Phillip Schofield and Holly Willoughby struggled to contain their emotions on This Morning on Thursday as they interviewed a mother whose daughter took her own life as a result of cyberbullying. The two hosts became tearful as they spoke to heartbroken mum Nicola about her 14-year-old daughter Megan Evans. "I don't know how you are standing up," Phillip, a father of two daughters, told Nicola. "What a thing for a family to go through."
Holly and Phillip became visibly emotional as Nicola revealed that one stand out message had pushed her daughter over the edge. She said: "One final message – I think that was the final message that did tip the scales…" Phillip continued: "That final message was, 'Why don't you hang yourself?' and she texted back, 'Ok'." At that point, as Nicola broke down in tears, the TV duo took a moment to regain their composure, with Phillip adding: "It's getting us all."
© Photo: ITVPhillip Schofield and Holly Willoughby were visible upset as they discussed the impact of cyberbullying
Nicola described her daughter as "bright, vivacious, hugely popular, sporty, confident, outgoing, fiercely independent, just a normal teenager". She added: "She was constantly on Snapchat, Facebook, Instagram. It's a part of the social makeup at the moment. There's a lot of pressure to be on social media. It's just the norm." She also revealed that neither Megan's friends nor her siblings had any idea that something was wrong. "We're all distraught and angry because no one noticed anything different with her," she admitted.
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© Photo: ITVMum Nicola spoke bravely about the death of her 14-year-old daughter Megan
Nicola also revealed that Megan had been a big Justin Bieber fan, and even had tickets to see him in concert later on this year. "Megan loved Justin Bieber. We got her Justin Bieber tickets for Christmas and she sobbed," she said. "It was her dream to get some signed memorabilia from him." After Megan's death, Nicola launched a social media campaign to try and reach the pop star. She said she cried "tears of happiness" when Justin sent back a signed photograph with Megan's name and a love heart drawn on.
"It's so difficult to understand why she did what she did," Nicola admitted. "She was always helping other people. If her friends were having a hard time they'd all go Megan. She was targeted because she was kind."
