I’m the journo who wrote the open letter to Abbie Chatfield last week in a story called,‘I envy you’: An open letter to Abbie Chatfield.
Yes, I’m outing myself as the anonymous writer, which I hadn’t planned to – for a consequence I didn’t foresee.
I’d been thinking of what I wanted to say to the bullied influencer for a while. After a heartbreaking post on Thursday night, where she begged for the Australian media to “leave me alone for just one month” after an intense “smear campaign” against her, I knew this was the time to do it.
I decided to publish the article without my name because I didn’t want to be accused by the haters of capitalising on Chatfield’s, for my own clicks.
I said, “I’m writing this anonymously as I’m a journo and I don’t want it to seem I’m seeking personal attention. This is genuinely for you and the public; for once, it’s not about me.”
But in doing it anon, what I (perhaps stupidly) didn’t predict is that Chatfield would be accused of writing the public letter herself, or that she paid someone to.
Those claims would be laughable, if they weren’t so obtuse, and harmful to someone who’s made their vulnerability clear. (For the haters: obtuse means slow to understand what is obvious or simple.)
We have a young woman who is literally pleading for a reprieve from the relentless negativity about her, saying she is “exhausted” and wants to go to bed at night not worrying what headline she will wake up to.
And this was the haters’ response? Further mockery.
Obtuse. Heartless. Monsters.
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Haven’t we learned anything about mental health and our obligations as a society? Opinions by the media on public identities can spark interesting and robust discussions – but they shouldn’t lead to pushing a person to their absolute limit.
The sentiment, “There’s only so much someone can take” shouldn’t be a response to our journalism.
I’ve been in contact with Chatfield since the open letter was published. She’s okay. Let’s keep it that way.
You can read my letter to her, here.