Before and After - Famous Meme Internet Celebrities And Where They Are Now

These are faces you'll never forget, even if they've changed a lot over the years.

Elana

• Published in Funny
• August 1, 2018

Every few months a new image hits the Internet and becomes a popular, sensationalized meme. Everyone out there will take their chances to perfectly caption the viral image and make it to meme history. But what happens when the images feature real-life, everyday people and children? Five, ten years later... their images are still making rounds on every social media platform available but they've changed.

I'm sure your curiosity has peaked by now as you're thinking back to your favorite memes of all time. You're asking yourself, "did Overly Attached Girlfriend ever find love? How many fires did Destruction Girl start? Is Ridiculously Photogenic Guy still ridiculously photogenic?" I've got great news for you: all of your favorites are here and so are the answers to all of your meme-related questions. 

1. Trying To Hold A Fart Next To A Cute Girl In Class AKA Michael McGee

Redditor aaduk_ala submitted a photograph titled "Trying to hold a fart next to a cute girl in class" to the /r/funny subreddit on March 2nd, 2014. Does Michael regret his now famous meme? Not really, he says, “my take on being ‘internet famous’ is cool and all. But I regret not copyrighting the picture right away because I could have made a lot of money there!” Today, he is still active on Reddit and has a few thousand followers on Twitter.

2. Side-Eyeing Chloe AKA Chloe

On September 12th, 2013, YouTuber KAftC uploaded a video titled "Lily's Disneyland Surprise… AGAIN." The video features sisters Lily and Chloe reacting to the exciting news every child wants to hear: we're going to Disney! The meme was born when the camera breaks momentarily away from Lily, who is literally in tears of joy, to see a disgruntled look flash across Chloe's face. Today the girls are still rocking it on YouTube and their Instagram account has over 670K followers!

3. Good Luck Charlie AKA Mia Talerico

In a still from the popular Disney show "Good Luck Charlie," Mia Talerico quickly became the ultimate visual synonym online for "I don't' know." Today Mia is 9 years old and her mom runs her YouTube account where she does "toy reviews, crafts, fashion and more." Her Instagram account has over 1 million followers!

4. Overly Attached Girlfriend AKA Laina Morris

In In 2012 YouTuber Laina Morris uploaded a video using her webcam in response to Bieber's announcement of an online sing-off contest in promoting his celebrity perfume "Girlfriend". In the video, she sings personalized lyrics in a parody version of Justin Bieber's "Boyfriend." Today, Laina's YouTube is hopping with over 1.2 million followers but it has been a bumpy rode getting used to being "Overly Attached Girlfriend." Laina has said before what it was like: “Strangers were finding my personal Facebook page and talking to my friends. They were finding where I worked and trying to access my college records”.

5. Grumpy Cat AKA Tardar Sauce

Sometime in September of 2012 a few pictures of Tardar Sauce, a snowshoe cat, were posted to Reddit and the Internet was forever transformed. Quickly dubbed Grumpy Cat, Tardar's face made rounds literally everywhere and her fame never quite faded, though she definitely inspired a lot of other cats to try their hand at social media takeovers. Today, Grumpy Cat has 2.5 million followers on Instagram, goes to conventions, and has been turned into toys sold at major retailers like Wal-mart. For a few fun and cute pictures, this pussycat has come a LONG way.

6. Bad Luck Brian AKA Kyle Craven

It was over 6 years ago that Kyle Craven's good friend Ian Davies took to Reddit to post Kyle's high school photo with the caption: "Takes driving test .?.?. gets first DUI.” The Ohio teen's photo quickly went viral and "Bad Luck Brian" went on to surpass social media and was turned into T-shirts, stuffed animals, and novelty items. His likeness was even used in a Volkswagen advertisement. Today, Craven works for his father's construction business building churches.

7. Doge AKA Kabuso

Everyone's favorite Internet doggo, Doge, first graced the Internet on February 23rd, 2010 thanks to Atsuko Sato, a Japanese kindergarten teacher who posted several photos of her rescue-adopted Shiba Inu dog Kabosu to her personal blog. However, it was one shot of Kabosu in particular that took off on the Internet. Sittingon a couch while glaring sideways at the camera with raised eyebrows, Kabosu went down in meme history as Doge. Today, Kabuso's adventures continue on both the blog and his own Instagram account where you can even see hilarious photos of him posed with Doge items like balloons and blankets.

8. Success Kid AKA Sam Griner

It was back in 2007 when Laney Griner uploaded a photograph of her sweet son Sammy trying to eat sand to Flickr. Originally, the meme made rounds and became popular when someone thought it would be funny to caption it, "I Hate Sandcastles," implying the baby had destroyed another child's sandcastle. Laney, however, did not really find that one funny. She definitely prefers the Success Kid meme that Sam later became but has admitted that her son is often embarrassed by his association with the viral meme.

9. Ridiculously Photogenic Guy AKA Zeddie Little

In the 2012 Cooper River Bridge Run, Zeddie Little was running like any other competitor when an innocent photo was snapped and uploaded to the Internet. Little has said before that he doesn't completely get the appeal behind the meme but he is a bit "honored to be part of a joke that's in good spirit because sometimes the Internet can be a little vicious or jokes can get bent the wrong way." Today, Zeddie has been pretty quiet on the Internet but for a while he was doing Interviews on Good Morning America and keeping up with Twitter.

10. Disaster Girl AKA Zoe Roth

Did you know that fire departments sometimes practice putting out controlled fires on run-down houses? That was the set up back in 2004 with Dave Roth of Mebane, North Carolina when he took his daughter Zoe to observe from a safe distance but he couldn't help but grab a quick photograph when he happened to notice her looking back at him, smiling impishly with a burning house in the background. Over 10 years later Zoe says, “I’d love for the meme to help me get into or pay for college somehow, but I ultimately want people to know me for me.”

11. First World Problems AKA Silvia Bottini

Silvia Bottini is an award-winning Italian actress whose stock photo of her crying accidentally went viral as the "First World Problems" meme. Her personal website and the actress's Twitter account remains active to this day and she's definitely keeping busy.

12. rmahgerd AKA Maggie Goldenberger

It was in 2012 when a photo of Maggie Goldenberger in grade school was shared to Reddit by user xWavy, a.k.a. Jeff Davis with the caption "Just a book lover's smile." It began making social media rounds as a meme with the caption "ERMAHGERD GERSBERMS," a rhotacized pronunciation of "oh my god Goosebumps." Goldenberger, who works as a nurse in Phoenix, had nothing to do with the photo being shared but definitely does not have a sour attitude about it. In an interview with Vanity Fair, she explained that the original photo taken in her youth was a joke and she named some of her favorite versions of the viral meme.

13. Scumbag Steve AKA Blake Boston

Thanks to a post on Reddit in January of 2011, the meme Scumbag Steve came into existence but the origin of the photo and the guy behind it are not as deplorable. Blake Boston has said that his mother took the photo and he has no regrets: "I have no regrets in my life …no matter what I do. I can completely f*ck up on something and I still don't regret it. Because at the end of the day, that makes me who I am, so I wouldn't go back and erase anything if I were to go back in time." Today, the father of two has accepted his rise to internet fame but according to his Twitter bio, the meme has "[run] its course."

14. Blinking White Guy AKA Drew Scanlon

As a video producer at the popular gaming website Giant Bomb, Drew Scanlon had no idea he would become an Internet meme when a live stream in 2013 showed him watching as editor-in-chief Jeff Gerstmann played Starbound. As Gertsmann narrated his game-play, saying, "I've been doing some farming," Scanlon reacted with the expression now known as the "Blinking White Guy." Often used as a gif response to express a feeling of "slightly insulted or confused," the meme came to be in 2017, 4 years after the video stream, thanks to Twitter user eksbl, whose tweet using the gif went viral.

15. Hipster Barista AKA Dustin Mattson

Dustin Mattson, an actual barista, was never particularly amused by the meme. In an interview for Eater Atlanta: "I do find it discouraging and disappointing that there was so much exposure brought to an attempt at making a joke of a culinary industry and the professional barista. To me, it's very telling on how we laud farm-to-table food, craft beer, cocktail mixology, but it's ok to have no respect for the specialty coffee world and the people who are committed to it. On the other hand, the whole thing only makes me want to work harder at my job, make better coffee, serve my customers better, and bring more positive exposure to both the company I work for, the barista profession, and specialty coffee as a whole. If anyone were to see me and my coworkers' work in the café, they'd see that it doesn't quite match up to most of the jokes made against the "Hipster Barista"."

Elana