Charlotte Dawson: Twitter Trolls Caused ‘Massive Anxiety Attack’
Charlotte Dawson on Tuesday spoke on air about an earlier report that an ambulance had rushed her to a hospital in August. The situation was linked to Twitter trolls who were bullying Dawson and asking her to "go hang yourself."
Speaking to Kyle and Jackie O, Dawson implied the trolls got into her. And she was lucky someone checked after her on that night.
"I didn't [call the ambulance]. I was very much passed out by that stage. But one of my little girls from [Australia's Next Top Model], Madeline, was awake and she follows me, so she came. She has keys to my apartment."
Madeline was alerted by Dawson's tweet that said: "You win x."
The cyber attack of the Twitter trolls peaked after Dawson re-tweeted a hate tweet from a university employee.
"Ms Heti," the university employee, apparently did not like her. Ms Heti tweeted: "excuse me @MsCharlotteD on behalf of NZ we would like you to please GO HANG YOURSELF!!!"
Dawson did a research on Ms Heti and found out her cyber bully is named Tanya Heti. She worked at Monash University, and was later suspended from work over her hate tweets.
"The NSW Police Force takes cyber bullying very seriously," a spokeswoman for NSW Police had said.
"Threats of violence, whether made on-line or not, constitute criminal conduct and will be thoroughly investigated by police ... and if sufficient evidence exists, appropriate action will be taken," the spokesperson added.
It is not clear whether Dawson assumed the hate tweets would stop at Ms Heti's suspension.
"When I got home late at night [the hate tweeters] started sending child pornography, mutilated bodies and I got hundreds and hundreds of messages asking me to kill myself," Dawson recounted.
"I ignored it and went to sleep and I woke up a couple of hours later to check the feed and I could feel the adrenalin just started pumping and I just had a massive, massive anxiety attack," she added.
This was the first time for Dawson to talk about what happened to her after the height of Twitter attacks in August.
Victim of cyber bullies? Get Help!
If you or anyone you know are being bothered by bullies on the internet. Contact Lifeline Australia for help and support.