"Avril Is Dead": The Lookalike Hoax

The Story

Avril Lavigne is alive, and she has dismissed the claim that she was replaced. The rumor is still worth understanding as an example of how an online theory can take on a life of its own.

The Guardian traces it to 2011, when a Brazilian blog called 'Avril Está Morta' ('Avril is Dead') asked a question. What if Lavigne had been replaced by a lookalike shortly after her 2002 debut album, 'Let Go'? In the version the Guardian describes, record executives who could not give up their star brought in a lookalike named Melissa. BBC Bitesize describes a different version, in which Lavigne herself hired Melissa to distract photographers. It also notes speculation that the theory dates back to 2005.

'It's just a dumb internet rumor.' (Avril Lavigne, to Entertainment Weekly, 2019)

The 'evidence' is thin. As the Guardian put it, Lavigne's appearance has changed a little, 'although 22 years will do that to you.' Her music has changed, 'possibly because she isn't a teenage girl any more,' and so has her handwriting. She also once wrote 'Melissa' on her hand during a photo shoot.

Lavigne has answered the theory directly. In November 2018 she told the Australian radio station KIIS 1065, 'Some people think that I'm not the real me, which is so weird!' In 2019 she told Entertainment Weekly that it was 'just a dumb internet rumor' and that she was 'flabbergasted that people bought into it.' She added: 'On one hand, everyone is like, "Oh my god, you look the same," and on the other hand people are like "Oh my god, she died."'

In 2024 the theory reached a new audience through a BBC Sounds comedy podcast, 'Who Replaced Avril Lavigne?,' hosted by the Irish comedian Joanne McNally. The Guardian's review called the theory 'ludicrous.'