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Zara McDermott has revealed the surprising identity of trolls who target her with 'bullying' and 'invasive' comments.
The Love Island star turned documentary presenter, 27, made her debut on BBC's Morning Live on Thursday to talk about online trolls or 'everyday extremism'.
She spoke with experts about the mentality of these individuals, and how they often have day-to-day jobs, making their violence of their words even more hard to accept.
Zara told viewers in the segment: 'I've done some digging into who the people are that troll me.
'I've actually found one woman who is a primary school teacher. I found another guy, he's a middle-aged guy, he's married with young children.
Zara McDermott has revealed the surprising identity of trolls who target her with 'bullying' and 'invasive' comments
The Love Island star turned documentary presenter, 27, made her debut on BBC 's Morning Live on Thursday to talk about online trolls or 'everyday extremism'
She spoke with experts about the mentality of these individuals, and how they often have day-to-day jobs, making their violence of their words even more hard to accept
'And there's another woman that I found who's actually a nurse.'
Zara finished: 'I had a perception in my head that a troll was someone who sat in a dark room, on a laptop all day, spewing out hateful comments online.
'But, actually, these people are people with normal jobs, with friends, with children.'
Zara has been trolled since her time on Love Island back in 2018 and has experienced peaks when her nude photos were leaked and when she admitted to cheating on boyfriend Sam Thompson.
She lamented in the mini documentary: 'I've had people commenting on everything I post, the things that I'm wearing. I've even had people digging into my family life, and my relationships.
'It does feel just so invasive, and it makes me feel scared, scared to post anything nowadays.'
On Instagram, Zara wrote: 'I wanted my first mini film to be about something close to me and my experience.
'I learnt about a concept called "everyday extremism", whereby, in this context, society is enabling us to become more extreme in our views behind the comfort of our phone screens.
Zara said: 'I found another guy, he's a middle-aged guy, he's married with young children. And there's another woman that I found who's actually a nurse'
Zara told viewers in the short segment: 'I've done some digging into who the people that troll me. I've actually found one woman who is a primary school teacher'
Zara finished: 'I had a perception in my head that a troll was someone who sat in a dark room, on a laptop all day, spewing out hateful comments online...
On Instagram, Zara talked about why she chose this topic for her documentary and what she learnt making it
'It's a very real and scary thing, and I was able to identify some of the anonymous accounts who have trolled me in the past to see who the people are behind the screens.
'I was shocked to find out who some of them were.'
Zara has presented six documentaries for the BBC with topics ranging from revenge porn to missing people.
In February 2021, Zara revealed how revenge porn had made her consider suicide after a boy shared naked pictures of her around their school when she was just 14.
Revenge Porn - or Image-based sexual abuse - is the sharing of private, sexual materials of another person without their consent.
In the BBC3 documentary, she revealed how she felt 'shunned, punished and shamed' by her teachers and peers, while the boy who sent the image got off 'scot free'.
Zara, who was later victim to the same offence in 2018, said the shame drove her to consider taking her own life so she wouldn't have to go back to school.
The boy had shared the image with friends and it circulated around the the Coopers' Company and Coborn School in Upminster, Essex, before reaching neighbouring schools by lunchtime the following day.
Zara has been trolled since her time on Love Island in 2018 and has experienced peaks when her nude photos were leaked and when she admitted to cheating on Sam Thompson (pictured)
In 2020, a troll criticised Zara, a government advisor before showbiz, by falsely claiming she had dropped to just seven stone.
Zara wrote at the time: 'Sorry to keep having to explain myself on here, but I am definitely not 7 stone 7lbs. I have learnt a lot about posting my exact before and after weight as it can be damaging, and that's something I would never do now.
Two years earlier, insatiable trolls had insisted she was Zara was too big, cruelly calling her a 'fat whale'.
She told The Sun: 'To the trolls who posted so many nasty comments about my weight, I want you to know that before being signed to Love Island, I was almost starving myself and eating just a bag of carrots a day.'
