I Lived Bitch is a meme that originated from a text message featuring a picture of a man in a hospital bed, looking a little worse for wear, accompanied by text that says, “I Lived Bitch.” On the internet at large, the phrase has gone on to represent when someone overcomes a great physical or emotional challenge.
I Lived Bitch: The original text
“I Lived Bitch” first came to be in December of 2014, when Twitter user @lolcalista posted a photo of the titular text exchange. The pic was accompanied by the caption, “my stepdad had surgery this morning and he sent me this.”
Like so many of these initial posters, the Twitter account has since been deleted, but not before the image reached enough eyes to prepare for its true ascent.
I Lived Bitch and the internet found out
The “I Lived Bitch” post hit Instagram on April 24th, 2016, in a post by the account @cohmedy, who posted the original @lolcalista tweet. The post received over 129k likes in its first year.
Eight months later, on December 30th, 2016, Twitter user @spliced_ posted a slight variation of @lolcalista’s tweet, featuring the same picture but altering (and heightening) the caption to read, “My dad, who has been in a coma for 3 months and presumed dead, texted me this.” The post attracted over 137,800 retweets and 405,400 likes.
A mere week later, on January 7th, 2017, @mytomholland posted a variation of the meme on Twitter, with Leonardo DiCaprio as the central figure. The caption read, “my husband, who drowned in the ocean 3 years ago and presumed dead, texted me this,” with the photo of DiCaprio riding a paddleboard. The post garnered more than 16k retweets and 27k likes.
A month later, on February 3rd, 2017, @Knuckle_Echidna posted a Tweet that said simply “I lived bitch.” For just the text alone, the post garnered 10k retweets and over 13k likes in its first three months. The phrase had taken on a life of its own.
From there, folks began using “I lived bitch” as a caption to accompany any perceived overcoming of hardship. The basic format matching a hospital bed with the phrase also has gone on to become a popular meme. There’s even a dedicated Reddit thread of IRL “I lived bitch” scenarios that’s a real hoot.
I Lived Bitch memes
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