Author, broadcaster and Guardian beauty columnist, Sali Hughes, has release an impassioned video statement detailing the trauma she's experienced on account of online bullies and trolls.
In the Instagram video posted on Friday, Hughes – who is also a champion of women’s issues and social equality – reveals that she has endured months of criticism and hatred in the form of forum threads and social media posts originating on a "bullying" website that targets Instagram influencers. Hughes explains that the trolls would not only condemn her career and question her authenticity, they also posted links to the profiles of her family and friends.
“My crimes apparently varied from not accepting their Facebook requests to rejecting them from my own Facebook group for being rude to other members and to me,” Hughes says in the video.
“They began to migrate over to my Instagram next. They were rude and vindictive, talking about my children [and] making accusations about my career that were and are not true.”
She continues: “Everything was lie upon lie upon lie to the degree that I wouldn’t know who they were discussing for the most of it, had they not constantly used my name.
“They screen grabbed every post, every article, scuttling back to their sewer to mock and belittle me. They discussed my children, criticised my parenting, mocked my marriage and made personal insults about my husband (who is the kindest and most decent person I know).”
The backlash that Hughes received after taking action against her trolls further reveals their lack of remorse. The group went to anonymous Instagram account Estée Laundry which subsequently posted screen shots of statements from the trolls, tagging Hughes, but not doing its due diligence by requesting a statement. It appears these posts have now been removed.
Since Friday, Hughes has received a wave of support from fellow members of the beauty and media industries. She has also shared a way that the public can help, by signing a petition that calls for the closure of Tattle Life – the gossip forum where the bullying started. You can sign it here.
