“Mario”, the “Distracted Boyfriend” Meme Model, Breaks His Silence: “I Would Never Look [at] Someone Like That”

Yes, this story deserved a follow-up.

Earlier this week, we published an email interview conducted with the photographer behind the “Distracted Boyfriend” stock photograph that has been meme’d into our collective consciousness.

The only time I am going to use the #DistractedBoyfriend meme. pic.twitter.com/vUA3sRly1j

— Helene Holstein (@HelHathNoFury) August 29, 2017

It was exactly why I got into the journalism game.

But there was one thing photographer Antonio Guillem couldn’t do, and that was speak for his long-time collaborators and models, referred to only as “Mario” and “Laura”.

(No name was given for the mysterious woman in red who catches the eye of “Mario”, with Antonio enigmatically explaining they no longer work together. As if this frozen, adulterous tableau needed another layer of intrigue.)

Today, their silence has been broken. Antonio has been back in touch via email, sharing with multiple outlets some answers on behalf of the Barcelona-based “Mario” and “Laura” (again, no last/real names given).

For the sake of the public interest, we republish those responses here today.

pic.twitter.com/4Z53MgtXfW

— edgelord allan poe (@haarleyquin) August 22, 2017

When asked if he had ever acted like his now-iconic character from the photograph, “Mario” insisted he “would never look [at] someone like that in real life”.

“Laura”, similarly, said she couldn’t identify with her own character (phew), but added, “I think everyone once in their lives has been the girl in the red dress; maybe without being looked at with such brazenness.”

(Wait, is this photograph actually a pointed feminist commentary on the male gaze? Layers!)

Neither model has been recognised on the street as of yet. However, “Mario” says “people I hadn’t seen for many years” started reaching out to him on social media when the photo started going viral.

They’re also taking the memes quite well.

“We have not paid much attention to everything posted on the net but I can say, by the little that I have seen, that people have a lot of imagination,” “Laura” said, diplomatically.

“As we are working really hard to give our clients the best quality photos we can make, I do not really have the time to follow these things, but for what I have seen I can say that it's crazy what people can imagine,” the ever-professional “Mario” added.

Still, you should heed Antonio’s words: They will take the “appropriate legal measures” if their image is used in an offensive way.

“I’m talking, for example, about the image where their faces are changed by a dog face, a garbage bag, and a dog food bag,” he explained.

We would say this is the last article we’ll ever publish about the “Distracted Boyfriend” meme, but honestly, we can’t promise that.

Photo: iStock.com/AntonioGuillem