Scarlett Moffatt reveals she reached out to the Samaritans after ‘horrific’ trolling

‘This sadness was just consuming every part of my body,’ says the Gogglebox star

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Former Gogglebox star Scarlett Moffatt has revealed that she was “consumed” by negativity after she was subjected to social media trolling about her weight, which led her to reach out to the Samaritans for help.

The 30-year-old TV personality said she sought help from the mental health charity after the “horrific” trolling made her think: “I can’t do this anymore.”

Ms Moffatt, who won I’m A Celebrity… Get Me Out Of Here! in 2016, appeared on BBC Breakfast during Mental Health Awareness Week to speak about her experience.

She said: “When I came out of the jungle, I was on top of the world. I finally felt accepted.

“With all those positive things came a lot of negativity and before long it was just consuming me. This sadness was just consuming every part of my body.”

She revealed that she was scrutinised and received comments criticising her appearance, “specifically about my weight, about being very slim”.

“Then I got bigger, and people didn’t like that,” she added.

“People saying ‘You should just go and kill yourself, I shouldn’t have to look at you on my TV’ and I just thought ‘I can’t do this anymore’.”

It was at her lowest point that Ms Moffatt says she called the Samaritans’ hotline under a fake name, which prompted her to seek help from her GP.

She described the feeling of hearing the voice of a Samaritan volunteer over the phone as “hope”.

“This is going to sound really dramatic but you do feel it is just like hope. That is what it sounded like, hope. Just hearing someone saying, ‘Hello, Samaritans, what’s wrong?’

“I felt really sad, I spoke to Samaritans, I got help from my GP and now I am in such a good place with my little dog and my boyfriend and my friends and family.”

Ms Moffatt, who is now an ambassador for the Samaritans, said her mental health has improved since then and she feels as “carefree” as she did before becoming famous.

“I just love life. I feel like I am the old Scarlett again, the 18-year-old Scarlett that was carefree. I feel like I am that girl again.”

Now when she receives particularly bad comments from trolls, she sends them a private message urging them to call the Samaritans if they need help.

“I’ll say, ‘Are you ok? Call this number if you need help’. And I would say 99 per cent of the time, they apologise and say, ‘Yeah, I will’.”

During the segment, Ms Moffatt also met two other people who sought help from the Samaritans after suffering mental health problems.

To contact the Samaritans helpline, call 116 123. The phone line is open 24 hours, seven days a week.

You can also contact the charity by email by sending a message to jo@samaritans.org. The average response time is 24 hours.