Abbie Chatfield Shared Some Of The Abusive DMs She’s Received & It’s Truly Foul
Abbie Chatfield catapulted to fame after last year’s season of The Bachelor and she’s set to appear soon on Bachelor In Paradise, and we can’t wait to see her back on our screens.
Abbie was seen as a divisive character on last year’s season of The Bachelor, but after the show finished airing she won over a legion of fans for her strong advocacy, body-positive messages, tell-all podcast, and just for being a straight-up badass woman. Basically she flipped the whole reality TV narrative on its head by showing that of course people are multi-faceted and more than just the storyline a dating show gives them.
However, with her rise to fame in Australia, has come the burden of dealing with foul trolls online. Reality stars have openly talked about bullying before and the detrimental effect it can have on their mental health. Whether it’s the fallout from the show’s editing and manipulation, or the relentless trolling and bullying that occurs online after a show airs, there’s a huge problem within the reality space that needs to be addressed.
While we enjoy watching these shows and the storylines that play out, it’s always important to remember that these are real people, with real lives, and you’re only ever seeing a fraction of what happens when things are being filmed.
Abbie Chatfield has shared on Instagram some of the foul DMs she’s received and they’re beyond awful.
Content warning: these messages are upsetting and reference physical violence and suicide.
“Fuck this. Fuck these people. Fuck you if you’ve ever messaged anyone something even close to this. This is why people commit suicide after being catapulted into the spotlight by a TV show,” Abbie captioned her post.
Sharing 10 screenshots, Abbie said she had hundreds more saved to a drive that she hopes to be able to use for something good to come out of it in the future.
The first post Abbie shared was a man sending her a voice memo, calling her a “grub c*nt” and stating that if he ever got the chance he’d strangle her to death.
The other posts show more death threats, with people telling Abbie to die, saying they’d “punch her in the jaw” and more. And this just a handful of what she receives on a daily basis.
“Am I grateful for The Bachelor? Yes! Does ANYTHING anyone does on these shows warrant this? FUCK NO,” Abbie said.
Abbie also raised a good point that people are often told to “block and delete” but that isn’t a method that actually works.
People who are being harassed shouldn’t be responsible to then have to block people or take “time off from their phone” as though that will solve the problem.
“You block one account, another pops up and you have no track of who is who. It gets to a point where you recognise the usernames because of repeat offenders. You can’t ignore threats of violence and attacks on your character.” Abbie said. “I shouldn’t have to get off social media, and if I didn’t use socials for a day each time someone messaged me something like this, I would be on socials two days of the year.”
Abbie went on to talk about the damage these kind of messages cause.
“At one point I was scared to be recognised in public, for fear of my safety,” she wrote. “I still get worried when people ask for photos with me that they’re going to say something to hurt me or take a photo with me and joke about me with their friends. This isn’t a joke. I shouldn’t be falling asleep worried someone will break into my apartment and strangle me.”
You can read Abbie’s full post here.
Also internet trolls – log the fuck off.