Charlotte Dawson 'hospitalised after Twitter abuse'

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Dawson 'hospitalised after Twitter abuse'

3News NZ

Charlotte Dawson (AAP)

Charlotte Dawson (AAP)

Embattled celebrity Charlotte Dawson has been hospitalised after Twitter trolls unleashed a torrent of abuse, media reports say.

Women's online magazine Mamamia says the TV host was admitted to hospital on Thursday morning after "eight hours of unrelenting abuse on Twitter" on Wednesday night, the latest chapter in days of cyber-bullying.

Melbourne's Monash University suspended a staff member on Wednesday who tweeted Dawson, saying "on behalf of NZ we would like you to please go hang yourself".

A spokesman for St Vincent's Hospital said the 46-year-old star was in the hospital in Sydney's Darlinghurst and was expected to make a "full recovery", News Ltd reports.

Emergency services were called to her home at about 3am on Thursday.

Sydney-based Dawson, who recently described her native New Zealand as "small, nasty and vindictive", traced the original abusive tweet to Tanya Heti who manages a student mentoring programme at the university.

Monash issued a statement saying it "does not condone or endorse" Ms Heti's comments in a Twitter exchange with Dawson.

Dawson had confronted Ms Heti about abusive posts directed at her and a Melbourne follower who had lost her partner to suicide.

That follower admonished Ms Heti for her tweet directed at Dawson.

Ms Heti replied to the Melbourne woman: "if I was your fiance I'd hang myself too #gohangyourself".

When Dawson phoned Ms Heti to challenge the comments, she said she was told she was a "well-to-do white girl" who should be able to cope.

Dawson, who is an ambassador for the Australian anti-bullying programme Community Brave and judge on Australia's Next Top Model show, appeared on Network Nine's A Current Affair on Wednesday night.

The forthright TV star says she cops abuse because she's single, over 40, childless and does Botox.

"I retweet some of the negative stuff because I want my followers to know what's out there and there is a lot of vitriol out there," she told the programme.

"If you're willing to dish it out, then you've got to grow up and take it back."

After the segment, Twitter trolls unleashed more than 100 messages of abuse.

Followers told the celebrity to "neck yourself you filthy s***" and "please put your face in a toaster".

NZN

Comments

30/08/2012 4:23:19 p.m.

Lorri wrote:

What the hell is wrong with people??? I just do not understand why some think it's acceptable to resort to personal attacks on someone, whether personally known or otherwise. And no, I'm not a fan of Charlotte Dawson, I am, however, a fan of decent human behaviour, something which is in seriously short supply these days. For shame, people, for shame! I wonder if you've stopped to think that by your vicious comments you've just proved her statement about NZ being "small, nasty and vindictive" true!

30/08/2012 4:16:50 p.m.

Kevin Newton wrote:

She copped the abuse because she denigrated New Zealand. While it may seem hateful, I believe she got everything she deserved. Don't dish it out if you can't take it. As for needing hosiptalisation just because of some tweets .... grow up. It was her that was "small, nasty and vindictive" and she just got repaid in kind.

30/08/2012 4:14:18 p.m.

Indy Bandara wrote:

An ambassador for the Australian anti-bullying programme should know better than to make such comments about NZ. It's also a form of bullying, just because it involves over 4million people doesn't mean it can't hurt anyone. Perhaps the insecurities of her being 40 and no children exists only in her mind. Become a better person rather than arguing with children on twitter. It is shameful. If you want to insult a nation then you should be prepared for backlash.

30/08/2012 4:04:15 p.m.

Mike Steinberg wrote:

Seems like Ms Heti is a nasty racist. Embarrassing she is employed as a "mentor" at Monash.