The smear campaign against Sophie Turner has begun.

After four years of marriage, Joe Jonas and Sophie Turner are divorcing.

In the cursed year that is 2023, this is to be expected. After all, divorce season has well and truly sprung. But what isn't quite as expected is how one of Hollywood's most beloved young couples' split is being fed to fans.

There's not a lot of information being shared, but what has been leaked spins one narrative; a narrative which is already demonising one party over the other: Sophie Turner.

Firstly, as reports surfaced this week, the news circulating was that it was Joe Jonas who had kicked off the divorce. A source told People that Joe had retained a divorce lawyer. 

In an earlier story from TMZ, a source claimed that Joe had consulted with at least two Los Angeles-based divorce lawyers and "he is on the cusp of filing divorce docs to end his marriage to Sophie." 

Now, TODAY has confirmed Jonas filed court documents for a dissolution of marriage on September 5 in Miami, Florida. The documents reportedly states that "the marriage between the parties is irretrievably broken". 

The person who files for divorce has long been portrayed as the 'wronged' person, as the spouse who became fed up and finally decided to call it quits. 

It happened last month when Sam Asghari filed for divorce, following reports of alleged infidelity in his marriage to Britney Spears. 

Over the past few weeks, Joe Jonas has been photographed not wearing his wedding ring during his current Jonas Brothers tour. One day the band member is wearing it, another day he takes it off, sending his fans into a tailspin over what was going on. 

And just to keep people on their toes, Joe wore his wedding ring at a show he played the same day the divorce reports broke. If this wasn't enough to confuse fans, Sophie was spotted in the crowd. 

Joe Jonas wears his wedding ring at the Jonas Brothers’ show tonight in Austin, Texas. pic.twitter.com/edDtvPmNko

— Pop Crave (@PopCrave) September 4, 2023

After meeting in 2016, Joe and Sophie got engaged in October 2017, before getting hitched in 2019 in a last-minute ceremony in Las Vegas before a more dignified wedding held in a chateau in France. 

The couple have since had two daughters together, three-year-old Willa, and a one-year-old whose name is yet to be disclosed. 

Of course, with any celebrity couple who share children, the reason for the couple's rumoured divorce has come back to Sophie's mothering. 

TMZ claimed in their original story that in the past six months, the couple has had "serious problems". 

The problems? 

"We're told over the last three months, Joe has been caring for their two young children 'pretty much all of the time,' even as his band was touring. We're told Joe currently has both kids, as the group plays around the U.S." the gossip site claimed. 

A father taking care of his kids? What a concept!

The Daily Mail recycled this claim in an article where the news site wrote that "Joe has been primarily handling parenting duties in recent months."

The news website even went as far as to say: "It's unclear where Sophie has been or what has caused the arrangement leaving Joe to reportedly take the lead."

A quick Google that literally took 0.05 seconds would show exactly where Sophie had been: she's working. Turner is the lead in upcoming British drama Joan, based on the real-life 1980s diamond thief Joan Hannington. 

The series is currently being filmed in the UK in locations including Birmingham and the West Midlands.

TMZ then stated, in its article about Joe filing divorce documents in Miami, that a direct source had told them another problem: "She likes to party, he likes to stay at home. They have very different lifestyles."

In another bizarre article, Pinkvilla seized the chance to bring up Sophie's past mental health struggles in response to the divorce news. The writer went as far to title one section "Joe Jonas broke up with Sophie Turner because of her worsening mental health," which took some liberties from a quote that Turner had said about Jonas.  

Image: Getty.

In reality, the actor said that, "I was going through this phase of being very mentally unwell. He [Joe] was like, 'I can’t be with you until you love yourself, I can’t see you love me more than you love yourself'," she told The Sunday Times. 

The portrayal of Sophie as 'the problem' in the relationship, rather than her Jonas Brother spouse Joe, comes back to who is more famous right now, and therefore, has more love from fans. 

While Turner was part of the biggest TV show in the world from 2011 to 2019 with Game of Thrones, she's only rarely stepped back into the spotlight in the years since. 

She also had two children. 

Whereas Joe Jonas' star has climbed in those years, with the Jonas Brothers reforming, releasing chart-topping hits and embarking on a tour. 

In their initial report, TMZ listed Joe's accomplishments, writing, "He's gone on tour with his brothers recently and is scheduled to perform through the winter," they said, adding "Sophie's done some TV/movie stuff in recent years — but isn't nearly as active as she was during her 'GoT' days." 

The relevance of the two celebs perceived 'busy-ness' speaks to the gendered assumption that a woman's role is to support her husband achieve his success. 

This paired with reports surrounding her mental health and poor parenting only seek to paint a picture of a woman who didn't play her part in the marriage. 

By proxy, Joe is portrayed as a saint. 

Relationships are, of course, rarely ended on such binary terms. 

The split could have happened for a million reasons where neither party is to blame. 

The Game of Thrones star had previously told Elle UK in 2022 about her aspirations to move back home to England. 

"I really love living in America but, for my mental health, I have to be around my friends and my family. And also for my daughter — I would love her to get the education and school life that I was so lucky to have," she said.

"England would ideally be the final destination, but [Joe] might take quite a bit of convincing!"

The TV show Sophie is currently filming is located around Leamington Spa, which is near where the actor grew up.

Feature image: Getty. 

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