Woman shocked at viral response after revealing she doesn’t share bedroom with her boyfriend
When Chantel Billy shared that she and her partner sleep in separate beds online she didn’t expect to receive backlash.
Billy, 27, from Melbourne, has been with her partner for three and a half years.
She revealed their sleeping habits and night-time routine in a candid TikTok.
“My partner and I don’t share a bedroom. Every night at 7.30pm, we meet in his room, and he makes us a cup of tea, and we watch an episode of our television show,” she shared.
“Then we part ways and both have a good night sleep. I love us.”
The simple clip amassed over two million views and the concept of a couple sleeping in separate bedrooms seemed to make some people really mad.
There were of course people online that resonated with Billy’s sleeping admission, with some sharing their partners have sleep disorders that make it impossible to co-sleep with them and others calling sleeping apart completely “healthy.”
Then there were the people that saw it as some kind of sign that Billy wasn’t in a happy, healthy and romantic relationship.
“May a love like this never find me,” one wrote.
“They are roommates,” another declared.
“This is wild,” another wrote.
Billy told news.com.au that the couple sleep in separate bedrooms purely because it allows them both to sleep better.
“He is a deep sleeper who snores and likes to be cool at all times. I am a light sleeper who sleeps with two doonas and a hot water bottle,” she explained.
“We spent a good 3 years sacrificing our comfort and consistent sleep. Eventually, we decided to give separate beds and bedrooms a try, and it has been the best thing for our relationship.”
Billy said having their own bedrooms has also been a complete joy and allowed her to really carve out her own space in the house.
“Having my own bedroom for the first time since childhood has been such a fuel for my creativity and I feel like I can fully embrace my own aesthetic without having to consider my partner. I think it is so healthy to have your own space,” she said.
The 27-year-old thinks so much of the backlash stems from people being uncomfortable with relationship norms being challenged.
“Society is so set in their beliefs of what does and does not equal love in a relationship,” she said.
Billy stressed that it was also just a TikTok and only a seven-second glance into her relationship.
“I was so shocked that so many people accused my relationship of lacking love. These people have absolute no insight into what my relationship is like,” she pointed out.
The young Aussie said that the backlash has been “really hard”, and she knows she needs to have a thick skin when posting online, but comments and assumptions still hurt.
“I’ve received nasty comments before but nothing like this,” she said.
