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Instagram egg cracks open, revealing a wholesome mental health message

The world-famous egg appears on Hulu with a surprising story.

Jackson Ryan Former Science Editor
Jackson Ryan was CNET's science editor, and a multiple award-winning one at that. Earlier, he'd been a scientist, but he realized he wasn't very happy sitting at a lab bench all day. Science writing, he realized, was the best job in the world -- it let him tell stories about space, the planet, climate change and the people working at the frontiers of human knowledge. He also owns a lot of ugly Christmas sweaters.
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Alexandra Able Senior Social Media Producer
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Jackson Ryan
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Hulu/Screenshot by Jackson Ryan

History will show that two events defined Feb. 3, 2019: Super Bowl 53 and big reveals about the Instagram egg.

First, the egg's identity was traced to an employee at a London advertising agency, according to reports by BuzzFeed News and Mashable. Then in a Hulu special after the Super Bowl, the World Record Egg released a 30-second video.

"Recently I've started to crack," it begins, before the egg crumbles. "The pressure of social media is getting to me."

"If you're struggling too, talk to someone," says the egg, before reanimating and getting its shell back with no cracks. "We got this," it finishes, before a URL for Mental Health America appears.

The video was posted to the World Record Egg Instagram account on Monday. 

Twitter quickly filled with adoration.

Mental Health America thanked the egg for "shining a limelight on #mentalhealth."

We can't say we expected the saga to end this way, but we're glad that it did. Of all the ways this could have gone, such a wholesome,simple, positive message about mental health is pretty much the best outcome. It's still unknown whether this was planned in advance before the egg's meteoric rise to stardom or came about after the egg was crowned Instagram royalty. 

World Record Egg didn't immediately respond to a request for comment. 

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First published Feb. 3, 2019, 8:59 p.m. PT.
Update, Feb. 4 at 7:08 a.m PT: Adds Instagram video. 

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