Celebrities are constantly in the public eye and, as a result, experience mean comments to do with their actions or appearance. And in the age of social media, they often can't even escape this negativity in their own home. Former Gogglebox star Scarlett Moffatt took to Instagram to reveal the extent to which some people will go to voice their opinions.
The 29-year-old shared a photo that showed how one particular critic went to the effort of posting her a nasty letter to comment on her body in the new series The British Tribe Next Door. Part of the message read: "Your appearance on 'Tribe' was atrocious - so fat! You can't speak properly - it's 'I' not 'me' in a sentence. Your mouth looks strange like a pork chop sliced in half. Whatever must these African women thought of it all." Poor Scarlett!
And we applaud her response. In the caption, the I'm A Celeb winner stood up for herself and encouraged fans to spread kindness, writing: "The fact someone’s sent me a letter as they feel so strongly about my weight is ridiculous. Turns out I’m not even safe from vile comments in the comfort of my own home. I WILL NOT let bullies like this get me down." She continued: "I just wish they’d left me a reply address and I would have sent them some local charity details and clubs near them so they could occupy their time as they seem to have so much of it by helping others. Let’s just be kind to people as we don’t know what’s going on in their lives [heart emoji]️ #bekind." We completely agree, which is why HELLO! launched the #HelloToKindness campaign earlier this year to champion online positivity.
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The Moffatt family spent time in Namibia for new series The British Tribe Next Door
After originally putting on a brave face, Scarlett broke down in tears and spoke candidly about her feelings on Instagram Stories. She said: "So I was going to pretend that I wasn't bothered, but I think it's actually important to show that I am. I've had quite a hard couple of weeks in terms of press." She continued: "I'm just a person - I'm someone's daughter, I'm someone's girlfriend, I'm someone's sister. I have feelings." Scarlett concluded by thanking fans for their kind messages and asking everyone to keep opinions to themselves if they have nothing nice to say.
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Unfortunately, Scarlett is no stranger to these types of comments. Speaking to HELLO! recently, she said: "I think no one can prepare you for being in the spotlight. You are told to expect criticism, but in any other job people would be like 'Why is Johnny from HR emailing Scarlett saying she looks awful all the time.' Whereas, because this is a job where you're on the telly, people feel like they're allowed to say that."