I let trolls get to me and now I fear for my daughter
Weatherfield’s Maria says she’s suffered similar online hell to her character and worries her family are easy targets too
CORONATION Street star Samia Longchambon has admitted there have been days she hasn’t wanted to go into work because of trolling.
Being in the nation’s living rooms three days a week has its perks.
Soap stars are paid handsomely and have celeb status.
But the rise of social media has meant anyone can say what they like about them – turning Twitter into a cesspit of hate.
Samia knows just what her Weatherfield character Maria Connor is going through after the new councillor became the target of a vile hate campaign.
The mum of two, 39, admitted: “I’ve certainly had trolls and to the point where it’s been really upsetting and it’s not nice to read.
“As much as people say, ‘Don’t read it’, it’s almost like picking a scab; you know you shouldn’t, but at the same time there’s a bit of you that just wants to know what other people are saying about you.
“It’s really hurtful. It’s horrible. And I can see why, with a lot of people, it ends up affecting their mental health. It’s had an effect on me, definitely.
“I’ve let it get to me a lot over the years, to the point when sometimes you’re like, ‘I don’t want to go out today’, or you’ll go to post something on social media and then second guess yourself and think, ‘I’m not gonna post that, because they might think that I’m showing off ’ or ‘I’ve got an opinion about that’ or that it’s going to upset someone.
“So you have to kind of edit yourself to avoid the trolls a lot of the time.”
Of course, it’s not just the famous who get trolled.
Samia’s trolling knocked her confidence and she admitted she’s now worried about her 12-year-old daughter Freya, 12 from her first marriage.
She also has son Yves, six, with French
They hide behind the keyboard and think it’s OK. It’s really not
SAMIA LONGCHAMBON ON SOCIAL MEDIA TROLLS
ice dancer Sylvain Longchambon whom she met on Dancing on Ice in 2013 and wed in 2016.
Samia, who has worked on Corrie for 22 years, said of the comments: “Even if you get 99 nice comments, you only remember that one awful comment.
“But, actually, those people, what I’ve realised is, they’d never say that to your face!
“They hide behind the keyboard and think that that’s OK and it’s really not. It should be more regulated online, especially for young people now.
“I look at my daughter; she’s 12, and uses social media. I’m nervous about her using it because of those reasons, really. You’re such an easy target.”
Her advice to anyone going through being trolled is to “Block. Just block”. She added: “It’s all you can do, isn’t it? “You’re always going to get people who say nasty things, unfortunately, on social media. The majority of people are lovely and all really gorgeous and positive. But
those people who are just negative, it is such a cliché, but it says more about them than it does about you. And I’ve learned that over the last couple of years, that actually it’s just saying more about what they feel about themselves.”
Corrie has always been good at tackling society’s ills – and social media is up there now with many people trying to work out how to tackle the trolls.
What Maria is going through on the Street is certainly not unusual.
The hairstylist turned eco-warrior has been trying to trigger positive change as a councillor, fuelled by her passion for a greener planet.
But when her suggestion geared around recycling collections results in a workers’ strike, and subsequently a barrage of abuse from trolls, she wonders if it was all worth it.
Last night Maria’s son got into a fight at school after his mum’s head was placed on a naked woman to look like she was in a porn film. Tomorrow she decides to call a press conference but is heckled by Jimmy, the refuse team leader.
Maria’s husband Gary Windass (Mikey North) decides it must be Jimmy who is behind the online threats and pins him against a wall.
Then on Friday she has to tell son Liam not to share a birthday selfie online in case there’s a backlash.
If Samia was able to give Maria advice it would be, like the character’s former rival Sally Metcalfe (Sally Dynevor) tells her, to keep going.
Samia said: “I’d like to say, ‘Just ignore them and carry on doing what you were doing’. But, at the same time, I know that it can be quite dangerous to take on these trolls.
“You don’t know who they are, and certainly at that level when it’s someone in politics – unfortunately, we’ve seen in real life over the years when politicians have been targeted – it can actually be quite dangerous.
“I don’t think I’d be the best person to give that advice.” In her two decades on Corrie Samia’s storylines have included losing a baby at birth, being imprisoned for a fake wedding, the death of her boyfriend Liam and an attempted rape.
The actress welcomed Maria’s latest storyline.
She said: “I was pleased that it’s being covered.
“And I’m glad I’m able to do it because I feel like I’ve had a lot of experience over the years, over the last decade, with Twitter and Instagram.
“I think it’s a huge, huge issue at the moment with the rise in popularity of social media.
“There’s a lot of negativity and it can have a huge effect on your life.”
● Coronation Street is on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays, on STV.