A year on from the final episode of her Bachelor season, Abbie Chatfield has opened up about the abuse she copped after being portrayed as the show’s villain, and how far she’s come since then.
Earlier today, she shared a photo of herself watching the finale while enjoying the finale with a publicist mate, revealing that she was happy that night because the nasty messages might soon end.
She then shared screengrabs of some of the DMs she’d received during her time on the show, in which strangers called her a “piece of shit”, a “filthy animal”, a “bitch” and a “slut.”
“Reality TV contestants are not comic book characters, they are people who went on a show for an experience of whatever kind,” she wrote.
“This title [of villain] lets people send messages like these,” she added.
https://www.instagram.com/p/CFTF43mF_GA/
She said that the abuse got to her for a while. “I was suicidal a year ago, wasn’t eating, would sit at my desk crying all day, waiting for another hideous message from another hideous person,” she said.
Things have since turned around, and Chatfield says she now has a sucessful podcast with a second one in the works and a Popsugar column, amongst other things.
She continued:
“Not speaking about the abuse that I copped and still cop daily was not an option, and I’m genuinely concerned for some contestants this year as I know they would be enduring the same. So, I guess the lesson here is things get better, you can work through anything and how you’re feeling now won’t be forever. No black dog can live forever.”
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