Strictly Katie’s agony as trolls taunt her over acid attack scars
SHE signed up to Strictly Come Dancing to prove that the mental and physical scars she sustained in a horrific acid attack were not going to hold her back.
But model Katie Piper has revealed that callous trolls mocked her injuries during her time on the BBC show – even as the man who attacked her was released from jail.
Heartless strangers cruelly called her a ‘monster’ and mocked the partial blindness and facial disfigurement she suffered.
In an interview with The Mail on Sunday, she said: ‘I got some really horrible abuse, it was awful. I was told “You look like a monster” by someone one night. It’s so cruel. Then someone else said, “Thank goodness for make-up.”’
The mother-of-two said another mocked the fact she is 75 per cent blind in one eye. ‘Someone said to me, “Are you sure you’re not blind in both eyes, not just one? Because you definitely dance like you are.”
‘These people seem to forget I’m a human. I just wanted to scream back, “I know I can’t dance!”’
While she found the attacks distressing, the 35-year-old said she enjoyed her time on the show and added: ‘I am just so glad to be alive.’
Recent weeks have been a constant reminder of what happened on a busy street near her West London home in April 2008.
She was left severely scarred, blind and with a serious throat injury after Stefan Sylvestre hurled acid at her on the orders of her ex-boyfriend, Daniel Lynch. Sylvestre was released on October 10, but Lynch is still serving his 16-year sentence.
‘In week one of Strictly, I got myself into a bit of a dark place,’ said Katie. ‘I remember standing on the balcony, making unhealthy comparisons about things and just telling myself again and again, “No, don’t do this to yourself.” I tried to show the real me on Strictly. I was really determined to show people that my injuries wouldn’t stop me from doing a show like this.’
But the show also served to underline her disability. While she has become used to tackling day-to-day tasks with one eye, rehearsing with dance partner Gorka Marquez was challenging as she struggled to see him demonstrate the moves. She says: ‘It was hard adapting.’
Katie was voted off Strictly last weekend, while Seann Walsh and Katya Jones remained in, despite the scandal of their illicit kiss. But she says: ‘I wasn’t surprised. It was probably time for me to go. How many more times can Craig Revel-Horwood tell me I clump along?’
But to her, all that matters is raising the profile of the Katie Piper Foundation, which helps fellow burns survivors.
And since the attack, Katie has undergone intensive mental therapy, as outlined in her new book Confidence: The Journal. As for her self-confessed limitations on the dancefloor, Katie might have expected sympathy from her four-year-old daughter, Belle, but it was not to be. ‘I told her I wouldn’t be in Strictly any more and she said, “Oh, so you’re not good enough then.” ’