behind the Viral Photo
Remember that classic moment frozen in pixels—you know the one: the boyfriend caught mid-glance, checking out another lady while strolling with his girlfriend? Yep, that’s the ‘distracted boyfriend’ meme, one of the earliest legends to light up our social media feeds. It’s right up there with ‘success kid’, ‘this is fine’, and of course, the iconic ‘one does not simply’ from Lord of the Rings. But here’s the kicker—this viral sensation started as just a stock photo snapped by Antonio Guillem in Barcelona, featuring two models, Mario and Laura, who’ve cleverly stayed under the radar despite their meme fame. Have you ever wondered what it’s like to be unknowingly immortalised as the face of distraction—or betrayal? Dive into the hilarious backstory, the awkward photo shoots, and the unexpected internet fame that turned this stock image into a global cultural touchstone. LEARN MORE
The ‘distracted boyfriend’ meme has got to be one of the earliest social media memories.
It sits alongside ‘success kid’, ‘this is fine’, and the ‘one does not simply’ reference from Lord of the Rings as one of the best memes ever.
Antonio Guillem, a professional advertising photographer from Barcelona, Spain, captured the image in Catalonia in 2015, famously showing a disloyal man walking with his girlfriend while looking amazed at another girl.
Within two years, Guillem’s stock photo exploded into a globally recognised meme on Facebook and X (then known as Twitter), symbolising shifting focus or betrayal.
Funnily enough, both models in the photo have worked with Guillem for years and have chosen to remain anonymous, going only by Mario and Laura.
The ‘distracted boyfriend’ meme is GOATed (Getty Stock Images)
“For me it was a curious and funny photo shoot, especially when we had to make the photos like the meme, more humorous. When people saw us simulate those scenes in the street, they stopped to look and laugh. In my case I had to have a more serious face, and I had a hard time to keeping it,” Laura told The Hollywood Reporter in 2017.
Mario added: “I remember that it was kind of embarrassing because there were people watching and laughing and I had to make this silly face. But in the end, like we always do, I just forgot they were there and did my job. I remember it like a learning experience, and I had fun with my team.”
Laura said her phone started blowing up after her friends would tag her ‘on the posts they found on social media’.
The pair have chosen to remain anonymous (Getty Stock Images)
“Then Antonio sent us the first emails of interview requests he got about this photo, and I realised that it had become viral,” she explained.
Similarly, Mario said: “People just started sending these memes to me, filling up my social media, even people I hadn’t seen for many years.”
Because the pair have chosen to remain anonymous, Laura said that she never gets recognised on the street – unless she pulls that face.
The meme has been recreated many times (Getty Stock Images)
She joked: “Maybe if I put the face of the meme someone could recognise me, but no, no one has recognised me yet. Even some friends of mine told me, ‘Look, this girl looks like you’, and I said, ‘It’s me!’”
Laura added: “I think everyone once in their lives has been the girl in the red dress, maybe without being looked at with such brazenness. And I’ve never found myself in the situation that my boyfriend looks at a girl in that way so I’ve never been ‘my character’ in real life.”
Mario clarified that he ‘would never look [at] someone like that in real life’.
Speaking to New York’s Select All, Guillem admitted that ‘I never thought that one of my images will be that popular’.
“I didn’t even know what a meme is until recently, when the models started to tell me,” he added.
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