Doireann Garrihy has opened up about being “badly bullied” by a group of cruel girls in secondary school.
The radio presenter, who rose to fame in Ireland for her hilarious impressions on Snapchat, has revealed that she was targeted by bullies in school who used to write nasty things about her online.
The brunette beauty recently graced the cover of Irish Country Magazine, and in her interview, Doireann confessed, “I don’t know how I would’ve coped being a teenager nowadays with social media and everything.”
“I was really badly bullied online in secondary school by a group of girls. I still don’t know what their reasons were, I think because I was confident and wasn’t afraid to speak up they saw it as a challenge, like ‘let’s take her down a peg’.”
She continued, “They used to write to each other about me online, but they’d never say my name. I remember on my 16th birthday I had really bad skin. Aoibhin did my makeup and I thought she did a really good job which she hadn’t.
“Well she did, but there was just one spot in particular that was so bad. Anyway, one of them wrote to the other saying ‘did you see her skin last night?’, and I remember sitting at the computer and the tears just streaming down my face.”
Now, the Spin 103.8 host fights back by reminding people that social media isn’t ‘real life’.
She said, “I gave a talk in a secondary school in Clare recently and I spoke about social media.”
“I think in Dublin it’s probably better and people are more aware but I’m sure people from really rural areas look at bloggers or whoever, going for their avocado toast, with their great bodies and their great hair, and going to fabulous events, and they’re probably thinking ‘Why don’t I have that?’.
“But the thing to remember is that it’s not real life. Don’t compare yourself to anyone. Comparison is the thief of joy,” she explained.
The presenter recently wrapped filming her sketch comedy series The Doireann Project, which is set to air on RTÉ2 in August following the success of the show’s pilot episode on the RTÉ Player.
Speaking about the show, Doireann gushed, “I’m delighted it’s going to be on TV, hopefully more people will discover it that way. It’s very different this time around, we went into it with the first two weeks totally planned out and after that we had a production meeting each week and we’d see what was working and what wasn’t.
“There was a lot more improvisation than in the pilot. Like if you see any of Will Ferrell’s movies, the bloopers are him doing improv and they always make it into the end film.”
On her major career ambitions, Doireann hopes to be the female version of Graham Norton.
She confessed, “It would be great to have a chat show like the Graham Norton Show. I just love the way everyone’s on the couch at once and they’re all from totally different backgrounds, totally different walks of life, totally different ages, but they’re all laughing at the same jokes. Graham gets them to the place before they were famous, just having the chats.”
