The Vine "Star" That Stole Her Best Friend's Boyfriend
A look back at when Jessica Hansen helped friend Sara Hopkins grow her Vine following, and Sara thanked her by apparently stealing her then-boyfriend.
Vine needs no introduction. Let’s get into it.
Back when Vine was huge, I, like every other millennial, was chronically on the app. Gen Zs and Alphas, you missed out. What a time. I was on the app early, so I’ve seen all kinds of things unfold.
In 2014, there were two creators who worked together quite a bit and, as I remember it, were openly dating (receipts further down). Their names are Robby Ayala and Jessisa Hansen. Jessica was also friends with another creator, Sara Hopkins, and the two of them seemed to hang out quite a bit, if I recall correctly. And I believe I do.
You see where this is going based on the headline.
Robby and Jessica were dating, Jessica and Sara were friends, Jessica suddenly stopped making content, and then Robby and Sara were suddenly together. And if you’ve followed them since Vine, you will know that Robby and Sara eventually got married, had children, and remain together to this day.
Jessica is a bigger woman than I am because, to her credit, she never addressed this publicly. Stronger than any Marine because I would have written a book about it. I bring you into the Vine fold, help you grow your following, and you thank me by stealing my fucking boyfriend*??? I would have been on Oprah, Ellen, Larry, Leno, everybody.
I don’t believe any party involved in this love triangle ever addressed it publicly. But I have stated the events as I remember them. And to be sure I remembered it correctly, I went digging. Google was useless. Thank God everything on Twitter is relentlessly archived because other people were commenting that they remember things the way I do:
Also, there’s some documented overlap (receipts below). An old Twitter page that auto-shared new Vines shows that Robby and Jessica were still together and making content together uptil late July of 2015. According to Sara’s own wedding invitation, which she shared on Instagram, she and Robby went on their first date on June 23, 2015. Overlap!
And worse still, that math means that Robby was dating the two for more than a month after his first date with Sara. He also said in a video that he “knew” Sara was the one in their “second week of dating”, yet continued to date both women for one whole month and a week. That’s three paycheques.
Also, if I can just address two things about this wedding “fun fact” sheet or whatever tf this is called:
And I know what someone might think: “But if they’ve been together all this time, about 12 years, maybe they really are meant to be together, and this is just unfortunate circumstances in how they met?”
No. Now, let’s lay out how I came to my conclusion:
I don’t believe that stabbing a friend in the back is ever the path to finding your person. The universe just isn’t fucked up like that.
Sara is Male Centred™. “OMG, I have a boyfriend/fiance/husband!!!” has been her brand for as long as I can remember. Every so often, I will go on a late-night Instagram dive and look through profiles of a bunch of old Vine creators. I don’t ever care enough to follow, but I like seeing where life took them. I always remembered Sara for apparently stealing her friend’s man, so she was on my roster. This woman is obsessed with having a man. Not vice versa for Robby, btw. Also, there is no doubt in my mind that she gets off on thinking to herself that her husband “picked her” over another woman.
I also believe that a part of her probably feels pressure to make the marriage work, or at least appear it’s working, because it started from a very frowned-upon way. I bet a part of her thinks staying married to him convinces us - and maybe herself - that what she did is okay because “oh hey we’re soulmates”. But no, Sara. You will always be The Other Woman™.
And where most prominent Viners have largely moved on, Sara has not. She mentions Vine in her bio, and her most viewed Vine is pinned to her Instagram profile. And she makes top ten videos of her own Vines. Like, girl, it’s been 12 years. I’ve had my work featured on Barack Obama’s Tumblr, and I dang near almost forgot about that, and I certainly don’t hang my hat on it. Oh, and I have a single TikTok with 45 million views. Original content. You think I’ll be making that my whole identity? Hell no.
So many creators jump into pursuing content creator careers, but rarely have what it takes to sustain long-term interest. Most of Sara’s posts averaged fewer than 600 likes until a few months ago. I’m going to go out on a limb and say that that kind of engagement level doesn’t comfortably pay the bills by itself.
Also, considering all this, this video of Sara and Robby talking about when they first met did not age well:
*allegedly