Woman At Center Of 'Plane Bae' Saga Decries Her Invasion Of Privacy

The woman at the center of the viral “plane bae” saga earlier this month is speaking out about the incident, which she said led to unwanted attention and constituted an invasion of privacy.

“I did not ask for and do not seek attention. #PlaneBae is not a romance ― it is a digital-age cautionary tale about privacy, identity, ethics and consent,” she wrote in a statement to Business Insider, her first public comments about the viral tale, which quickly came under criticism for the way it invaded her privacy.

The woman has asked to remain anonymous because she said she has received harassment and shaming, both online and in person, from people who tracked down her personal information.

“Voyeurs have come looking for me online and in the real world,” she wrote.

On a flight earlier this month, Rosey Blair chronicled the entire interaction between the woman and Euan Holden, a former professional soccer player, posting numerous details on Instagram and Twitter as it was unfolding.

Initially, social media users reveled in the seemingly pleasant story of a budding romance between two strangers. But the commentary quickly turned into an interrogation of the social media age, with many people arguing that the meticulous digital documentation of a private interaction was inappropriate.

Blair later apologized for her posts, saying she did not intend to “remove agency and autonomy from another woman.”

Read the woman’s full statement at Business Insider.

CORRECTION: A previous version of this story indicated Blair deleted her tweets about the couple on the plane. In fact, most of those tweets are still on her timeline.