Rhian Sugden has been subject to death and rape threats, after she publicly apologised to Tess Daly over her sexts to Vernon Kay.
The 31-year-old recently penned an open letter to Tess, which was published by The Sun, in which she expressed regret over getting involved with her husband.
However, the Page 3 model’s public apology backfired, as she’s been bombarded with abusive messages since the letter was published.
A source close to Rhian told The Sun Online, “Rhian has been trying to ignore the abuse, but it’s been particularly bad this weekend. There were six death threats and one even said she deserved to be raped.”
“The open letter was saying sorry for something that he [Vernon] should be sorry for so it’s very unfair. She’s blocked many of the culprits but it’s still very frightening.”
Rhian also took to Twitter to slam trolls, writing, “Seriously. Any online trolls/keyboard warriors/bullies want to message me evil things?”
“If you do can you do it now please so I can add you to my never ending blocked list of scum bags – the rape and death threats will be reported to the police – fyi.”
Seriously. Any online trolls/keyboard warriors/bullies want to message me evil things?
If you do can you do it now please so I can add you to my never ending blocked list of scum bags – the rape and death threats will be reported to the police – fyi
— Rhian Sugden (@Rhianmarie) July 31, 2018
Back in 2010, Vernon admitted to sending inappropriate messages to Rhian via SMS and Twitter, but insisted that they never had a “physical sexual relationship”.
In her open letter to Tess, Rhian wrote, “I deeply regret creating a friendship with Vernon and allowing him to continue speaking to me the way he did.”
“I should never have got involved with a married man. As time has passed I regret not being wise enough or strong enough to deal with my own issues and insecurities myself. The exchange of messages was inappropriate and I should not have encouraged such behaviour.”
She continued, “I know it takes two to tango, but I could have stopped contact. I could have changed the series of events but for one reason or another, I didn’t. It was selfish of me and massively out of line.”
“I feel the need to make it clear that we never met up alone. It was nothing more than a close friendship and flirty messages.”
“I appreciate nothing I say will make any difference, but I want to give you my sincerest apologies and I wish you both all the happiness for the future,” she added.
