Emily Atack reveals she’s scared to be alone after terrifying rape threats
EMILY Atack has revealed she’s scared to be on her own after receiving terrifying rape threats from men.
The comedian added that she’s “terrified” to be home alone – and expects the worst when she hears “bump in the night”.
Emily, 32, opened up on the devastating impact explicit messages online have had on her mental health.
The star admitted she was scared of “being physically alone” after years of sexually-driven comments and threats.
She tells the Radio Times magazine: “I’m terrified at times. The second I hear a bump in the night I go, ‘Oh, that’s it. I’m about to be raped and killed’.
“I’m scared of being alone physically a lot of the time.”
Emily revealed that the fear was instilled in her childhood, when comments were made about what she wore to school.
“I remember teachers saying I shouldn’t wear a skirt to school: ‘It’s asking for the wrong kind of attention’,” she went on.
“I thought I had to change me. My whole life, it’s always been people blaming the way I look for these things happening, ‘You wear too much make-up, you wear a short skirt’.”
It comes after Emily revealed she was forced to call the police last year after a series of rape threats online.
The I’m A Celebrity star hit out at vile sex trolls to raise awareness of the issue after the series of messages.
Emily told The Sun: “They knew where I lived, said what they were going to do to me. I got the police involved.”
The star, an ardent campaigner against cyberflashing, has had to move home four times in the wake of targeted abuse.
Emily called for social media companies to clamp down on X-rated comments after revealing that she is sent pornographic material by married family men — and even grandads.
“I’ve had people commenting on my body, my face, my hair, calling me fat, an untalented piece of s***, annoying, whatever, my whole life,” she continued.
“I’ve developed quite a thick skin. But when I started getting actual rape threats, and felt my safety was in jeopardy, it became too much.
“I get videos of men self-pleasuring, awful photos of things I can’t describe, every day.
“I have this one particular guy who constantly abuses me and every time I block him, he creates a new account.
“He’s relentless and disgusting — beyond anything you can imagine. Yet he says he’s a married man with children.
“He says when he’s having sex with his wife he’s thinking about me.
“He sends rape threats, says what he wants to do to me while his wife is in the room, and sends messages saying his children are downstairs in their playroom while he’s pleasuring himself over me.
“These men are exposing themselves to me, doing this, in a more private way, in my direct messages, where I can’t avoid it. It feels shameful.
“It has made me question my entire existence at times, and how men see me.”