After a 4chan user proclaimed that "Shrek is love, Shrek is life" in a graphic story, he managed to ruin the innocence of millions of Shrek fans everywhere who stumbled upon his unfortunate words. For those who have always wondered where this meme began, the following awkward and disturbing information should answer any lingering questions.

Before delving further into this, it should be noted that "Shrek Is Love, Shrek Is Life" does contain depictions of (fictional) sexual assault. So naturally, the following explainer is also going to be a bit NSFW.

Where Did ‘Shrek Is Love, Shrek Is Life’ Come From?

"Shrek Is Love, Shrek Is Life" was first birthed on 4chan. On January 14th, 2013, an anonymous user of the site posted the following greentext story that changed the world forever:

After that, it became a copypasta, but remained in relative obscurity outside of 4chan. Then, it began to appear on YouTube. First, it was in the form of dramatic readings of the original text, the most famous of which was uploaded by SgtSnuggleButt in February 2013, but the original video is no longer available.

How Is ‘Shrek Is Love, Shrek Is Life’ Discussed Online?

Soon after SgtSnuggleButt uploaded the dramatic reading, it became a challenge of sorts to watch the video, creating a minor "Don’t Google" trend in the early 2010s. While it wasn’t as scarring as some of the other trends people were looking up at the time, it quickly became an entertaining reference.

For all those who had heard or read the copypasta themselves, they understood the many onion layers of the phrase "Shrek Is Love, Shrek Is Life." Thus, people began to declare their love for Shrek in just about any situation, both online and in real-world social situations.

Then, some creators animated the scene, creating some truly bizarre animation videos of the ever-popular copypasta. At the same time, more sexual greentexts about Shrek appeared on 4chan, like this one:

Sometimes, people even combine the original copypasta with a new character and their references, which became a subtrend of the original:

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For the full history of "Shrek Is Love, Shrek Is Life," be sure to check out our entry on the TikTok trend here for even more information.