Scarlett Moffatt on Gogglebox, trolls and how Samaritans saved her life
Scarlett Moffatt went on Gogglebox as a favour to a friend from college.
She had no idea welcoming the nation into her family’s living room would catapult her into the limelight and see her become a household name known for winning I'm A Celebrity... Get Me Out Of Here.
But for the 30-year-old, the journey to stardom has not been the easiest of rides. Speaking on series three of ITV’s Britain Get Talking podcast, Scarlett opened up about how constant online abuse saw her mental health decline so much she turned to the Samaritans for help.
“Part of me felt like I was living the dream,” she told the podcast's host Kylie Pentelow.
“I was working with amazing people like Ant and Dec and hosting backstage at the NTAs (National Television Awards). I’m from a tiny village and never in my wildest dreams did I think that I would be able to do so many amazing things.”
But alongside Scarlett’s success came unwanted press attention and hateful messages from the public. She found herself the target of death threats, online trolling and even had abusive letters sent to her home.
“I felt like my every move was being scrutinised," she said.
"I remember getting a Domino’s pizza delivery and it actually making the paper. I just felt like all of a sudden my life wasn’t my own.”
Listen to the full episode of Britain Get Talking with Scarlett Moffat here
Scarlett described the trolling she received as "overwhelming".
She said: "I just remember thinking ‘wow there’s things about me that I don’t like that I didn’t even realise I don’t like’.
"People would say 'oh you don't deserve to be on TV, you're not attractive' and stuff.
"Then I started to get impostor syndrome thinking they were right and I don’t look as attractive as Holly Willoughby and all these beautiful people and I’d really be hard on myself."
Listen to Scarlett talk about how trolls left her unable to leave the house for weeks
"I remember a huge thing that went on for about a month was that I’d had my nose done, that I’d had a really bad nose job. This is the nose I was born with.
"It got so bad I remember not going to work one day... I Googled for about six hours to try to find a surgeon who would make my nose bigger."
After winning I'm A Celebrity in 2016, Scarlett weighed less than seven stone but continued to be abused because of her weight.
“I remember getting so much hate from people saying ‘you’ve lost your personality, you’ve lost your spark, we don’t know who you are anymore'.
“I was getting told I was a bad role model and I was like ‘just tell me what size I need to be in order to not get hate and I’ll be that size'."
But now she is happy with herself, Scarlett says comments about her body do not affect her.
"Obviously I have days where I have battles with my body, I think I’d be lying if I said that I was completely confident with the way that I look, but I can look at myself naked in the mirror now which is something I couldn’t do before.
"When I get people saying 'you're fat' that doesn't affect me, it doesn't hurt my feelings because I'm happy with myself."
Scarlett said one of the worst parts of the abuse was then when she did open up about how hurtful it was, she was met with people telling her she had "chosen" a career in TV.
"I actually love the job but it's the bits that come with it... If it was any other job and I was getting this much hate, there would be a union and I would be able to get help with it.
"But unfortunately in this industry it is quite toxic in that sense and that’s when I finally called Samaritans.
"I dialled the number about 20 times before I actually dared pressed the green button to call. I just wanted to speak to someone who didn’t know me.
"That literally saved my life because I just remember hearing this little voice of hope and just letting it all out. The great thing about Samaritans is they just listen.
“I don’t know where I would be or what I would be doing without them.
"They honestly were like a little angel.”
Scarlett is now an ambassador for Samaritans and even sends their details to some of her trolls.
She said: "I’ve never been in a place where I’ve wanted to project that much hate on someone, so I think they must be really unhappy people and so I reach out to them.
“I actually hate the world troll because it makes it sound like these mythical creates that live under a bridge but it’s people who live next door to us, who we walk past in the street and they’re also people that need help. They need a hug. Nobody with that much hate inside of them is happy.”
Free help and advice
Samaritans: 116 123 and samaritans.org
Mind: 0300 123 3393 and mind.org.uk
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