Model and famous person Charlotte Dawson, who had long fought the battle against depression, was found deceased in her Sydney apartment on Saturday.
Ms Dawson, 47, who in her book Air Kiss & Tell detailed her the past of depression, saying she was often visited by the “depression bogeyman”, is believed to have hanged herself in her luxury Woolloomooloo apartment. The estate manager, who was due to take her apartment to auction on Saturday, raised the alarm and the building doorman found her body. Apparently friends were concerned after she hadn’t tweeted for 19 hours.
Since losing her role on Australia’s Next peak Model it is believed that she was struggling monetarily. Her ex-husband, Scott Miller, who she said was the ‘love of her life’, had newly done an interview with Channel 9’s 60 minutes, talking about the role his drug addiction had played in the downfall of their wedding.
Social media had played a huge part in Ms Dawson’s life, and cyberbullying via Twitter led to her being hospitalised after an attempted suicide in 2012. Kate Carnell, chief executive of Beyond Blue said that bullying via social media can be a major factor in triggering mental health issues. She told ABC News Online, “Because people can bully anonymously, it makes it additional likely and it makes it more dangerous.”
The Federal Government has managed to get Google, Facebook, Yahoo and Microsoft to agree to guidelines when handling complaints about hateful material on social media. It is also considering a scheme which would make the civil prosecution of cyberbullying simpler.
That Charlotte Dawson was driven to take her own life is indeed sad information, that her ‘friends’ have taken to social media to express their grief, the extremely platform said to be responsible for her demise, is even sadder.
Charlotte, herself a prolific tweeter and instagramer, has fought a very public battle with cyberbullies. And when her demons became too much for her to bear, it appears her lack of social media activity is what alerted her ‘friends’ that there was something incorrect.