TV presenter Charlotte Dawson commits suicide following vile Twitter abuse, 18 months after her ‘You win’ tweet

TV presenter Charlotte Dawson, 47, has committed suicide after Twitter trolls told her to "go hang yourself".

charlotte

by Kayleigh Dray |
Published on

Charlotte was found dead at her home in Sydney on the weekend, tragically becoming the "first celebrity victim of trolling".

The popular television presenter, friend of Russell Crowe and Westlife's Brian McFadden, had a long history of battling trolls on Twitter.

In August 2012, after being threateningly told by one user to "go hang yourself", Charlotte called them on the phone and reported them to the woman's work supervisor. The woman was suspended from her job.

However, when Charlotte went public about what happened, she became victim of more abuse, with users tweeting her and using the horrifying hashtag #diecharlotte.

Later that year, after being bombarded with a constant stream of abusive messages, Charlotte attempted suicide for the first time.

Taking a photo of the tablets in her hands, she tweeted: “You win x. Hope this ends the misery.”

At the time she said of the incident, “It just triggered that feeling of helplessness when the trolls got to me. They got the better of me and they won. I’ve never had death threats of this ferocity.”

The attempt was unsuccessful and Charlotte, with support from friends and family, began rebuilding her life - and she made sure to campaign for new laws on online bullying.

The bullying didn’t stop and it became, eventually, too much for Charlotte.

On Saturday 23rd February, Charlotte was found dead at her home. The bullying had driven her to end her life.

Friends, fans, supporters and the general public were heartbroken, causing Twitter

to be flooded with messages of condolence and a call for tougher cyber bullying legislation.

A petition has been started online asking the public to call upon the Australian government in support of tougher cyber bullying legislation.

You can sign the petition here if you, like so many others, are desperate for online abuse to be addressed immediately.

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