Deryck Whibley On The Unfair Backlash He Received Over Avril Lavigne Relationship

Sum-41 singer Deryck Whibley has discussed his former relationship with Avril Lavigne.

The two pop-punk stars first met when Lavigne was 17. They started dating two years after they first met. They tied the knot in California on July 15, 2006. However, their love story hit a bump, and they split after three years. Lavigne filed for divorce in October 2009, and it was finalized in November 2010.

In a new interview with Q, Whibley admitted that the relationship faced backlash even from the first day. He said:

“Fans would talk sh*t about Avril to me. I just got a lot of negativity and backlash for being with a pop star at the time. Music genres were so sacred to people back then, and it felt like you couldn’t coexist together.”

The Attention Was ‘Overwhelming’

In 2022, the frontman said the attention to the relationship was ‘overwhelming.’ During the chat with Metro, he also explained that being in the relationship brought more attention than he was prepared for. He said:

“It became not about the music; it was my private life and gossip. And it was constant. You can imagine it was overwhelming.”

The rocker has a calmer life today since he has been living with his wife and son.

Lavigne Received Hate For Marrying A Rocker

In an interview with GQ, Whibley mentioned dealing with hate from fans because Lavigne was a pop star. Whibley said that back in the 2000s, it wasn’t cool for pop and rock artists to tour together. He also explained they couldn’t tour with Lavigne and had limited time together:

“At our own shows, people would bring ‘Avril Sucks’ signs. They would tell me to my face how sh*t Avril’s music was and how lame it was that I was with a pop star. Music genres were so sacred back then. Nowadays, you can like Metallica and Taylor Swift. But back then, we couldn’t tour together or even play the same festivals, which meant we’d sometimes only get two days at home together between dates.”

You can watch the ex-couple’s live performance of ‘In Too Deep’ below.