In April, we learned that Henry Cavill was quietly dating Natalie Viscuso, who is some kind of Hollywood executive. Post-Kaley Cuoco, Henry really avoided dating fellow celebrities, so it doesn’t surprise me that he’s dating someone who works behind-the-scenes in Hollywood, nor does it surprise me that he seems all-in with Viscuso pretty quickly. I think he’s just like that – he falls hard and fast, and I got the impression that when he went Instagram-official with Viscuso in April, they really hadn’t been dating that long, maybe only a month or two. As soon as they became IG-official, people began going overboard, trying to find out information about Viscuso and her life and her job, etc. There’s always a weird energy around Cavill and his fans. Sometimes his fans bring a toxic, doxx-adjacent energy to whoever he’s dating. Well, Henry is standing up to his fans and telling them to stop bringing their sh-t into his relationship. He posted this to Instagram (I only edited it to make paragraph breaks):
Dear fans and followers, I wanted to make a wee community announcement. I couldn’t help but notice that there has been some social animosity of late. It’s becoming increasingly prevalent on my feed. There has been lots of, let’s call it speculation for now, about my private life and professional partnerships.
Now, while I do appreciate the passion and support by those very people who are “speculating”, It has come to such a point that I needed to say something, which in itself, is a bad thing. We are living in an age of social enlightenment. More and more, people are realising that their views may have been blinkered and that they need to expand them to encompass others. So, to you out there who are expressing your disdain and showing your displeasure through a surprising variety of ways, it’s time to stop.
I know it can be fun to speculate, to gossip, and to dive into our own personal echo chambers on the internet, but your “passion” is misplaced, and it causes harm to the people I care about most. Even your most conservative of negative assumptions about both my personal and professional life just aren’t true.
Let’s embrace this age of social enlightenment together, and move forward with positivity. I am very happy in love, and in life. I’d be enormously grateful if you were happy with me. If you can’t bring yourself to be happy with me, then at the very least try to do yourself proud and be the best version of yourself.
I have no idea what preceded this but I can imagine Cavill was probably getting a lot of comments on his social media, and the comments were similar to the ones here when they became IG-official. Stuff about how Viscuso is his “beard,” or how she’s shady and doesn’t “deserve” him or how they’re just together to further his career. I’ll say a version of what I said before: in the year of our lord Beyonce 2021, if Henry Cavill wanted to be out and proud, he would be. The “beard” comments are homophobic, and the attempts at doxxing this woman are disturbing. Just let your faves enjoy their romances with consenting adults. I really respect Cavill for standing up to his fans like this.
Photos courtesy of Henry Cavill’s IG.
Henry should know how social media works. If he wants to lead a quiet life and not have negative comments, he shouldn’t be posting.
As he said, it’s fine to gossip and speculate, but it’s different to have people wishing your GF would die or be harmed… it’s not what social media should be about
Right? Nobody should have to hide their love for fear of toxic fans. Remember how Robert Pattinson was silent during the FKA days – well except for a stupid statement in an interview where he placed the responsibility on the victim to pretend it isn’t there? Well, we didn’t know how badly he harmed FKA until her Louis Theroux interview where she talked about how these trolls made her start seeing a monkey whenever she looked at her own pics. That relationship broke her and the album borne out of it is one of the most heartbreaking things I’ve ever had. No wonder she was easy pickings for Shia Labeouf, she had spent years being shown she didn’t even deserve a simple statement of support. Silence doesn’t stop trolls, it just keeps their behavior hidden. And in some ways it even validates their behavior because they can pretend it’s just harmless words.
Way to victim blame.
This is a little too close to “she was asking for it by wearing that short skirt” for me. I’ve never called someone out on here before, but that’s some serious victim blaming.
I’m not familiar with Cavill’s social media accounts, so I’m not sure what kinds of things he posts. But social media is a fact of every day life now. It can be toxic, yes. But it’s also a way for people to share the things that make them happy. People shouldn’t have to alter their behavior because someone else is acting badly. And no one should expect someone to alter their behavior because someone else is acting badly.
So if you use social media, you simply have to accept that people can treat you and your friends/family badly? Nope nope nope. People have the same expectation to be treated as courteously online as they are in person.
I see comments like this and it seems like a way of blaming the victim. Being on social media isn’t an invitation to be bullied or harassed, and anyone experiencing that has the right to speak out about it, especially since it seems to be bothering someone who isn’t a public figure.
Maybe I’m just old (and to be fair I am old enough that I did not grow up with social media) but I just don’t understand why celebrities open themselves up to their fans like this. Not that anything excuses online harassment but, were I famous, I would keep all my SM strictly neutral – friendly and informative, sure but certainly all the really personal stuff would be over on the private accounts where my real friends live. Why expose your other half to this kind of attention? Why rob her of her anonymity and potentially compromise her safety?
This is the wrong thinking and the wrong take.
Nope! Absolutely no, never. It’s not ok and even if he didn’t use social media, you can bet he, his gf, their friends would still receive insults and threats. Using SM doesn’t mean you have to accept being insulted and bullied on a daily basis, it’s never acceptable or part of the job.
I’m sorry, but that’s absurd.
No one should have to accept negative, discourteous, or harmful comments just because they are on social media. That’s just giving in to the “haters.”
Instead, people should do just what Cavill is doing, standing up for courteousness and good manners. Otherwise, what you are advocating is for social media to give itself over to a complete dumpster fire of sociopathy.
Um what? Nope. Fans were harassing her and others and on Mother’s Day when she posted about her dead mother was getting harassed. I am glad he spoke up.
This is the “she wore a short dress” so she deserves to be raped point of view. Let’s stop all forms of victim blaming, shall we?
I respect him for doing this too. I read that some fans were sending her death threats. She’s not famous, people should be leaving her alone and now search up every little detail about her. I’ve heard some say they think this could make it worse for the couple, but I’m sure she appreciates her bf standing up for her rather than just remaining silent. Hopefully people will go outside and breath greasy air instead.
Agreed. As I read his statement, I was drawn to wanting to change “enlightenment” to “entitlement”, as I thought it was much more fitting. Fans or followers, some have this idea that they are allowed to be judgmental and hateful trolls, whereas don’t. I am glad that he stood up to his trolls, but I am in agreement with @ Astrid stated. Cavill knows how IG works as there is plenty of history that has proven we have plenty of trolls out there.
No one deserves internet death threats and harassment.
But, mostly I find his prose kind of pretentious and condescending. He is absolutely intent on ruining my lust for him haha
i thought that a bit, too, but i think he was trying to say what he needed/wanted to say, but still be very careful about the language he was using. to me, it sounded like he was trying very hard to not further antagonize anyone.
Kind of Damned if you do, Damned if you don’t situation. I personally think fans like that need to be called out and told to stop but some are so far gone they’re using it as proof that hes being held hostage or something. This goes for a handful of other celebs and I genuinely feel bad.
This man doesn’t exactly strike me as gay and even if he was why would he need a “beard”? Ive never heard of gay men that actually do that. Especially not in 2021. As for his girlfriend, she seems like a mature woman who has a life of her own. Maybe thats what he needs. I don’t really keep up with henry cavill but i see nothing suspicious here.
Back when he was first getting famous 10-15 years ago there were LOTS of pictures of him hanging all over men. No, that doesn’t make him gay, but the fact that they’ve mostly been scrubbed from the internet is suspicious and where those comments come from.
Maybe he was just hanging around with mates?
I’m guessing you haven’t seen any of the pics in question..
“Back when he was first getting famous 10-15 years ago there were LOTS of pictures of him hanging all over men. No, that doesn’t make him gay,”
It doesn’t make him gay, you’re right, and that’s the reason why we shouldn’t speculate… And even if he liked men but he now prefers women… We always applaud men doing the opposite, go figure…
I don’t follow him closely but he seems somebody who speaks out and I think he would be out and proud if he was exclusively into men. People should stop gossiping about his sexuality and leaving him alone.
He is allowed to be bisexual and still commit to women. He is also allowed to be bisexual and not discuss it with the public.
What Penguin said!
“This man doesn’t exactly strike me as gay’ , so what does that mean? He doesn’t wear floral prints or cross stitch? It may surprise you that gay guys come in all shapes and forms and are in all professions (yep we are not all florists or hairdressers). As for gay men not needing ‘beards’ in 2021 you clearly have no understanding of the prejudice and homophobia that is still out there.
@jeff calm down. Lol. Im well aware of the prejudices still out there. Im just saying that he doesn’t seem like the type of person to use women like that. I also like to think that he is mature enough that he would want to be honest with himself and that if he truly was gay, he would rather be single than use women to cover it up.
I know people aren’t necessarily his biggest fan and he dated that college student for a bit. But all of his girlfriends since have been age appropriate and low-key. I was surprised at the announcement he had a new girlfriend because I thought he was still dating that stuntwoman. And he made some questionable comments around Me Too (which he apologized for so I’m hoping he now has educated himself but who knows). But I still like him… He comes across as a huge enthusiastic nerd in interviews and like a decent guy. Unless stories come out that he’s been like Armie Hammer or I dunno, Charlie Sheen, I hope I can keep being a fan. And I hope people leave his sexuality alone. What goes on between him and his girlfriend between two consenting adults is none of our business.
Oh I forgot about the Me Too comments! Damn, they were bad and stupid
A decent guy? I guess we have different definitions of “decent”
It’s a “wee” announcement because it only had to reach six people, and two of them are his publicist and agent.
This one thinks that way more people are fascinated by him than actually are.
He has 16 million Instagram followers, so if even a fraction of them are issuing threats and negative posts, it needs to be said.
She’s pretty and appears age appropriate. That’s nice.
I like him.
The fans apparently also went after and harassed Danny Garcia (the Rock’s ex wife who also represents Henry) for dumb shit like not getting him better bookings etc. Stan culture is really toxic. If I were a celeb, I would have a PR person running my acct and keep my post strictly professional because people are crazy and this is why we can’t have nice things
Yep, agreed.
Stan culture is truly the worst.
It didn’t stop with his girlfriend either. They also harassed his agent (or manager, not sure which she is) and complained about a post of him congratulating her with her new clothing line. Claiming that she was running his account and basically suggesting she was holding him and his career “prisoner”. At a certain point they even went after Millie Bobby Brown for whatever reason.
It’s just really really weird, and sick, and f**ked up.
I think she demanded that their relationship be out. Why? Shortly before this there was an article about him dating a Canadian woman and a photo. Maybe it was a misidentification, so she wanted it known she was his girlfriend. After that, all of a sudden he debuts his relationship via social media with Natalie.
“Henry Cavill was spotted in London, England, with a woman who just so happens to be a
Canadian environmental scientist named Danielle Beausoleil, according to the Daily Mail. The pair was spotted taking in the sights on April 7, 2021, as they walked Cavill’s dog, Kal, together.”
But no one deserves to be harrassed.
I mean, it was ultimately still his choice to not only date her but post about her so im not sure where this ‘demand’ it’s in. Sounds like the exact kind of speculation he’s asking people to stop.
Yeah. Ignore my post. Some days I make no sense. LOL
Chris Evans fans are like this too. Deuxmoi shared that she doesn’t like covering Chris stories because of the Lily James situation. Apparently she was fed bullsh*t info and constantly hounded about Ms. James.
After the gross MeToo comments Cavill made I was done with him, but I appeciate how he’s sticking up for his girlfriend. Harry did it for Meghan on a much larger scale and Robert Pattinson SHOULD have done it for FKA. If you really love someone, you have to truly have their back.
That’s what I was about to say – Harry has “love shielded” Meghan multiple times and people ooh and aah over him, another English bloke who was somehow forgiven multiple problematic mistakes in his youth, but yet Henry does this and people here don’t trust him/ believe him/ IDEK what.
Lots of guys can say clueless stuff about Me Too AND be fundamentally decent people. I’m tired of cancelling people who aren’t (as far as we know) causing mass harm but are just being ignorant/ negligent while we still have actual seditionists, bigots and child rapists walking among us.
Chris Evans’s fans make a lot of shit up. They say he’s dating that person, doing a PR pap walk with that actress and then getting engaged to another person. I’ve read comments on other gossip sites sharing those stories and when asked how they know that, they answer they read it on tumblr or saw a tiktok vid… Stan culture is f’cking bizarre
I don’t know what’s going on with this drama and I don’t feel one way or the other about Henry Cavill (the only thing I’ve ever seen him in is The Count of Monte Cristo) but I will say one thing: these photos are hyper-staged. Like… who thought these photos would quell any sort of rumor? He needs a better PR manager.
He’s always making these dramatic statements about the women he dates on Insta. He did it with Gina Carrino, too. I used to follow him on Insta but he’s just too much drama for me. Also, he kinda lost me when he dated a high school girl.
With what we know about her now it that part of his dating life doesn’t look so great
He’s got some deranged fans. Most aren’t like that. But the bad ones really do take the shine out of things.
Beyond the one or two incredibly age-inappropriate girlfriends who deserved massive side-eye, no girlfriend has ever gained the fandom’s approval. It’s usually not until they are gone that suddenly people take off the spite glasses and see the women as actual people. Because the woman is dating their favorite. Granted, some of those girlfriends have turned out to be shady down the line, so maybe the disapproval is merited, I don’t know.
The only thing in this entire situation that I can understand people possibly getting worked up about, is how someone from LA flew to the UK during a pandemic. People are exhausted from Covid. Haven’t seen their loved ones in a year. The producer from The Witcher hasn’t seen her kids because of the rules. And so if he did bring someone over for romantic reasons, it doesn’t seem fair, does it? But then, the rich and famous never really play by the rules anyway, so I don’t see why people wouldn’t think it is any different for Cavill.
The most important part he failed to adress is the fact he broke COVID restrictions bringing this LA girl to his house while everyone else in The Witcher crew had to stay away from their families for over one year, including Lauren herself, but that’s just me.
1. Don’t speculate about my private life but I will call the paps to walk with an unnamed woman in the park who pulls her mask down. I will also say nothing when three different women are harassed.
2. Don’t speculate about my love life when a chick from LA randomly shows up as my gf in London during a global pandemic.
3. Don’t speculate about my professional partnerships when my business manager constantly hoes me out for clout
4. Don’t speculate about my gf even though she scrubbed her whole IG and left it open and got herself verified.
5. and don’t speculate why I got all this energy for the drama when I clearly don’t have energy for Durrell. Also I’m happy so don’t speculate about why I look so sad in my solo pap walks.
So you’re the fan he’s talking about.
All of this DEFINITELY warrants death threats. Good job! If you’d actually seen some of the comments, it was truly ugly. He’s not saying stop taking about me, he’s saying stop harassing me and my gf. He can call the paps and still not want to wade through hateful garbage all day.
Well that’s not creepy psycho fan rationalising AT ALL! You’re totally sane and reasonable. Totally. *Backs away slowly*
He’s made some questionable dating choices and flouted some pandemic regulations so those things make me side-eye him.
But he is beautiful and seems sweet and seems to be interested in age-appropriate relationships now, so I wish him well and I hope he’s happy.
Snowoneaster your number 2 is a good point. The rest is a bit much. Maybe you need a breather.
D, that was a good summary, thanks.
I have always thought he was this nice non Hollywood type dude that’s pretty quiet and just promotes his stuff. Nothing about him screams PR.
I remember a similar thing happened with the Outlander guy. Do the Brit actors get worse harassment?
Good for Henry. The comment section on DM about his IG post is rather frightening. These people are nutty!
I am now a Henry Cavill superfan, and I just had to Google how to spell his name (yes, I know, it is at the top of the article, now, after I Googled).
This is what the world has come to, apparently. Every single part of his comment reminded me of Harry and Meghan, and the absolute hellscape people in the public eye have to deal with. I am so sorry, to all of you.