The popular comedian, who also co-hosts a radio show on Melbourne’s KIIS 101.1 with Matt Tilley, below, told listeners that she refuses to let the cowards shame her into “silent self-hatred”.
She says she decided to speak out about the experience to highlight the “crazy sexism” that exists in society.
According to Meshel the first man, whom she named on air, called her a “fatso” and told her to go “hibernate” after watching her on The Project.
Another troll, also named by Meshel on air, told her she had a “horrible cackle” and “fake laugh” before body-shaming her.
“I don’t want you to feel sorry for me, for a lot of reasons, but specifically because … this doesn’t happen to me a lot and also genuinely it did not hurt my feelings, I just thought it was a fascinating thing that happened,” she told listeners.
Meshel says the abuse intensified after she replied to one message.
“The man wrote: My appearance is unimportant Meshel. I’m male for a start. I’m a horse breeder not a wanna be ‘celebrity’. I’m very good at what I do … you’re hopeless and the camera doesn’t like you at all. I find you incredibly hard to look at on TV because of your appearance. Very, very unattractive and horribly overweight.”
She says he then went on to tell her she required a “special licence” to go out in public.
“Try cutting back on the KFC, the chocolate and the fizzy drinks Meshel and instead of spending endless hours watching the tell (sic) and slouched on the sofa like a beached whale get up and go for a walk!” he wrote.
Meshel has since deleted the offending posts because she’s been told that one of her attackers is in “a bad way” as a result of the backlash.
“I can’t say I feel sorry for him, but I’m hoping to speak to him personally later today – stay tuned,” she writes on her Facebook page.
