Joe Jonas and Sophie Turner’s divorce is not looking good ... for Joe Jonas

Joe Jonas and Sophie Turner attend the 2nd Annual Academy Museum Gala at Academy Museum of Motion Pictures on October 15, 2022 in Los Angeles, California. Photo / Getty Images

OPINION

Life comes at you fast. In the space of a single week, I have gone from never thinking about the Jonas Brothers to now spending time out of my one wild and precious life caring about the fact that one of them is divorcing Game of Thrones star Sophie Turner.

To be honest, it’s not the divorce itself. Sure, it’s very sad that these two rich people are parting ways and all that but the truly sad part? How, in the year of our Lorde 2023, those on “Team Jonas” wasted no time starting a campaign against Sophie Turner, a talented actress and the mother of his two children.

From the moment rumours of the separation started swirling - and we’re talking just days ago, friends - the PR machine for Joe Jonas went into overdrive. There were subtle digs at first about how he was spending all his time with the kids (the implication being that she wasn’t). But over the course of a few days, the subtle digs became far less subtle and the misogyny starting to become more obvious, with one side of the story trying to construct a narrative that cast Sophie Turner in the role of the Bad Mum.

An unnamed source (there have been a few), was quick to point out to TMZ that Joe was taking care of the children while Sophie was overseas for work. Another anonymous source then told Page Six Joe Jonas filed for divorce because “he had to take what he felt was the best course of action for his girls”. Then came the first attempt at an explanation for the divorce, also from - you guessed it - a “source”: “She likes to party; he likes to stay at home. They have very different lifestyles.”

A source tells TMZ the reason Joe Jonas filed for divorce from Sophie Turner:

“She likes to party, he likes to stay at home. They have very different lifestyles.” pic.twitter.com/7yNltYl5mV

— Pop Base (@PopBase) September 5, 2023

It doesn’t take a genius to look at the headlines from the last week and figure out what’s going on here. The “sources” are trying to paint Turner as a raging party-animal and an absent mother, while Jonas is the doting dad, left behind to care for the children.

Joe Jonas and Sophie Turner are busy artists - he’s a 30-something man in a boy band (I could look up his exact age but, frankly, I don’t wanna), she’s a 27-year-old critically acclaimed actress. My point is: they’re both busy. Joe Jonas is currently on tour with the rest of his brothers, Sophie is in the UK filming a new show. With two working parents, it is normal for the role of the main caregiver to switch between them depending on the circumstances. As any working couple with children knows, the juggle is very real. The fact that the Jonas camp has attempted to vilify Turner for working and - god forbid - occasionally going out, while praising Joe for *checks notes* spending time with his own children, is nothing short of sexist (at least they didn’t call it “babysitting”, I suppose).

The funny thing is that there is footage out there showing Joe himself claiming Sophie is the homebody of the couple. In a TikTok video posted by none other than Joe himself, they both point to Sophie when they read out the question “who’s the homebody?”

Another video circulating online shows the actress being interviewed by Conan O’Brien three years ago, saying she’d “stay home” all day if she could.

What gives, Joseph?

The one glimmer of hope in an otherwise unfortunate situation has been the reaction to the smear campaign on social media and the growing pushback against the vilification of Sophie Turner. Wherever Joe Jonas’ people are trying to sell here, people are not buying.

Many have taken to social media to point out that humans are complex individuals and that you can both go out to parties and be a good mother (shocking information for some, no doubt). It is absolutely possible to be a woman who is focused on her career, maintains a healthy social life and is also a great mother. None of these things are mutually exclusive and, judging by the backlash to the comments so far, the Jonas camp is finding out that society no longer takes kindly to insinuations to the contrary.

I think I’m supposed to gather from all the carefully placed headlines that she’s a partier and thus a bad mom, while he is the hero dad making sacrifices, but no one seems to question why he at 30 decided to marry a 23-year-old and thought she’d suddenly turn into a tradwife https://t.co/RWJnDcCl5F

— Laura Bassett (@LEBassett) September 5, 2023

obsessed with how joe jonas' entire management came prepared with 13820 "insights into their marriage" to make sophie a villain and hide whatever shit he's done but with each headline the internet is dragging him even worse than before i just KNOW he's throwing up somewhere https://t.co/mlmBFn8u9m

— aylin ☽ (@weepingcaesar) September 6, 2023

Joe Jonas and his PR team have single-handedly taken me from total indifference to absolute hatred of him in a matter of days.

Bro really thought he could run the 90s Justin Timberlake 'misogyny in the press' playbook on the mother of his children & not get called on it in 2023. https://t.co/5yekta6ML2

— Kendall Brown (@kendallybrown) September 6, 2023

This is a messy situation but, for once, it’s nice to see the internet not falling for the sexist tropes and loudly pushing back against the misogynistic lukewarm takes on what a woman, who is a wife and a mother among many other things, should do.

The girls who grew up listening to the Jonas Brothers (and who made Joe Jonas into the celebrity he is today) are now women - and they will not tolerate the sexist implication that mothers cannot have a fulfilling life beyond raising their children.