I want to curl up into a ball and delete myself
Model suffers panic attacks after trolls target her over online photo
A SCOTS model has been left distraught after being brutally trolled online about her appearance.
Emily Hawthorne, 20, said she was “crushed” after dozens of women posted vile remarks about a picture posted online to promote an Edinburgh restaurant.
Emily, a 2018 Miss Edinburgh beauty pageant finalist, was pictured eating sushi at her home to showcase a safe and fun Valentine’s Day in line with coronavirus restrictions.
The image was used by capital eatery Maki & Ramen, which reposted it to its Instagram account last month.
But Emily, from Longniddry, East Lothian, said she suffered a panic attack after she became the subject of scores of derogatory comments about wearing a low-cut dress in the picture.
Emily said: “I happened to check the comments to see how the photo was doing and the number of vile things being said about me was truly shocking.
“I was physically shaking – I had a panic attack and I thought, ‘I want to curl up into a ball and delete myself ’.
“What was genuinely dreadful was most of the comments were from women, saying rude things and tagging friends.
“I was always taught that women
BY should support women, so to see the harsh comments from females was horrible.”
Owners of the Japanese restaurant Maki & Ramen also slammed the trolls in an online reply about the attacks.
The restaurant’s post read: “As an all-female marketing team, we would like to express our hope that women can dine in their homes in this time of great challenge, dressing however they feel comfortable, without receiving comments of a judgmental or derogatory nature.”
Emily signed with model agency Colours Agency when she was 16 and is currently working with the Mayhem Agency. She recently featured on Vogue Italia’s website.
The model is now encouraging her 10,000 Instagram followers to take care of their mental health and spread kindness across all social media platforms by sharing her experiences of being bullied at school.
Emily added: “We should focus on building each other up, encouraging others to be the best they can be.”
An East Lothian Council spokesperson said: “We do not tolerate bullying in any of our schools and will work closely with all parties when issues arise.”
ASIDE from the politics of the Salmond Inquiry, what it really brought home for me was how you never really know how life will pan out.
The whole affair arises out of things people said and did without really considering what the long-term consequences would be. From Salmond’s “sleepy cuddles” to Sturgeon’s failure to record a meeting with him, poor decisions, rooted in denial, self-seeking or a warped sense of entitlement, can snowball and take on lives of their own.
I think we all have things in our past that we wouldn’t want aired out on a public committee. Things we would struggle to recollect or account for. And things we believe occurred that other people have completely different interpretations of.
Life is messy. People are complicated. Try not to be too much of an a**e. I guess that’s the deeper human lesson in some of this.
THE mum of a girl with a rare genetic mutation hopes to research the condition herself – after she gave up her career to study biology at St Andrews University.
Mia-Rose Henderson, six, was diagnosed with the extremely rare genetic mutation KIF5B – and is the only known person in the world to have it. She has had health problems since she was born and has issues with her hearing, speech and eyesight.
Worried mum Chloe, 29, said Mia-Rose’s health is likely to deteriorate as she gets older and fears she will end up in a wheelchair.
In 2018, she gave up her career as a restaurant manager and went back to college to get the grades needed to go to university.
Chloe said there is no NHS funding for research into Mia-Rose’s condition and hopes to study the mutation herself to find out the long-term implications.
Chloe, who is from St Andrews, is also mum to Carly, 11. She said: “MiaRose has always been a poorly little girl.
“If anyone is going to find answers, it’s going to me – a parent who has the drive to find out. Other people won’t have that drive.
“I just want to be able to understand – it’s so scary not knowing.”
Chloe has contacted the man who discovered the faulty gene in 1984 – American Ron Vale, 62 – in a bid to find answers.
She said: “I reached out to Ron in hope and, amazingly, he got back to me and asked for more information to see if he can help.”
Chloe has booked an appointment with a leading UK geneticist in London.
To raise the funds for the examination, the family have launched a GoFundMe page with £5000 already raised.
Nip mozzies in bud
Catnip is as good as insect repellent at seeing off mosquitoes, according to a study. The plant, also called nepeta, activates a pain receptor in insects.
AMAZON’S new hi-tech, till-free supermarkets could cause “considerable” job losses if rivals copy the idea, warned a financial analyst.
The online giant’s first Amazon Fresh store opened outside the US yesterday.
In the branch in Ealing, west London, Amazon customers scan a quick response code as they enter the shop then put items in their bag.
A network of cameras and sensors detect what they have picked. Shoppers simply walk out with their purchases, which are then charged to their account.
Amazon’s Matt Birch said it offered a “super-fast, friction-free way to shop”. Rival supermarkets will watch it closely, with some already testing till-less stores.
Clive Black, analyst at Shore Capital, warned it would have a huge impact on jobs if others follow suit.
He said: “This is a cashless and cardless operation, so think of all the people that affects, not just in stores but in banks, too.
“It is going to lead to a considerable reduction in roles for people at head office and in branches.”
Black predicted that rather than open hundreds of new Amazon Fresh stores, the company may snap-up an existing supermarket chain instead. Morrisons and northern chain Booths were among those he mentioned.
Last year, Amazon, which owns the small Whole Food Markets chain, saw UK sales surge 51 per cent to £19.4billion.
It came as experts at campaigners TaxWatch predicted a measure in the Budget could wipe out Amazon’s UK corporation tax bill. Chancellor Rishi Sunak increased the tax to 25 per cent from 2023 but included a “super deduction” for companies when they invest.
Firms can offset the tax break against profits. Amazon has argued that heavy investment since it arrived in the UK is one reason it had paid so little corporation tax.
TaxWatch executive director George Turner said: “It is questionable whether a tax cut for Amazon today is the best use of public money.”
A DONALD Trump superfan who tried to extort £15,000 from a blind friend has avoided jail.
Shenna Fox targeted Jamie McCulloch, 55, after he bought a new house with a large inheritance.
Fox had helped him view and select a property but he received a text from her threatening to report him to the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) if he did not transfer £15,000 to her account.
No money was handed over but police were called and Fox was charged.
At Lanark Sheriff Court, Fox, 52, of Carluke, Lanarkshire, admitted attempting to extort money in October 2019.
Sheriff Nikola Stewart called her behaviour “despicable”. Fox, who teaches music, was tagged for five months, has to complete 200 hours of unpaid work and will be supervised for 18 months.
In 2015, Fox brought the Lanark and Carluke Choral Union to play at Carnegie Hall in New York, and later perform for Trump.
Fox was convicted in 2017 of forging cheques from the choir to pay a £15,660 fee to perform.