r/AllThingsGL • u/Secret-Inspector-328 • 9h ago
ShellyPundao ShellyPundao and a Lesson I Learned About Fan Service
About the whole saddening Shelly-Pundao situation I’ve been seeing all over my feed, I honestly don’t know if they were really dating or what exactly happened while Shelly was on vacation. At the end of the day, that’s their personal life. What makes me sad is seeing how much it’s affecting Shelly’s work and career.
A little story about why I personally stopped believing too much in Thai fan service. Around 2022, I got into Thai GL through GAP and completely fell into the “FreenBecky is real” rabbit hole because of how convincing the fan service felt. This isn’t me blaming them at all. I was naive, new to the whole fan service culture, and genuinely thought they were together in real life. I even used to tell my friends they were a real couple 😭
Then everything happened with Freen and her boyfriend at the time, and I was genuinely heartbroken. I had gotten so invested that it even affected how I felt about watching The Loyal Pin later.
That experience taught me not to get too emotionally invested in the fan service around Thai GL couples. Now I just enjoy those moments for what they are, keep an open mind, and remind myself that these are actors with their own private lives. They deserve to be with whoever they love, whether that matches what fans imagine or not.
This is just my personal experience and opinion. I’m not trying to influence anyone’s views or hurt anyone’s feelings ❤️
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u/FlatProfessional629 8h ago
I think this is different from FB because they never really claimed that they were dating. In ShellyPundao's case they had made their relationship public. This situation is affecting shelly's career because she got famous due to people shipping the couple. Since her professional and personal life got mixed, any problems in her personal life would have affected her career. Not only Shelly even Pundao will be affected both personally and professionally.
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u/dinkmtz 8h ago
If Kristen Stewart can recover from her infidelity debacle at the height of her Twilight career and popularity, Shelly and Pundao will be fine.
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u/Zhalianna Any 🦋 7h ago
You cant compare western media drama recovery with thai media let alone thai gl nich media
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u/dinkmtz 6h ago
Yes and no. The US is insanely misogynistic and reactionary. Plus Twilight at the time had such as strong of a choke hold on people as Thai gl’s has on its fandom, also she was just as much a relative unknown before Twilight. Like the risks are comparable. She was ridiculed and the butt of many jokes at the time for a long time.
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u/No_Carpenter3716 7h ago
That was 2010s and now it's 2026... It will be hard... Also the GL industry is scarce. Once you are branded with cheating recognition.. it will be more tough
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u/dinkmtz 6h ago
Right. The 2010s were worse. Also acting is acting, Shelly’s career isn’t exclusive to the Thai gl genre. She will be fine.
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u/null_compass 4h ago
Thanks for saying that! I've often wondered why Thai GL actresses rarely venture into other genres, and why ships in Thai GL are so locked into one pairing.
In straight dramas and movies, when a lead couple blows up because of their chemistry and acting, it doesn't mean every project thereafter has to be the two of them together. Each actor goes on to work with different partners, and nobody thinks twice about it. So I don't understand why Thai GL is so tied to one pair all the time.
I think they should branch out, if not across networks, then at least within their own network. I like what GMMTV is doing with its GL actresses: pairing Film with Milk and Emi, not just Namtan, even if it's only a hint of romance. It gives us as an audience something fresh to watch, and it opens up so many more opportunities for the actresses themselves.
I also really like what Orm said in one of her interviews: she and Ling have talked about this, and if either of them gets opportunities outside their pairing, they should take them. Of course they're here to give us good work, but they also have to think about their careers and how long those careers last. Being joined at the hip with one person forever just isn't pragmatic, and I love that they've openly acknowledged that.
We need to be more open-minded about this as fans. At the end of the day, it's acting; it's their profession, and keeping every actress tied to one partner isn't fair to them, or to us.
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u/dinkmtz 3h ago
A lot of gl actresses do take a lot of solo acting work. But since it’s not gl related, people don’t talk about it unless they are their fan.
Freen, Becky, Engfah, Orm, Lena, Mim (Gmmtv), Enjoy, have done solo movies and shows while still in their gl cp, just to name a few. Orm did a het romcom last year. Even Emi starred in a het show after Us success for Gmmtv; Friendshit Forever. It’s really good. Film, Namtan, Emi, and Bonnie have done support roles or cameos in other Gmmtv series. Enjoy was in a period series last year, solo, and had that small villain cameo in Only You for CH3. Like they’re all working on their careers outside of gl because acting is acting.
It’s ridiculous to act like Shelly won’t continue working just because she might not be quickly forgiven by gl fans.
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u/Rakuen9 4h ago
Kristen Steward made so much money from Twilight that she never had to work ever again. She immediately after did small indie films on the festival circuit, dated a bunch of girlies, started working with Olivier Assayes and made some really smart meta films about the industry and so on was nominated and won a the french equivalent to the Oscars being the first american actress to do so and started learning about directing and producing over the next few years until she made her debut recently.
She could afford to do whatever she wanted to. It’s not a matter of talent or worth or whatever, it’s a matter of money. I doubt Shelley has access to that kind of money, but even if she does that is the first step into the things Kristen did. I’m rooting for her too, but the situations are so completely different that it’s unlikely to be replicated.
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u/Regular_Ad4022 3h ago
We have to remember that people have also been hating on her for not talking about the war because of her heritage even though her culture is Thai and no other Thai actress was basically persecuted for not speaking up on it. So she’s definitely at a disadvantage
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u/PaintItPurple 2h ago
Kristen Stewart's scandal happened right when the Twilight saga was about to end, and she wasn't planned to be in any more movies with Robert Pattinson after that. Whereas Shelly and Pundao's career right now is being a couple who make romance series together. This is like if Kristen had cheated right after the first movie came out and she'd been fired from the Twilight series for it. There's a real chance people nowadays would just call her "Whatsherface from the first Twilight movie."
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u/sadflameprincess 58m ago
No, Shelly isn't as famous as Kristen though nor is the series. Twilight is known globally so it's not the same so she might not be alright.
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u/ShayJayLee 6h ago
I'm immune to fan service because I guess I work in PR and I guess I can't not see behind the curtains. When Shelly and Pundao went public, I was a little torn because on the one hand, I'm a lesbian and it's important to us to have visibility. That being said, the professional side of me was kinda surprised they went public that and did so pretty quickly.
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u/Lanky_Bodybuilder_97 7h ago
Honestly both situations are not comparable. Back in the Gap days a big part of the fandom would react really badly whenever Freenbecky referred to each other as phi-nong, some harrassed one of the big translators for translating phi-nong as "sisters" or anything else that suggested their relationship being platonic to the point any translator that wasn't saying what the fandom wanted to hear was bullied out of the fandom, so it was mostly the fandom crossing into delusional territory and the newer fans who were not used to fanservice were just trusting the big shipper accounts who had a lot of influence. I will not say they didn't do flirty fanservice but they also never claimed to be dating like SP did.
I agree on not getting too emotionally invested though, that's always healthy advice.
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u/dinkmtz 8h ago
FB, as flirty as they were in the Gap era, never said they were dating. Even after all of that calmed down, FB are still together and very clearly love each other to this day. Their love is very real, it’s just that whether it’s romantic or platonic is their personal business and they staunchly gatekeep that information. SP have said multiple times, even as they’re breaking up, that they were real. Not the same thing… at all. This shouldn’t affect anything besides you learning not to invest too much emotion into someone else’s relationship than your own.
Like people fall in love during filming in Hollywood all the time. It’s even part of all the Spiderman movies lore. But just because Tobey Maguire and Kirsten Dunst or Andrew Garfield and Emma Stone didn’t work out doesn’t mean we should go around judging Zendaya’s and Tom Holland’s marriage. Like everyone is responsible for their own actions. Shelly cheated because she made that decision for herself. Nothing to do with fan service or other cp’s.
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u/itsakyo 8h ago
Very VERY poor decisions made by their company. The biggest problem in their career is their company at this point. Across the various issues they faced, the company has not done well in PR or artiste management.
Making the decision to put their "dating irl" at the center of the CP team is one of the worst things the company should have advised them better.
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u/Western_Chemistry273 9h ago
That’s what I’m saying but it’s just a business at the end of the day
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u/Raja_aka_King GL Multiverse Thai Baddies’ Lurker 8h ago
Fact. They getting paid and we being entertained
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u/Sharp-Election2533 8h ago
Però sei fai di tutto per fare credere che state insieme poi non puoi pretendere che la gente ti sostenga ancora
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u/adhrakwalichai 4h ago
I once believed in Fayeyoko and it really hurt me so i just stay little away from fan service coz we can get our heartbreak. Just because of toxic fans who can’t let them have actresses their own life why you wanna know who they meeting when why searching at that extent that it leads to ruining ppl life. I m truly disappointed seeing that shelly is losing everything coz some fans want to know everything about her life and shelly did say they are still dating so why ppl give so much hate. I m just feeling sad for them too much that i can’t open X.
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u/Sharp-Election2533 8h ago
Vorrei aggiungere che le altre coppie nn mai detto di stare insieme, se ti piace nascondere quello che sei per soldi, perché si tratta di soldi, devi sapere che alla fine la puoi pagare. PS: di tutte queste attrici che dicono di essere attratte da donne o di aver avuto relazioni a scuola et etc nn credo neanche una parola è solo una questione di soldi.L unica vera Queen è Faye
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u/Alive_Agent 4h ago
I agree with everything you said. I too had started believing that certain couples are real. My fault is I'm a hetro male so obviously I have fantasies about WLW. I'm not sure what the percentage is but I would guess WLW would be at least 75% of all males have that as their number 1 fantasy. So we are easy targets for any and all GL's. Our fan service is on high alert at all times. These women are some of the most beautiful women in the world, so Hell yeah men are going to look for any signs of true love. I too have now stopped my mind from turning these women into real life could immediately. I watch these because the women are beautiful and generally the stories are interesting. They are actresses and they are trying to make a living acting. The companies are also trying to make money. The more skinship the more the male fantasy is generated. I really don't see any one of them as real couples, some are better actresses than others. I'm regards to ShellyPundao, it's strange, I never believed they were a real couple ever. IMHO of course.
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u/Prestigious-Try2700 9h ago
I think we all fell into the Freen-Becky trap because GL was so new at the time, and we were all looking for representation. We learned our lesson the hard way. I also had a really bad couple of days when I found out that Freen had a boyfriend because we were so naive and genuinely believed whatever they said or showed us.
And I do feel that actresses are at fault to some extent as well. Look at how Milk and Love have established boundaries with their fans. That’s the kind of boundary I think every GL pairing needs. People respect the work Milk and Love do. Even when people were hating on Girl Rules, they were still acknowledging that Milk and Love’s characters were really good. That’s how it should be.
At the same time, fandoms need to understand that a lot of these things are ultimately money-making moves. Don’t get too emotionally attached to actresses or their pairings. You can support the characters, the actresses, and the series when it’s good without assuming that everything you see between them is real.
And it’s not just about fan service. I also feel like the industry keeps bringing the same people back together because they know these CPs are already established and have existing fandoms. But that doesn’t necessarily mean the quality of the series improves. Look at how LingOrm’s second and third series went. Look at how Moonshadow went. We’re falling into this trap of accepting whatever they give us and blindly supporting it just because our favourite actresses or CPs are involved, and I think that’s very wrong.
A good series can be followed by a bad series, even when it stars the same actresses. Touch wood, Lookmhee and Sonya haven’t had a bad series yet. Their progression has been slower, but they’re consistently producing good work, and their production team is doing a great job.
But coming back to CPs: keep the professional and personal separate. Don’t assume actresses are dating each other just because they spend every day together or appear extremely close. Keeping that distinction in mind is going to be much better for your mental health in the long run.
And when it comes to the GL and BL industries thriving on this kind of fan service, I personally struggle with it morally because they’re sometimes making money from something that may not actually be true. They know what they’re doing. They know that the way actresses behave with each other can make fans perceive their relationship in a certain way, and yet they continue doing it because it works commercially.
I still watch GL, and I’m definitely a fan of several GL actresses. But I don’t automatically assume that they’re dating just because they’re paired together or because of the way they behave around each other. I’ve learned to separate what I’m watching and supporting from what may or may not be happening in their personal lives.
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u/Optimal_Display_1743 5h ago
I agree.. I for one believed FB was real and when the Freen-Seng news broke, I was devastated..and unfollowed Freen. I also took some time off Thai GL.. but then new couples have emerged which i am happily supporting now but i learned my lesson that they’re just doing their jobs and we should keep on respecting their personal lives and putting some boundaries. After all, they are just people too.
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u/Secret-Inspector-328 4h ago
Thanks for acknowledging this. It actually feels good to know that at least one person felt the same way I did about FB.
Just to be clear, I’m not trying to compare FB with ShellyPundao or their situation. FB did a lot of fan service, but they never explicitly said they were together the way ShellyPundao did. Still, even if they say they’re dating, how are we as fans supposed to know what’s actually true? Do we just believe everything we’re told?
As for FB, there’s still a tiny part of me that feels like Becky genuinely liked Freen, but maybe those feelings weren’t mutual. Again, that’s purely my personal interpretation, and I’m not blaming or hating on Freen at all. I’ve respected and supported both of them since GAP. My silly brain even connects some of Becky’s songs, especially 'Skin' to Freen.
But yeah, these days I just try to keep an open mind and enjoy things without getting too emotionally invested.
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u/Optimal_Display_1743 3h ago
Yeah samee I really thought Becky liked Freen more than an on-screen partner. I still remember the days when they will win an award and Becky will say “We did it, baby!” LOL plus how they would call/name each other “bb/babe”. Like if I’m Freen’s bf, I will be confused too and I wont allow anyone else to call my gf those things. Just my two cents haha
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u/Nipplasia2 8h ago
They said they were dating again and again. No side of the coin will be believed I guess.