Trending 29th August 2019 by Megan Roantree

Emily Atack Says Trolls ‘Don’t Realise The Damage They’re Doing’ To Reality Stars

"They are all way more vulnerable than they come across."

Actress Emily Atack has opened up about the damage online trolling can do, especially to reality stars.

The former Inbetweeners actress points out that many of the Love Island-type stars are incredibly vulnerable when it comes to abuse online.

“We do feel very protective of them,” Emily explained.

“Unless you see them in real life, you do think, ‘Oh, they’re this big macho person’ [an example being Tommy on Love Island]. Because we’re fortunate enough to meet these people, we see that they are way more vulnerable than they come across,” she told Cosmpolitan.

The actress pointed out that many people don’t know how much hardship their comments cause.

“Nasty people just don’t realise how vulnerable people are, or they don’t realise the damage they’re doing. They’re just f*cking idiots.”

Emily, who is currently working on a new dating show Singletown, added that unfortunately “there are “f***ing horrible people out there”.

“You have to make the trolling a part of your life and just deal with it, that’s just the way life is now, there are f*cking horrible people out there that have access to you.”

The 29-year-old added that although reality stars get a huge amount of abuse, anyone and everyone can be subjected to it.

“Even if you’re not in the spotlight, you can still be trolled. Someone can still write on your photo that you’re fat, you’re ugly, you’re this, you’re that.”

She added that there is now more support than ever for reality stars facing this kind of abuse.

“We’re all exposed, and I think taking part of a TV show producers know that. There is a lot of care that goes on and we were amazed by how much work went into the care of these people.”

This year Love Island introduced new measures to take more care of their contestants.

This included pre-filming psychological and medical assessments, a welfare team, and post-show therapy sessions.

Here’s hoping all reality shows now include these types of measures.