Niamh de BrĂșn has received a huge amount of support online, after sharing an emotional video about trolling.
The Irish influencer admitted she felt “nervous” about sharing the video, but felt it was the right time after taking part in Darkness Into Light this morning.
Niamh started the video by sharing a screenshot of a nasty message she received from a fake account last week.
Niamh said: “To be honest with you, it didn’t upset me, because I’m kind of at a stage now where I know that if someone sends me something like that, it’s on them and not me.”
“She said ‘Oh, you think you’ve such a perfect life.’ Like nobody’s life is perfect. Everything you see online, take it with a pinch of salt. Not everything is real life on Instagram.”
“People share their highlight reel. They don’t share their downs. Some people do actually, sorry, some people do, but not everyone.”
“And and that’s why I’m doing this video because I kind of want to show that like, look, not everybody’s life is perfect. No matter if you perceive my life to be perfect. I don’t perceive my life to be perfect. ”
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Niamh then explained that she was made redundant in 2019, just six weeks after she landed a permanent job in Kilkenny.
The influencer managed to secure another job, but was made redundant again last July.
After finding herself unemployed, Niamh admitted she didn’t feel like herself, and said she lost a huge amount of confidence.
On top of that, Niamh and her fiancĂ© TJ Reid had to postpone their wedding, and TJ’s business had to close during lockdown.
“I feel awkward saying this but, it was a hard year,” she confessed. “And I know there’s loads of other people that are way worse off…”
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Niamh also explained that she faced a lot of trolling online, after a newspaper wrote about her and TJ postponing their wedding.
“They picked up on it and that was fine, but it was the comments underneath it commenting on my weight, on my appearance… I had to email the editor of the newspaper to get it removed because the comments were so hurtful,” she said.
Niamh continued: “If you are one of these people who use online forums to talk about others or you set up fake accounts to troll other people… you need to remember that just because somebody has a social media account, it doesn’t mean that they’re not human.”
“Like there’s a human behind that screen with feelings, like we are all human. We’re all just trying to do our best.”
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The former Miss Kilkenny also revealed she was trolled for using her fiancĂ©’s gym during lockdown, and said someone even called the guards on her.
“For somebody to go to that extent… I just felt my privacy was invaded so much,” she said.
“And all of this kind of contributed to me being so stressed that I had lost weight, and I never talked about it because weight is such a sensitive subject, but I stopped getting my periods…”
“I was under immense pressure, especially with all of the trolling, and then I suppose being so uncertain about our future in terms of TJ’s business was closed, I didn’t have a job, we had a wedding, our house, there was so much stuff…”
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“But back to the original message that I received, like nobody’s life is perfect. If you see someone online and think their life is perfect, it’s not, nobody’s life is perfect.”
“So, yeah, that’s just a little bit of my story. If you are seeing things online, be very careful of what you believe online. Just because something’s written down does not mean it’s true,” she said.
“At Christmas time, I was trolled on Twitter and I came off all of my social media accounts, I was so low over it. I was so lucky to have TJ, my sisters, my mum, my close friends to support me. And I know that I’m very fortunate to have that support.”
“But if you are looking at people online and thinking their life is perfect, nobody’s life is perfect, just always remember that.”
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“And again, if you’re consuming things online, if you’re on these forums and looking at all of this stuff, 99.9% of it is untrue.”
“It is put up there by somebody who is either envious, they’re unhappy in themselves, they’re jealous. Who knows? I don’t know. But just be very careful of what you consume online, and just remember that nobody’s life is perfect.”
Niamh received a huge amount of support in the comment section from her followers, and a host of well-known faces.
Fellow influencer Lisa Jordan commented: “Sending you so much love Niamh. Itâs disgusting what lies and rumours are made up about people to try ruin them . I think everyone at this stage knows that 99% of stuff written online is not true. You are amazing & we all love you.”
Marissa Carter wrote: “What a wonderful role model you are Niamh. Keep your chin up and your head held high.”
Niamh also received a supportive message from Anna Geary, who commented: “So sorry to hear you had to go through that @niamhdebrun đ! Well done for speaking about it! Keep driving forward. xxx.”
On this week’s episode of the Gosscast, Goss.ie Founder and CEO Alexandra Ryan joins Goss.ie Editor Kendra Becker to chat through the biggest stories of the week.
The girls chat about the “disappointing” Line of Duty finale, Maura Higgins’ split from Chris Taylor, and the major Hollywood movie being filmed in Wicklow right now.Â
You can also listen to the podcast on all usual platforms, including  Spotify and iTunes.
