Dani Harmer was fat-shamed when she took part in 'Strictly Come Dancing' - despite being a tiny size six.
Dani Harmer
The 31-year-old actress was partnered with Vincent Simone in the 2012 series of the show - which was won by gymnast Louis Smith and his partner Flavia Cacace - and although she made it to the finals, her experience was tainted by the cruel taunts she received online about her weight.
Dani - who came fourth on the show - told Radio Times: "“I got so many messages, people telling me that I’m fat, that I’m overweight and I was like a size six at the time, so I was like, 'Holy moly, if I'm fat, God knows what other people must be thinking if they’re bigger than me! That must be just horrible."
The 'My Mum Tracy Beaker' actress knew the comments were "ridiculous" and "felt sorry" for the trolls, but could understand why they would make someone else upset.
She added: "I can think of things really logically and be like, obviously, I’m not fat, that’s ridiculous.
"This person, obviously, is just bored, or has something wrong with their life that they feel like this is the only way they can get some validation and I actually feel sorry for them.
"So I can kind of put it logically, I guess. But yeah, for kids it must be so hard."
Dani hopes the age of online bullying is coming to an end now that mental health is less of a taboo issue.
She said: “I think we’re a bit more open about our mental health states now. People are being a bit more honest on their social media pages and using them a bit more responsibly. So hopefully we’re coming out the other side of it now.”
Although it's been years since the actress was on the show, she admitted she is envious of all the celebrities who still take part.
She said: “As soon as I hear the music, I kind of want to be up there dancing again and get a bit jealous watching so thank goodness Vincent’s not still in it otherwise I feel like I would have been like a proper bunny boiler about it.”
But Dani didn't realise what she'd signed up for at first and how much work she'd have to put in.
She reflected: “I didn’t really know what I was signing up for – yes I knew what 'Strictly' was, but I didn’t realise how many hours you have to put into it and we were training a lot.”
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