Pick Me Up! Special – September 2019

He’d

found

andI w

terrifi

delete button straightaway, not even

bothering to read them properly.

But he’d trick me into opening

them by changing his own e-mail

address every now and then.

Soon, I was receiving an e-mail

every single day from the stranger.

I must talk to you.

Why do you never

respond? he wrote.

With each message,

he seemed to become

more and more

frustrated with me.

Soon his e-mails

were splattered with

obscenities.

Now there were two or three

messages a day.

As soon as I’d block him, he’d

create a brand-new account so he

could continue to harass me.

I didn’t understand how he

was doing it.

‘I’m scared to leave the

house,’ I admitted to a friend.

I was sure this wasn’t

someone I knew.

Was he one of those

weirdos who had threatened

me or the cats?

This felt like someone

dangerous, ready to pounce

at any moment.

I have a mind to fly to

Vegas and find you, his

next message said.

How did he know where I lived?

Then, a couple of months later, I

received a strange note through my

front door.

It didn’t have a stamp, and had

been hand-delivered.

Meet me at this

hotel, it read.

My heart jolted.

How had he possibly

found out my home

address?

I never publicised

where I lived.

It was the

final straw.

But as I headed to

report him to the police,

another e-mail pinged.

You need to come talk to

me, I’m not leaving without

gettingsomeface

time with you.

At the police

station, I told them

about the relentless

e-mails and now the

hand-delivered note.

‘I’m being

stalked!’ I cried.

But, by law, this

creepy stranger

hadn’t done

anything wrong.

It seemed he

would have to

physically attack

me before they

could take action.

Only, I couldn’t

let this go.

Hiring my own

private investigator, we

discovered the culprit

was staying in a hotel

near my house.

As I suspected, he

was a complete

stranger. And a

determined one at that.

He’d flown over

1,000 miles to see me.

Angry e-mails kept

flooding in...

You’re so rude not to

meet me...I feel

betrayed...I spent all

my money on this trip to see you...

I deleted every one that he sent,

without a reply.

And, incredibly, after that – after

months of harassment – the

messages suddenly stopped.

I didn’t feel relieved, I just kept

expecting another e-mail to ping up

all of a sudden.

And, sure enough, vile

messages came from

other trolls.

Especially

whenI met my partner Brian, 29, in

2016, and shared the news on

Instagram with all my many

supportive followers.

Posts of our date nights,

engagement and then our wedding

last June seemed to enrage some of

my followers.

Pathetic.

‘Why make that stuff public?’

you might ask.

But why should I let a few losers

stop me from sharing my happiness

with my followers?

Realistically, I know the trolls

will continue.

But I’m better equipped to cope

these days.

To date, I have had to block more

than 200,000 users.

Yep, you read that right.

More than 200,000 sad, twisted

people who’ve nothing better to do

with their lives.

To be honest, I find it outrageous

that the police won’t act until

something physically occurs.

That’s why I’m backing a

campaign to launch a stalker

register, something which would

have the same rules as a sex offender

register in the UK.

There are thousands of young

women sharing their lives with the

world - it’s not just bloggers!

But they are vulnerable to these

faceless social-media freaks.

I’m now stronger and can brush

off the negativity, but there are a lot

of impressionable youngsters who

could become a victim to this hatred.

We need some sort of protection.

My advice to new, young

social-media influencers would be

to keep a record of any harassment

or abuse, and to never give out your

location online.

Social media should be a safe,

kind, encouraging place to work,

play and socialise.

It’s a shame a minority of twisted

weirdos want to ruin that enjoyment

for all of us.

REAL LIFE

Y HATE

We were openly criticised

Thousands

got involved in

our wedding

I’ve had to block

200,000 people

spokeswomanfor

Instagram said, ‘We

want to maintain a safe and

supportive environment on

Instagram. Our guidelines

outline what is and isn’t

allowed on Instagram. If

someone violates these

guidelines, we will take

action. We process millions

of reports every week, and

the vast majority of reports

are reviewed within 24

hours.

Instagram’s response...