Fitness Couple’s Photo Went Viral and They Had No Idea Why

Wendy Joseph and Dan Hennessey went to the same college, which is where they met and started dating. Their relationship has had its ups and downs, but little did they know that one social media post would change everything! When Wendy decided to share a picture of the couple on social media with a caption about their relationship, she had no idea that the photo would end up going viral! At first, she didn’t understand what had happened and why this one picture had exploded online. All of a sudden, she was receiving lots of comments and messages about the photo of her and Dan. What she didn’t realize was that she would soon find out some of the answers to her questions when she started reading through the comments under the photo she had posted. What she was about to find out wasn’t what she had expected.

Off to College

Starting college marked a fresh start for Wendy. She was excited about what was to come and wondered about the opportunities that would meet her along the way. Wendy predicted her college years to be very important years in her life. Although she had lived for most of her life in New Jersey, Wendy was actually born in Haiti.

She attended college close to New Jersey by choosing to study health care at Montclair State University. Wendy’s college years started perfectly. Her life was about to take a new course with an unexpected meeting of a fellow student. It started off as two college kids dating but little did Wendy know that a picture she would later share of them both on social media would have a huge impact on her life!

A Strong Message

It all started back in 2006; Facebook was still relatively new, as it had only been around for two years at that point. Not many people used social media back in those days, and having an account wasn’t common. It was mainly used by college students wanting to connect with fellow classmates.

This is how Wendy met Dan. Wendy had only just set up a Facebook account when she received a message from Dan Hennessey. They didn’t know each other at this point, but Dan thought he’d reach out and send Wendy a message to try and get to know her better. She was skeptical at first, thinking: “first of all, I don’t know you, and I do not trust the Internet.” Wendy thought long and hard before replying and even told someone about the message before Dan received a response.

Checking His Profile

Wendy proceeded to check Dan’s profile to find out more about this mystery guy who had sent her a message. She learned that he too studied at Montclair State University. He was a sophomore studying exercise science. In those days, Facebook wasn’t as sophisticated as it now, which meant that Wendy wasn’t about to find out that much about Dan. However, she did think he was quite cute.

After receiving this message from Dan, Wendy decided to tell Daphne her best friend, about the invitation to connect. As soon as Daphne saw his picture on his profile, Wendy observed the look on her face change. Wendy could sense that there was some kind of connection between Dan and Daphne. She soon discovered what was going on, and it wasn’t good news.

The Link between Daphne and Dan

In one of the videos on Wendy’s YouTube channel, she recalled the moment she heard the words come out of Daphne’s mouth. Daphne looked at the photo and asked: “Dan? He tried to talk to me too.” That was enough to put Wendy off him, and she thought: “I was like ‘yeah, I’m definitely not going to talk to him because he tried to talk to my best friend.”

When Dan was asked later on about this incident, he was embarrassed to explain what actually happened. He had been scrolling through Facebook profiles and sent Daphne a message. He went on to recall: “Then,…I saw that one of her friends was Wendy, and I was like ‘wow this girl looks phenomenal, let me say hello.’” Dan’s behavior on social media hadn’t impressed Wendy, but back then, she was unaware that social media would once again play a big role in their relationship later on.

No Reply

After finding out that he has messaged her best friend first, Wendy decided not to reply to Dan. She was not interested in pursuing anything with him after that. Wendy continued her college life and didn’t think much about Dan again. Yet, the sender of the message was experiencing different feelings.

Dan could not stop thinking about Wendy and was disappointed that she hadn’t responded to his request. Although he wanted to send her another message immediately, he decided to wait a while before trying again not to appear pushy, or scare her further way. He wasn’t sure if he’d even get a reply or what she would say if she did write back.

Persistent Dan

Dan waited a while, but after receiving no response from Wendy, he decided to be more direct and sent her another message, trying to start a conversation with her. Wendy couldn’t understand it. Why was this guy so persistent with her? He has already messaged her best friend. So she started to look deeper into things.

Wendy was surprised to see that she and Dan already had a few mutual friends on Facebook, some of whom were from Wendy’s hometown. This reassured Wendy that Dan wasn’t just a random, creepy guy from the internet. And finally, she decided to reply.

Connecting Online

Dan had sent Wendy a couple of eager messages, desperately hoping she would respond. Wendy decided to finally reply to his messages, and the conversation between them flowed easily, and over the next few days, they both enjoyed getting to know each other better.

Both Dan and Wendy were new to online dating and forming romances in the online world, so neither of them knew how to steer the conversation. Dan and Wendy had been corresponding online for a few days when Dan decided to take the plunge and ask her if she wanted to meet him in person. He didn’t want it to sound like a formal date at a restaurant or anything, so he just invited her to his apartment. But there was a flaw in his plan.

Last Minute Party Plans

Dan was so happy to be finally talking to Wendy online and was really excited to invite her to his place for a party he was throwing. At the time, he was living with his roommates in room 2A, and they were throwing a big party with the neighbors. Only there was a slight problem.

Dan later admitted in a YouTube video that there was no party. If Wendy had agreed to come, then he would have thrown one. Luckily for Dan, Wendy did agree, which meant that she was now coming to a party that wasn’t actually happening. Dan had to put together a last-minute party very quickly!

At the Party

While at Montclair State University, Dan was on the basketball team, so finding friends to come to the last minute party was no problem. Dan’s roommates were also happy to get involved with the party plans. They were all quickly informed about this mystery girl that Dan had been messaging.

The party started, and Wendy arrived with some of her friends shortly afterward. Wendy has since shared in a YouTube video, “We danced all night, we were talking, but by the end of the night everybody left, and we were still there.” This sounds like the beginning of a love story, but for Wendy and Dan it wasn’t.

The Timing Wasn’t Right

The pair really hit it off at the party, and after that night, they continued to text each other. Judging by their sudden closeness and great chemistry, you’d think this would be the beginning of their romance. Perhaps it was the start of something. However, any plans they had to continue the relationship would soon be distinguished.

Dan and Wendy agreed that there was an instant mutual connection between the two of them, but in spite of this, they decided to remain friends. Dan later shared, “She had gotten out of a relationship, and I was kind of partying it up, so to speak, so we were not looking for anything serious,” he added, “We were still really interested in each other.” Their friends thought that the friendship was bound to end, and so it did.

From Friends to More than That

Fortunately for Dan and Wendy, both of their sets of friends got along well, so it was easy to get together and for everyone to hang out and have fun. Although Dan and Wendy remained just friends, both of their sets of friends could clearly see that there was something more between the pair. Dan’s birthday then came around, and he had an idea.

Dan received a “Happy Birthday” text message from Wendy. He decided to use the message as an opportunity to respond and ask her for dinner to celebrate later that week. While at the dinner, the pair decided to give a relationship a try. Over the course of their meal, they decided to date, and to take their friendship to something more serious. Everything was going very well, but their relationship would soon come to an end.

The Dating Troubles Begin

Now that Dan and Wendy were a couple and had mutual friends, they had gone from seeing each other regularly to now, seeing each other all the time. From the outside, everything looked as though it was going very well. However, Wendy was struggling with her own issues about the relationship.

Up until getting into a relationship with Dan, Wendy has always been a very independent young woman. Now that she was involved with Dan, she had become dependent on him, and he had become dependent on her. The relationship had changed her somehow, and she was aware of this change. As their college years were coming to an end, Wendy was passionate about pursuing some of her big dreams. But that meant making a difficult decision.

The Breakup

Wendy’s college years largely revolved around Dan and her relationship with him. It wasn’t that she didn’t love Dan because she did, but there was so much that she wanted to do. As her years at college were coming to an end, she decided to focus more on herself and her future goals. Wendy had grown a lot over the past few years and had more growing to do, but this was a transition that she felt she needed to do alone.

Before Wendy graduated, she told Dan about her decision. She wanted to break up. Naturally, Dan was heartbroken, but at the same time, he knew that he too needed some time on his own to grow. He was struggling with some personal issues at the time, and although he didn’t want to split from Wendy, he understood that he needed time to figure things out. The couple went their separate ways but little did they know about the adventure they were about to embark upon.

A Celebrity is Born

Wendy’s journey to grow and find herself was a great success, and through it, she learned to embrace her natural beauty. She launched her own YouTube channel, which documented her journey to learning to love and accept her natural hair. The content she shared resonated with a lot of viewers. She shared light-hearted tutorials and chatty videos, and subsequently, her YouTube channel “Wendy’s Curls” became a hit!

Wendy had become a YouTube sensation, bringing in more than 60, 000 views not long after its launch. She posted a variety of videos from Q&A videos, confessions, tutorials, and workouts. Wendy used to be such a shy, self-conscious girl but her YouTube success helped to transition her into a confident and independent woman who felt comfortable with her natural looks. Then something happened that could have potentially set her back.

A Chance Encounter Lead to Something More Serious

Wendy had been making big process in her personal and professional life; meanwhile, Dan had been working hard on himself too. Life was going well for Dan, but he was still saddened over losing Wendy. A year and a half had gone by since their hard break up. At the time of their split, they both understood it was for the best. Then a chance encounter changed everything.

While out on a run one day, Wendy and Dan happened to bump into each other. It was only a coincidental meeting, but their feelings came rushing back to them, and they decided to reconnect. After that much needed time apart, they were both ready to try again at their relationship. Social media had played an important role in them meeting, and it was about to play a significant role in their relationship once more.

Their Love Story

Dan has been working hard on his fitness journey while Wendy had been growing her YouTube channel. In their own careers, respectively, they had both acquired loyal social media followers. Together, they had many followers who enjoyed watching their romance unfold through each of their posts.

During their time apart, Dan had gathered a generous 15 500 followers, while Wendy, on the other hand, had become social media famous in her own right with 87 000 followers. On their separate accounts, they shared pictures of their fitness regimes, their daily lives, and other snaps that might interest their followers. Then one day, the pair decided to share a photo of them as a couple together. This one photo had a surprising response.

A Very Happy Anniversary

The pair first met in 2006, they had a relationship and then a prolonged breakup. Time had passed, and a lot had gone on, so it was no surprise that they had almost forgotten their anniversary. This was quite a special anniversary, indeed. The pair thought back and discovered it was their ten year anniversary from the first time they had met, and everything was going great for them since they had decided to get back together. To mark this big event, Wendy decided to share a picture of them on her account.

This wasn’t the first time the pair had shared content about their relationship online. They had done that before, but this time was different. A lot had gone on in the past ten years, and they had grown so much as people. What they would soon learn was that other people noticed these changes in the two individuals too.

One Post Changed Everything

In this particular anniversary post, Wendy decided to share two photos side by side. The two photos were taken ten years apart. The first was the couple during their college years, and the second was of them both a decade later. Wendy captioned the photo on Instagram: “10-year difference! Left, 2007, Right, 2017.”

In the caption, she continued by adding: “I used to have a perm and wear my hair stuck to my face every day, and [Dan] used to shave once a week! Now we take serious swimsuit pictures in different countries.” Before finishing with: “life comes at you fast.” The picture got many likes and comments, more than any photo Wendy had shared before. In a short space of time, the picture gained over 60 000 likes and over 900 comments. Dan and Wendy couldn’t understand it, but then they looked at the comments and realized why.

The Clue Was in the Comments

This photo wasn’t the first photo the couple had shared of them both together since they got back together. Both of them regularly shared photos of themselves on their separate Instagram accounts, so why was this photo so popular? Then they started to read through the comments, and they quickly learned the reason why.

One commenter wrote: “Why does it look like he’s dating the mom in the left and the daughter on the right.” Another commenter asked: “You wanna tell me how you aged backwards?” And one wrote: “Did you both age in reverse?? What fountain of youth are you drinking from??” Dan and Wendy were overwhelmed by the support, and this sparked an idea.

One Couple. One Big Idea!

After the success of the couple’s mutual “glow up,” the pair decided that they should work together and utilize the interest in them as a viral fitness couple. Right from the beginning of their relationship, Dan and Wendy had always shared a mutual interest in health, exercise, and nutrition.

The couple had even thought back then of working together on a joint health and fitness venture. It had always seemed like a natural step for them both, but they went their separate ways and created success separately. This time around, they were ready to work together on something and it was going to be huge.

Couples Who Work Out Together Stay Together

Wendy and Dan had an idea that would turn out to be a massive success! In 2014 they started a fitness blog together. It was only small to start with, and they didn’t give it their joint full attention until that photo went viral. That is when they decided to get serious about their blog. The couple later announced that they were starting a business together called True4YouFitness.

Their business’s goal was to help encourage others in their own fitness journeys, the same way they had done through their social media accounts and their blog. Both Wendy and Dan had embarked on their own wellness journeys over the past ten years, so they had a lot to share. They wanted to make fitness attainable to everyone, no matter their location, budget, age, or other factors. They had no idea that this fitness blog would be just the first in a long line of many great opportunities to come.

What Happens in Paris

Dan and Wendy continued to grow large social media followings, as well as on their blog. The couple was working hard on their future together, as partners in life and business. The photo that had gone viral was the turning point for them but they were no longer thinking about the past. One night, while on vacation in Paris, Dan had a big question for Wendy.

The pair went on a trip to see the Eiffel Tower with a couple of their close friends, and that’s when Dan decided that it was the perfect moment to surprise Wendy. He got down on one knee and asked Wendy to marry him. Of course, she said yes! The fitness couple documented the entire event, which Wendy shared in a YouTube video for her channel. In that video, Wendy mentioned that life couldn’t get any better. But it was to get even better.

Couple Goals

As a couple, Dan and Wendy were lucky to have mutual interests in fitness, health, and well-being. It has been going really well with the two of them working together. Away from the health industry, Dan and Wendy had another passion they both shared – a passion for travel. While on one of their trips that they’d also documented to share with their audiences, they met another couple with similar interests. This couple suggested another business venture for them.

The couple that Wendy and Dan met while traveling worked as professional models. It couldn’t have been more perfect. The couple pointed out that Dan and Wendy already had a loyal fan base and were attracting plenty of attention online, so why not reach out to some modeling agencies to talk about doing some modeling work? It was worth a try. Dan contacted a few agencies to see what they said, but their response was not what he had expected.

The Picture-perfect Pair

A couple of the agencies Dan had contacted replied to him. They weren’t just interested in Dan modeling; they thought it would be great for him and Wendy to come along to castings together. The couple attended various casting sessions in New York City, wondering if they’d ever land any gigs.

It wasn’t long before they were both signed as models. One of Wendy’s first modeling jobs was for a Dove face wash campaign, and Dan was there to support her. They began to land regular modeling jobs, so they decided to relocate to New York City to pursue their modeling careers. Their move was shared with their social media followers, who’ve enjoyed following the couple’s lifestyle change.

It’s All Working Out

Dan and Wendy continued to fulfill their passions for health and fitness while working as models too. They’ve traveled around for different photoshoots and supported each other’s work. Wendy continued to work as a model while still keeping her YouTube channel going strong. Dan continued to work as a personal trainer in between taking on modeling jobs.

They both thank their followers for helping them to reach their life, and career goals, but both agree that their best support is each other. Wendy has made a name for herself on social media for sharing her health and fitness journey, as well as learning to accept her natural beauty. Who’d have thought that the college student who didn’t trust the internet would end up finding her career, relationship, and celebrity status through the net?!