Doireann Garrihy has opened up about the online abuse she received over viral WhatsApp voice notes that circulated about her back in 2018.
In October 2018, the social media star was branded a “man stealer” after fake WhatsApp voice notes claimed she stole her former boyfriend Joe Melody from another woman.
During a new interview with the Irish Independent, the Dancing with the Stars host revealed how the scandal made her look at social media differently.
“Before that I felt, well, if someone’s going to follow me on social media, they must like what I do. But it was such a lesson in that’s just so not the case.”
“A good chunk of people follow you to have a look, and maybe wait for you to make a mistake.”
Doireann recalled someone on Instagram sending her a “really vicious” WhatsApp voice note about her, with a message saying: “Please don’t tell me this is true.”
“It was basically, long story short, that I had ‘stolen’ a guy from a girl. It was horrific,” she explained.
“Because when it’s not true, you’re getting calls from newspapers, people saying things like ‘Doireann, I’ve followed you since forever, and I really didn’t think you were this kind of girl’. I just froze. Which I think was the right thing to do at the time; I just did nothing.”
The 2FM Breakfast host said it was really hard to explain the seriousness of the situation to her parents.
Doireann recalled: “I remember sitting at the kitchen table with my parents, and I was so upset. And they, at that stage, didn’t really understand the level of my social media presence. So they were like, ‘It’ll be fine, it’ll blow over’.”
Clare and Eugene Garrihy didn’t realise how bad it was until Doireann’s sister Ailbhe searched her name on Twitter, and broke down in tears.
“The tears started rolling from Ailbhe’s eyes. I was like, ‘If Ailbhe’s crying, can you see how bad it is?’ It was real character assassination,” she admitted.
Doireann eventually proved the voice notes were false by posting a screenshot of an email from the woman whose boyfriend she had been accused of stealing, who confirmed she was never romantically involved with Joe.
At the time, the social media star thanked those who never “questioned” her and Joe’s integrity.
