Is it normal that peer pressure can be so strong

When I was 14 I had my first boyfriend. I really really liked him he had a nice personality and he was easy on the eyes. Every one of my girlfriends(no im not bisexual, i meant friend that are girls) thought we made a cute couple. However his friends didn't like me because i was a bit on the bigger side and they probably thought I was ugly so they kept pressuring him to break up with me . I mean i new he was under some pressure to break up with me , but i never knew it was enough for him to actually do so. He broke up with me on his birthday, and i acted like it was no big deal. Is it normal for peer pressure to be THAT strong that they inflict who you hang out with? The next year after that we were in seperate classes but still hung out with our friends all the time together. I moved across country the next year and we became oddly close then he just suddenly stopped talking to me and it was around the time he had a new girlfriend. She was Muslim and her parents wouldn't approve of her dating him she did anyways then they both had their first kiss together and then she broke up with him a few days later because she couldn't lie anymore.