23 People Explain What Actually Happened To The ‘Manic Pixie Dream Girls’ In Their Life
If you’ve never met of a Manic Pixie Dream Girl, you’ve probably heard of one before. Think Summer from the film (500) Days Of Summer or Alaska from the Young Adult novel Looking For Alaska. Urban Dictionary defined them as “pretty, outgoing, whacky female romantic lead[s] whose sole purpose is to help broody male characters lighten up and enjoy their lives.” And, well, they aren’t wrong.
I’ve always wondered what happens to real life Manic Pixie Dream Girls when they grow up and, like usual, Reddit had answers.
1. She got really into acid.
She got really into acid and kinda lost her mind for a couple years.
2. She’s bipolar.
Bi-Polar. Takes MDMA every weekend even though they’re on an SSRI..
— PenGaZoR
3. She’s still cute as a button.
Asked her out after high school ended. She said no and was weirded out by that and we stopped being best friends. Gradually stopped staying in touch until I ran into her last summer for the first time in years. She’s still cute as a button, funny, single and has adorably hipstery job selling some Persian antiquities around the country or something.
She’ll make some other guy happy someday, I’m 150-200 percent happy with my current long term SO.
4. She does “as many drugs as possible.”
She does “as many drugs as possible” and lives in a van with a bunch of guys traveling up and down the coast.
5. She mellowed out.
Nothing, particularly: she just sort of mellowed with time, as everyone does. She met a guy who actually had his shit together, which helped to curb her more whimsical influences. Now they’re trying for a kid who I half-expect will be given a nature-noun name (which, granted, is a bit rich considering my name is Hazel), but they seem very happy together.
On the other hand, she’s also a romance writer, and she writes novels that occasionally get criticised for having unrealistic female characters, which pisses her off no end when they’re occasionally based on shit she used to do with guys in her early twenties.
6. She cleaned up her act.
She dumped me after two years of fun. She started dating a drug dealer almost immediately. She called me after I moved away and talked about how her new boyfriend and her never had money to go out, so they just sat home and did meth.
I stumbled across her on facebook a year ago, and she appears to have cleaned up her act and looks like your standard factory-issue soccer mom now (only sans kids).
7. She became a heroin addict and stole a car.
She became addicted to heroin and stole my fucking car.
8. She’s eighteen forever.
She took a turn too fast and will be eighteen forever.
9. She recently got a criminal conviction.
She’s now in her thirties, seems to be at a music festival every weekend, and recently got a criminal conviction for possession.
10. She’s married (and still unconventional).
We’re married and very happy!
She’s an artist, an unconventional person with whimsical mannerisms. She’s grounded and practical in many ways, but what most people will notice are the things that make her stand out… dressing unconventionally, doing an exaggerated walk, dancing when she feels like it, behaving goofily, and so on. She truly does not care what other people will think. I’ll add that she is sweet, charming and super friendly. She brightens up the room when she enters. She has no interest in trends and pop culture, and she would have trouble naming all the Beatles, but can identify the work of almost any modern or contemporary artist at a glance.
11. She stayed the same.
She got married and is living in Seattle. She’s still her same crazy self but now with a Master’s degree in Biology. She works for a company doing medical research and in her free time she gardens, spins wool and makes her own clothing.
I got to see her this summer and it was fantastic.
12. She has an art related job but no one knows how she makes money.
My aversion to social media means I miss a lot, but the most notable I knew May have kids or just be a really cool aunt. Seems to be a good cross between whimsical and reality.
One other I hear about from friends of friends, has some sort of art related job no one can really quite say how she makes money. Moves every few years talks about opening a gallery and coming back home constantly, but is always off on another trip. If she ever comes back to town I’d love to have a few glasses of wine and hear about her adventures,but would have to stay at a distance. She’s like flame to moths, so bright, so warm, so deadly.
13. She became extremely Religious.
My brother broke up with her and then years later she met his new roommate who was extremely religious. She became religious, started dating him, had a baby, and got married in the span of about a year.
14. She became an exotic dancer with an obsessive admirer.
Last I heard she was doing “exotic dancing”. Oh and a patron fell in love with her and tried to kill his wife believing it was the only way for them to be together.
15. She lives in the woods with her animals and her husband.
Met her at a very low time in my life, started dating a few months after that and we have been together for 9 years, married for 2. Nowadays we live in the woods with our animals and make things, just like we always talked about doing.
16. She went to jail.
She was super quirky and popular at our high school; was very active in theater and had a wonderful singing voice. Got into drugs, and about a year ago, she hit an off duty police officer, who then opened fire on her vehicle as she was fleeing the scene. She wasn’t shot, but she did go to jail. Not sure what she’s up to now.
17. She has a few kids and is selling hard drugs.
She has a string of progressively shittier exes. A few babies. I think she is still cutting hair and selling drugs. There were some semi-nude photos of her on Facebizzle. That ought to be fun to explain to the other parents.
18. She became a very bitter, angry person.
She got herself a long-term boyfriend and a job she hates. She has no idea what to do next and kind of turned into a very bitter, angry person.
19. She gave up on everything.
Fell for her when I first met her in sophomore year but she was more of a teaser than someone who wanted to go out with me. She flirted with me a lot but had a boyfriend at the time for about 3 years. Honestly I really loved her and she kinda took it as a joke for most of my high school years (wish I could take it back). Eventually we did start dating around the end of my senior year. I was a year older than her so I graduated High School first.
There were a few problems with the relationship. First was distance. The summer before I left to go to college was a blast full of good memories and getting high. Once I left to go to school, however, things got more and more distant. She then wanted to be polygamous, and while I respect her decision as a monogamous person, she would not communicate what was going on and that is what broke us apart for good finally. Now she still lives back in our hometown with her parents making minimum wage and I have a bit over a year left in college. We still talk as friends but sometimes I miss the adventure.
What’s more sad is that she has basically given up on life. As much as I do wish we could start over sometimes, she just doesn’t care about anything. Shes still wild and does drugs but its more to just shut off herself than it is to have fun anymore. I honestly don’t think she is ever going to leave that town or even live long enough to see the world, which is truly heartbreaking considering at one point in my life I wanted to travel the world with her.
20. She got her shit together.
She got her shit COMPLETELY together and overcame all of the demons she had when we were teens. We’re not friends, but we care for each other and see check how the other one is doing from time to time. I am proud of her.
21. She went on to have a really cool life.
She has the unspeakably cool job of being a scuba diver on coral reefs around the world to check on their status and condition. She’s also an incredibly sanctimonious animals rights activist who believes eating meat and owning pets should be illegal and punishable with actual jail time.
22. She dropped out of college to work at a dungeon.
She dropped out of college, sold all of her stuff, and spend every last dime she had in the world on $2000 worth of leather and bondage gear. Walked into a dungeon down by the airport and was hired on the spot.
I ran into her a few months later and asked her how it was going.
“It’s great,” she said, “These corporate assholes I’ve always wanted to beat the shit out of now pay me to beat the shit out of them.”
So she’s happy.
— Kahzgul
23. She got treated for her mania and is getting her life back together.
Came back from an 8 month long manic episode on another continent ready to make a change or die, got back w my very level headed and supportive partner, got on mood stabilizers, wrote my thesis, graduated college, moved to a different city, got a decent paying job and a beautiful apartment, saving money to go to grad school when I figure out what to do w my life, haven’t touched an illicit substance in a year and 5 months (although I wasn’t a weekly or biweekly user but still I feel like I’ve come a long way). Also quit smoking and hanging around toxic people who thought my mania was just a personality trait!!!