A British Star’s Family Photo Is Going Viral Because People Cannot Get Over How Tall His Son Is

Stephanie Soteriou
·6-min read

It’s fair to say that reactions to the presidential election are dominating our social media feeds at the moment. However, amid all of the politics, another story has been breaking through on X, formerly known as Twitter, and it’s much more lighthearted — to say the least.

Gary Barlow in a dark suit with a striped shirt stands against a geometric-patterned backdrop, smiling at the camera

In a tweet that has since been seen more than 3 million times and racked up thousands of likes and retweets, they wrote: "Gary Barlow's son is scared, he doesn't know why he's so big.”

Instagram @officialgarybarlow / Via instagram.com

In the photo, Dan has his arm around his dad — who is barely as tall as his shoulder. Gary’s wife, Dawn Andrews, and their youngest daughter Daisy, 15, are also in the family picture and drastically shorter than Dan.

Before long, the conversation surrounding Gary’s tall son had taken on a life of its own on X, with many other users sharing photos of Gary in good-humored relation to his son’s height.

One viral tweet shows the star surrounded by golden confetti, with the accompanying caption reading: “Gary Barlow standing next to his son eating a croissant.”

BBC / X @BarrieGWhite / Via x.com

Another shows a photo of Gary in front of some green foliage, with the caption reading: “gary barlow on the way to visit his son, who lives at the top of a beanstalk.”

And in a photo of Gary with his hand in the air, somebody wrote: “Gary Barlow holding his son’s hand to cross the road."

While a picture of Gary partially concealed by a black window as he gets into a car is captioned with: “Gary Barlow behind his sons sunglasses."

“It’s been nearly a full day and I haven’t seen a single one of you doing it so I’ll do it my fucking self,” another user wrote. “Gary Barlow and Gary Barhigh.”

As the discourse continued online, many admitted that the banter reminded them of the good old days of the social media site, with one popular tweet reading: “The problem is that Twitter is such a rancid cesspit now but then all these Gary Barlow’s son tweets remind you of the golden age.”

X @chazza_dee / Via x.com

“You think you’re gonna give up with Twitter because it’s all got a bit shouty & then suddenly Gary Barlow’s son bursts onto the scene & you think this might be the very pinnacle of human existence,” somebody else wrote.

Another tweeted: “The reason I still love Twitter is because it can still give you times like this evening with this Gary Barlow’s son stuff. It’s glorious.”

While one more quipped: “Thank you Gary Barlow’s massive son for making Twitter feel like home again.”

Others were overwhelmed by the contrast between the election coverage and Gary Barlow-related tweets dominating their algorithm, with a viral tweet joking: “I’m sorry I don’t have the bandwidth to deal with the US election AND the reveal of Gary Barlow’s massive son right now.”

Instagram @officialgarybarlow / X @AlRhodes92 / Via x.com

“me anticipating whether the next tweet I see will be related to the US election or Gary Barlow's massive son,” somebody else wrote alongside a video of British reality star Gemma Collins saying: “It could be either or.”

Channel 5 / X @SianThymes / Via x.com

And it seems as though Gary is in on the joke, with he himself making light of the height difference between him and Dan in the past.

Gary Barlow wearing sunglasses, a plaid shirt over a dark t-shirt and jeans, standing in a casual pose with hands in pockets

In 2019, he shared a video of himself and his son lifting weights in the garden — admitting at the time that he’d purposefully stood in front of Dan to try and look less short.

Mega / GC Images

“I love spending time with my kids. Here’s Dan and I having a Father & Son training session. I’m very proud of my boy & his commitment to his fitness. Don’t look at the difference in weights. Don’t notice that I’m stood a little further forward to make the size gap smaller. Lol,” he wrote on X at the time.

X @GaryBarlow / Via x.com

But perhaps the biggest plot twist of all is the fact that Dan isn’t actually as exceptionally tall as he may look, with the difference in size only being exemplified by Gary’s shorter stature.

Gary Barlow with short hair and beard wearing a leather jacket smiles, looking to the side

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