Why Everyone's Talking About Wizard Liz's Breakup

When an aspirational love story falls apart publicly, it strikes a nerve. Here's what Wizard Liz's breakup reveals about our collective fears around love, image, and identity.

By Mark Travers, Ph.D. | June 9, 2025

Recently, the internet has been abuzz over a heartbreak that feels strangely personal to many. This started when self-help YouTuber Wizard Liz revealed that her fiancé, Landon Nickerson, had cheated on her. She is currently four months pregnant, adding even more weight to the betrayal.

For the longest time, many followers have admired her and seen her as proof that healing, setting boundaries and demanding respect can truly transform one's life. Her heartbreak feels personal and painful to them, and a public outcry has followed.

More than anything, people are wrestling with the question of how and why this could happen. A common reaction is, "If someone like Wizard Liz can get cheated on, then is anyone truly safe?"

Many fans are expressing a renewed resolve to rely on themselves rather than others. Some openly admitted that the story of Wizard Liz's betrayal intensified their mistrust, especially toward men, highlighting a collective sense of vulnerability.

This disconnect has fueled feelings of betrayal not just toward him, but toward the illusion of perfect relationships often portrayed online.

Here are two reasons why this may have hit people harder than expected.

1. It Shook Core Beliefs About Healing And Love

Wizard Liz is popular because she embodies what having high standards and strong self-worth looks like in real life, and she consistently preaches the same to her audience. To many, she represented the idea that inner work helps you attract better relationships.

For this very reason, her betrayal didn't just disrupt a relationship; it disrupted the belief that doing the inner work guarantees emotional safety.

A 2024 study published in the journal Psychology of Popular Media explored how people's idealized romantic beliefs, the kind of fan they are and their gender influenced how they emotionally respond when a favorite celebrity commits infidelity in a romantic relationship.

Researchers surveyed over 390 Chinese college students. All the participants were grouped into different audience types based on their parasocial focus, namely, romance fans (those invested in the celeb's romantic life), friendship fans and other fans (e.g., career-focused admiration).

They measured how the participants would react if their favorite celebrity cheated, considering three aspects: perceived severity of the act, emotional responses (like hurt or anger) and willingness to forgive.

People who held more idealized romantic beliefs (like believing in soulmates or perfect love) viewed celebrity infidelity as more serious.

Even after controlling for how strong their parasocial bond was, gender and fan type still influenced reactions in two ways.

There was a significant interaction between gender and audience type, suggesting that, say, female romance fans might respond differently than male friendship fans. Gender alone also affected how severe, emotionally upsetting and forgivable the infidelity seemed.

This means the way people react to celebrity betrayals like Liz's experience isn't just about fandom. It's shaped by their romantic ideals, gender and the nature of their connection with her.

Her relationship may have been seen as the ideal outcome of inner work, so its collapse may have felt disappointing, like a blow to their healing process.

While this is an understandable response, a better takeaway from this situation is that healing may not save you from life's disappointments, but it will help you meet them with resilience.

That's exactly what Liz portrays as well. Despite the deeply personal and public nature of her betrayal, she didn't justify or defend it but she called it out directly.

She honored her self-worth not by avoiding pain, but by refusing to shrink herself for someone who couldn't meet her standards. This is what healing and inner work prepare you for: to ultimately choose yourself when it matters the most.

2. It Shattered The 'Safe Partner' Illusion

Liz's breakup hit a nerve because her fiancé was widely seen as the perfect partner by many, the kind of emotionally available and supportive man many aspire to have.

He appeared to be a "green flag," and their connection represented what a safe and loving relationship should look like. For Liz's audience, who admired her for her high standards, this betrayal was deeply unsettling.

If you already hold distorted beliefs about love, betrayal or abandonment, this breakup may have triggered or reinforced them, especially because it happened to someone who seemed so in control or someone you may have placed on a pedestal.

A 2022 study published in the Journal of Business Research examined how fans emotionally experience and cope with the "breakup" when a celebrity they admire is publicly accused of wrongdoing.

Although their love for celebrities is based on a one-sided, parasocial relationship, the ending of such attachments causes them real and intense emotional trauma.

The authors build on Giddens' idea of "loveshock," the disorienting and painful aftermath of falling out of love and introduce the concept of "para-loveshock" to describe this trauma in parasocial contexts.

They identify three key ways fans express and manage this trauma publicly:

• Grief enfranchisement. Openly sharing and legitimizing their feelings of loss.
• Flagellation. Self-blame or guilt over feeling betrayed or for investing emotionally.
• Indignation. Anger and moral outrage are directed at the celebrity's behavior.

These fan behaviors are social and discursive, meaning fans perform them in public conversations (e.g., on social media), which both validates their feelings and helps them process the breakup.

In the context of Liz's breakup, for fans who admired the relationship as an ideal, the betrayal would feel like a personal loss and be the reason for provoking a para-loveshock-like reaction.

This can manifest as grief, self-blame or anger. Understanding this response helps explain why this whole situation may hit so deeply, especially when the partner was put on a pedestal as a model of emotional availability and safety. For many, it may have disrupted their hopes and beliefs about love and security.

This may serve as a mirror reflecting collective anxieties around intimacy and abandonment. Let this be a reminder to be more compassionate, not only toward the celebrities who stumble but also toward ourselves as we navigate the complex landscape of modern emotional attachments.

No matter how perfect a relationship may seem from the outside, it can still face struggles and challenges behind the scenes. Similarly, no matter how perfect a person may seem, they can still fall into old or damaging patterns.

Navigating A Parasocial Breakup

It's crucial to acknowledge your emotions around such situations, even if they stem from a celebrity relationship. These parasocial bonds can be deeply impactful and your feelings are valid.

However, as much as it may feel like you know them, you do not have access to the subconscious patterns, personal struggles or emotional experiences that shaped their choices and situations. This understanding doesn't mean excusing or justifying behaviors like infidelity.

Even though Liz's brand is rooted in empowerment, it's important to recognize that she and anyone in the public eye can face personal challenges. Many fans have also commented on her appearance, perpetuating the false idea that if you're "attractive enough" you're less likely to be cheated on. This places the blame on the victim rather than the perpetrator of infidelity.

Simply put, you're not cheated on because of what you do in a relationship or what you look like. The responsibility and reasoning behind infidelity lie solely with the person who cheated.

To view this situation more objectively, you must take her off the pedestal and remember that she is human too, with complexities and vulnerabilities just like any of us.

No matter how similar the situation may seem to your own experiences or how deeply it affects you, it's important to detach yourself from it and avoid taking it as a definitive example for your healing or relationship.

Keep in mind that this is just one story. One celebrity or influencer's experience is not a blueprint for your own life. This is why you must be mindful and reflective about how you're perceiving a celebrity breakup or case of infidelity. Don't let it reinforce or add to any existing negative beliefs you might hold about men, love or relationships.

Wondering if you tend to form strong parasocial connections with celebrities? Take the science-backed Celebrity Attitude Scale to find out.

A similar version of this article can also be found on Forbes.com, here.