Cosmo ME’s autumn cover star, Mayan El Sayed, unveils the unfiltered truth of her battle against the crucible of online scrutiny. At just 25, Mayan’s rise to stardom placed her squarely in the crosshairs of social media’s double-edged sword. Learning to distance herself from the noise, Mayan talks of her journey towards self-love, and against the external validation of likes and follows.
Mayan El Sayed shares her journey with public scrutiny
The anonymity of the internet often emboldens faceless trolls, leaving even the brightest stars vulnerable to a barrage of criticism. It’s a reality that Mayan found herself fighting against, as she reveals,
“When you’re a public figure people have the authority to say their opinions about you. On social media, it’s even worse because you don’t see them, you don’t know them, and they’re telling you something about yourself. They could be completely wrong, or right, and it affects you so deeply.“
Mayan El Sayed on navigating fame and social media
Celebrities, wielding influence and captivating audiences on a global scale, often walk a delicate tightrope when it comes to social media. While these platforms offer a direct and accessible line to fans, we often find that celebs intentionally choose not to divulge every facet of their lives online.
As Mayan rose to fame, she quickly found that posting “everything and anything…out of connection and excitement” was affecting her roles. She says,
“It was making me less believable as an actress because your fans know you so well. Whatever character you’re portraying, it’s so hard to believe in that because you’re online 24/7.“
The Gen Z powerhouse found that limiting her social media presence would allow her to lean into her artistry even more, whilst safeguarding her essence and establishing a distance between herself and any online scrutiny.
Fame taught Mayan that validation should come from within
In re-evaluating the role social media played in her life, Mayan was able to fortify her love for herself without the need for external validation. She reveals,
“On social media you feel like you need the likes, the followers, and the validation – it affects the way you love yourself and your self-esteem. Now I understand that self-love and self-validation must come from within, not from others. I understood that because of fame.”
Mayan invites us into her world, dispelling the myth of stardom and revealing that, beneath the spotlight, she’s simply another twenty-something navigating the path toward self-love. And for this trailblazer, fame provided the crucible for the essential realization that the most genuine forms of love are the ones we cultivate for ourselves.
Read Mayan’s full Cosmo cover story here.