Rachel Gorry made quite the impression when she appeared on The Late Late Show on Friday night.
The social media star spoke to Ryan Tubridy about the loss of her late husband Daniel, and the trolling she’s faced online over the past year.
Her husband of eight years was diagnosed with oesophageal cancer in September 2018 – and sadly lost his battle on April 1, 2020 at the age of 29.
Rachel launched her Instagram account, which originally focused on interiors, last January – and has since amassed over 210k followers.
Sadly, the mother-of-three has faced a lot of trolling since she launched her account, and has received some awful messages online.
Two weeks before Daniel passed away, the couple were accused of faking his illness after they posted a photo of them smiling in bed with their three children.
After her husband died, Rachel was faced with more messages from online trolls, saying they were “delighted” her husband was dead.
The 29-year-old considered closing her account over the trolls, but Rachel then thought: “Why am I letting them win? I have created a job from Instagram, and it’s allowed me to be there for my girls and pay the bills. Why would I give that up?”
Viewers were shocked over Rachel’s story, and took to Twitter to praise her for being so strong despite everything she’s been through.
It’s shocking to hear the nastiness of some people, absolutely shocking. #latelate
— Eimear O’Leary (@eimsoleary) April 9, 2021
What class of pure filth would troll a young woman who lost her husband so tragically? I despair at the nastiness in our world. #LateLate #LateLateShow
— Philip Nolan (@philipnolan1) April 9, 2021
Trolls on Instagram and Twitter is the worst. No one should be allowed to have an account unless it’s verified. #latelate #LateLateShow
— Paul Cashin (@PaulCashin_) April 9, 2021
It takes a special kind of fuck up to troll a woman who’s husband is dying. Absolute dregs of society that probably have no happiness in their own lives #latelate #LateLateShow
— Graham Patchell 🇮🇪🇪🇺 (@GrahamPatchell) April 9, 2021
What a beautiful woman inside and out. Remarkable stuff #latelate
— ᥲꙆɩ⳽oᥒ (@curiouswoman_) April 9, 2021
Rachel is class, didn’t know her story before this, but jaysis she’s strong! ❤ 👌#latelate#LateLateShow
— Caolán Mc Aree (@Caolanmcaree) April 9, 2021
This woman is proof that Irish women are as hard as nails 👏#latelate
— John Riggs (@johnriggs88) April 9, 2021
Well done Rachel #latelate Daniel would be very proud of you 👏
Rachel always come across as genuine and sincere. It was heartbreaking following her updates when Daniel was sick and sadly when he passed.
The trolls should be ashamed of themselves.
— Essiejosie ✈ (@Essiejosie) April 9, 2021
Rachel Gorry is so strong, so brave, so beautiful, and such a great mother. One of my favourite accounts to follow and wasn’t she brilliant on the Late Late Show. 💪🏼💜 #LateLate
— Maria Keeshan (@KeeshanMaria) April 9, 2021
Rachel also appeared on the show to encourage people to donate to the Oesophageal Cancer Fund.
The mother-of-three recently raised over €180k for OCF and Tullamore Hospital’s oncology ward, in honour of her late husband.
Speaking to Goss.ie about the fundraiser last month, Rachel said: “It’s just absolutely amazing, and I can’t take the credit for it because it wasn’t me, it was all my followers and everyone who shared and donated.”
“I’d love to take the credit for it but no it wasn’t me at all it was everybody else and I’m just so grateful to them all, its absolutely incredible what they’ve done.”
Explaining why she decided to set up the fundraiser, Rachel said: “Daniel always said that he wanted me to raise money for Tullamore Hospital, he spent an awful lot of time there.”
“The nurses and doctors were amazing to us every single time that we went in, and Daniel got on very well with the nurses and stuff. So he just said, you know, would you raise a bit of money for them? And I said yeah of course I will.”
“I never dreamed in a million years that it would be as much as it was but I’m just delighted that its reached that amount.”
You can donate to the Oesophageal Cancer Fund here, or you can text LOLLY to 50300 to donate €4.
