Heavy Instagram user deletes app
Fresh off her youngest daughter’s star-studded wedding weekend, longtime Hallmark actress Andie MacDowell announced she was planning to delete her Instagram account because she was “tired of the world.” Hours later, all of her previous posts were gone.
Given that MacDowell, 65, already gave up on tweeting in 2019 and rarely posts on Facebook, she now has no active presence on social media. It’s not clear what caused her to go from posting multiple Instagram Stories a day to abruptly leaving the app, but her daughter Margaret Qualley‘s wedding to music producer Jack Antonoff in Long Beach Island, New Jersey, created a huge amount of online buzz and attracted crowds trying to catch a glimpse of them and their famous wedding guests, including Taylor Swift.
Here’s what you need to know:
MacDowell’s Last Instagram Photo Featured Her Only Grandchild
GettyAndie Macdowell arrives for the screening of the film “L’Ete Dernier” (Last Summer) during the 76th Cannes Film Festival on May 25, 2023
MacDowell, who stars on the Hallmark series “The Way Home,” spent the weekend with her family celebrating her daughter Margaret’s wedding in Long Beach Island, New Jersey. She and ex-husband Paul Qualley are parents to 28-year-old Margaret, an actress, as well as singer-songwriter Rainey Qualley, 33, and Montana rancher Justin Qualley, 37, who married his longtime love Nicolette in June. The couple has a one-year-old daughter, Cozette.
To reveal her decision to leave social media, MacDowell posted an Instagram Story on August 21, 2023, featuring a photo of herself on a sandy beach, holding Cozette in one arm and carrying her white Tod’s penny loafer moccasins in her other hand. MacDowell was dressed casually in a white linen blouse and gray visor, looking lovingly at her only granddaughter, who was smiling at the camera from under her pink sunhat.
Over the photo, MacDowell wrote, “I’m going to delete my account and if you’re wondering what I’m doing it’s going to be more of this ❤️🥰 I’m tired of the world but not of this”
Within hours, all posts had disappeared from MacDowell’s Instagram account. The account is no longer visible to the public, but her 357,000 followers could still see the actress’s photo and her bio, which reads, “Tree hugger, hiker, animal lover, dig kindness, not very good at social media … but I try.” She also left up a link to the 2019 music video she appeared in for Kirin J Callinan’s song “You Weren’t In Love With Me.”
Up until leaving the app, MacDowell has frequently posted Instagram Stories, sometimes multiple times a day, featuring inspiring quotes, photos of her family or down time at home, and news about her “The Way Home” castmates or other projects.
It’s not clear what prompted MacDowell to delete Instagram, but it’s possible that the fan frenzy around her daughter’s weekend wedding played a role. While many media outlets, including British Vogue, praised her and Margaret’s laid-back style during the festivities, lots of fans panned Margaret’s wedding dress and shoes, leaving harsh social media comments.
Andie MacDowell Left Twitter in 2019, Citing the ‘Pain’ She’d Experienced There
Getty“The Way Home” co-stars Chyler Leigh, Andie MacDowell and Sadie Laflamme-Snow attend the series’ premiere in January 2023
As for other social media, MacDowell had already left Twitter in July 2019, according to W Magazine, which reported that in several tweets before her departure, the actress shared how much “pain” the platform had caused her.
MacDowell wrote at the time, “I have failed at twitter. I like it to catch up on information or read articles. My sharing has mostly cause me pain. I read mean things from people I don’t know. It opens me up to sarcasm & too many mean people. I am a different generation. I don’t understand that kind of joy.”
She continued in another tweet, “It is hard not to look here or participate especially on a day when I am tired & sitting around the house doing nothing…I sit here read tweets, share, waste time like everyone else. But I think someone in my positive is like a sitting duck.”
“It’s ok with me to accept failure here,” MacDowell added. “I appreciated any kindness I have received. We are all dealing with real life issues. Peace be with you.”
According to the Independent, MacDowell also wrote that her daughter Margaret had urged her to leave Twitter “years ago.” Margaret may have inspired MacDowell’s Instagram departure, too, given that the young actress left the platform herself in August 2022, following a widely-buzzed-about shouting match with FKA Twigs about actor Shia Lebouf, whom they both dated at one time. According to Perez Hilton, Margaret deleted her Instagram account following the ordeal.
In May 2023, Margaret told Britain’s Evening Standard, “I don’t have Instagram. I’m not really in that game. It’s kind of a lose-lose situation.”
At the time of publication, MacDowell did still have an active Facebook account, but it is rarely updated, save for an occasional posting of an article she’s featured in. Her most recent post there was on March 27, in which she simply shared an interview she did with Katie Couric, but MacDowell added no comment.
Meanwhile, MacDowell has a TikTok account with 81 followers but has never posted, and she does not have an account on the newest social media platform, Threads.