Last week, Sam Frost sent out a heart-breaking tweet to the bullies and trolls affecting her life that they had “won”, prompting strong concerns for her mental well-being.
To the fake accounts heavily trolling me online & into my personal life. If you wanted to break me.. Congratulations you have won. #broken ??
— Sam Frost (@Sam_Frost) July 4, 2016
This morning, she spoke publicly for the first time since that tweet, opening up about her recent mental health struggles to her 2DayFM co-host Rove McManus.
“When I started this job, I’d been dealing a lot with the previous two years,” she said. “It was emotionally and mentally exhausting. And then I started this job – and I love my job – but I copped a really hard time. And everyone was so critical, and the media was critical, and trolls were just horrendous and I was just getting so heavily trolled, and other elements to it that I don’t even want to mention.
“It got to a point for about three or four months that I would come to work, and go home. I wouldn’t even what to leave my house, I was so in an awful place, I was in a really really dark place. I’d shut my friends out, I’d shut my family out. I’d come to work, and go home, and I’d stay shut in that dark horrible place.”
She said the breaking point for her was when her partner Sasha Mielczarek turned to her and said that he didn’t know what to do anymore, because “all you do is cry and you’re not talking to me”.
“And I said to him, ‘I don’t want to be here anymore. I don’t want to wake up everyday anymore’,” she said. “And it wasn’t until I said that out loud, because I’d just been bottling it all in, and I saw the helplessness in his face, and I realised it’s not fair for me to want to give up.”
Sam said that kicked her into gear to seek the help of a professional, citing the support from her BF + friends as well.
She went on a break to Bali two weeks ago feeling she like was finally in a good place – until she saw that, as well as the abuse, people were making fake accounts to talk to her loved ones and spread lies about her.
“It just all fell heavily on me again,” she said. “I’ve worked so hard to get away from that dark place, [but] these trolls are relentless, they won’t stop.”
That was when she sent out the tweet, which – as Rove pointed out – was heartbreakingly similar to one sent out by Charlotte Dawson before she killed herself in 2014.
“I know you feel the pressures of this job, and I think you get a lot of unnecessary scrutiny for who you are and what you do, and not enough praise for how well you’re doing it,” he told her. “I adore you, and I’m so glad you’re here.”
Rove at his most sweetheart self, right there.
“I can guarantee you the best thing I ever did was I admitted to myself and a loved one that I’m actually not okay.”
Listen to the full segment below:
Hey mates – if you’re going through a rough time, the best thing you can do is reach out. To speak to someone about mental health, or for 24/7 counselling, call BeyondBlue on 1300 22 4636. If you are in crisis or distress, call Lifeline on 13 11 14. If it is an emergency, call 000.
