Amy Dowden was branded a "narcissist and an attention seeker" by vicious trolls after being diagnosed with breast cancer.
Amy Dowden was trolled after being diagnosed with cancer
The 'Strictly Come Dancing' star has revealed she was bombarded with hurtful messages after she went public with her health crisis and she's now calling for those involved in online abuse to receive harsher punishments.
Speaking in her her new BBC documentary - in clips obtained by The Mirror newspaper - she explained: "I wish these people realised what they are doing. I wish they could see the effect it does have. It’s like putting a nail in a piece of wood. You take the nail out and the wood is scarred forever. It’s never the same. And making those nasty comments is doing exactly that.
“I wouldn’t want anyone else to receive the messages I did."
She went on to add: "Sometimes I was up at 2am and I couldn’t sleep because the steroids were keeping me up. I was so low and then receiving those messages was heartbreaking. I just feel like it’s not spoken about ...
"When someone is bullying someone online and they take their own life, it’s kind of like manslaughter. Is there going to be punishment to stop people doing it? It’s awful."
Amy - whose cancer was diagnosed as stage two - added of her own abuse: "They said I was a narcissist and an attention seeker. It was: ‘It’s not even stage 4.’
"They said I should hide away and get on with it on my own and asked why I felt the need to dance around in my garden when I shaved my head.
"Well, I was with my friends and we were trying to make the best of the situation."
The dancer's documentary is titled 'Strictly Amy: Cancer and Me' and airs on BBC One on Monday (26.08.24).