I was on Bake Off and felt suicidal after being attacked by fat-shaming trolls, says Laura Adlington
GREAT British Bake Off star Laura Adlington has said she felt suicidal after being attacked by fat-shaming trolls.
The Go Love Yourself podcast host, 32, told how the abuse worsened in the run up to the final of the Channel 4 show and how it nearly broke her.
The star admitted that she never received counselling and support promised by Channel 4.
“When it was all really kicking off was on the week of the final. People were just being awful and it was really personal stuff as well,” she said on Should I Delete That? podcast with Em Clarkson and Alex Light.
“It was personal stuff like infertility and other personal things. People were saying things like ‘It was no wonder you can’t have a baby’
“It just got really bad. I remember thinking, not I want to kill myself, but I remember crying in bed and being like, this would just be so much easier if I was not here, if I did not exist.
READ MORE ON GBBO
“That was a really low point for me.”
Laura continued: “More needs to be done to govern people on the internet. I’m all for freedom of speech, but like, don’t be a d*** – that’s an actual person with a beating heart.
“It’s f***ing disgusting what people can say and get away with.”
The star said the abuse took a toll on her mental health and knocked her confidence.
Most read in News TV
“I think after Bake Off, I really lost my confidence, because there was so much horribleness around it,” she went on.
“And someone gave me some really bad advice, saying stay on Twitter because you might get work from it. But it was so bad for my mental health. It was awful.
“I remember when I got through to the final over Hermine, (and I was thinking) how the hell am I trending? And there were 120 Ofcom complaints about it.
“I think I put a statement on Twitter saying something like you’re allowed to get upset that your favourite person didn’t get through.
“I actually agree with you but for the record you weren’t there, you didn’t taste it.
“I explained how my cake always looks a bit rustic and that’s it and it’s really all about the taste and the flavour.”
Laura explained that the seven week process was “exhausting” and there was not enough support offered.
She said: “We filmed Bake Off it in a heatwave. I was seven weeks away from home. I was honestly mentally and physically exhausted.
“We didn’t really have any support from the counsellors that they promised or anything and by the end of the filming, I was literally [left feeling] like I’m done. I don’t even want to do it.
“I just cried so much but when I came out of Bake Off, it really knocked my confidence every time I was baking.
“I’d be like in the back of my head. I’d be like “you’re sh**, you’re sh**, you’re sh**, you’re sh**, you’re sh**”‘.
“I bake a bit now but not as much as I used to. I’d kind of lost my love for a little bit.”
In January, Laura wore a bikini on the beach for the first time ever months after revealing the horrific abuse she’d received.
She embraced her body on holiday in Mexico with her husband Matt, and she looked over the moon to be doing so.
Standing proudly in the surf on a white sandy beach, she wrote on Instagram: “Today I wore a bikini on the beach for the first time ever.
“And, for the first time in my entire life, I can honestly say I feel at peace with my body, instead of at war with it.
“It’s not a perfect body but it’s mine, and I want to feel the sun on it.”
Last summer Laura hit out at a fat-shaming troll who told her “Your husband must dread having sex with you.”
She said: “This vile message broke me yesterday. It was so personal, especially the baby comment, and I felt absolutely heartbroken somebody could be so cruel.
“It made me want to delete my account and hide away.”
Read More on The Sun
Bake Off judge Paul Hollywood jumped in to defend her after previous social media attacks.
He wrote: “I’ve heard of some sad people trolling Laura, it’s disgusting behaviour.”