Avril Lavigne is here to set the record straight on that “dumb” Melissa Vandella conspiracy theory.
“It’s just funny to me,” Lavigne, 39, admitted when addressing the years-long conspiracy theory during her “Call Her Daddy” podcast appearance on Wednesday, May 15. “On one end, everyone’s like, ‘Oh, my God, you look the exact same. You haven’t aged a day.’ But then, other people are like, you know, there’s a conspiracy theory that I’m not me.”
Both Lavigne and podcast host Alex Cooper couldn’t hold back their laughter while discussing the ongoing theory.
“Honestly, it’s not that bad. It could be worse, right?” Lavigne said. “I feel like I got a good one. I don’t think it’s, like, negative or anything, like, creepy.”
Avril Lavigne Through the Years
She conceded that the rumor “could be worse,” adding, “Obviously, I am me, it’s so dumb.”
While there are some discrepancies about when the conspiracy theory originated, it stems back to the early 2000s on internet forums. For those unfamiliar, there have been widespread rumors for years that Lavigne died in 2003, following the release of her debut album, Let Go, and has since been replaced by a body double named Melissa.
The conspiracy gained a second life in 2017, when a thread on X resurfaced breaking down all the supposed signs that Lavigne was replaced. Some of the “evidence” includes the singer’s appearance over the years and a 2004 photo shoot for her album Under My Skin where the name “Melissa” appears to be written on her hand.
Wednesday’s “Call Her Daddy” podcast episode is hardly the first time she’s addressed the conspiracy theory. Lavigne initially discussed the Melissa of it all in 2014 when asked about the theory during an interview on a Brazilian TV show, revealing that she hadn’t heard about the theory before.
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“Well, I’m here, and I’m here in Brazil,” she said at the time.
As her career continued to rise, Lavigne shrugged off the rumor during various interviews. The first time she really questioned the validity was in a profile for Galore Magazine in 2022.
“Doesn’t everyone constantly say that I literally look the same as I always have?” she said at the time. “It’s funny because everyone says I look the same, but then there’s that. That doesn’t make any sense. Also, how random? When people bring it up — and it’s been brought up to me for, like, years — that there’s this conspiracy theory that I’m not me or something? I’m a clone? … I don’t know, it’s just the weirdest rumor.”
