British reality star Manrika Khaira discovered the dark side of fame after competing on The Circle.
The 25-year-old, who came in second place on the recently aired third season of the U.K. version of the Netflix series, spoke in a video interview on the BBC Radio 1 show Newsbeat on Thursday, April 15, about being the target of online abuse by trolls. She said she received threats and that her privacy was compromised.
"It's been very scary," Khaira said. "My address has been leaked on Twitter. My address has been posted on Instagram pages."
She continued, "I went through a stage where every time my phone vibrated, I would jump and my heart would beat and it makes you feel physically sick."
Khaira also recalled feeling fear while in public. "Even with people shouting 'Manrika!' when you're out and about, because you get spotted and noticed, your heart just drops because you don't know. You've had so many threats, you don't know if somebody's going to do something. It's just not nice. It's not nice at all."
At one point, the reality star said, she couldn't bring herself to even get out of bed for three days amid the "massive toll" the abuse had on her mental health. She said Channel 4, which airs The Circle, has consistently offered to help her but that there isn't much they can do about "trolls" or "fake accounts" on social media.
So she and her fellow The Circle cast mates, who have also experienced online abuse, took action.
Earlier this week, the reality stars released a joint video for the #ThinkB4UPost campaign. Khaira told Newsbeat that since it was released, some people who trolled her sent her messages of apology.
"It's nice to know that it is making a difference and it is a change that is possible," she said. "If you just log off and delete your social media accounts, you're letting the trolls win and you're letting them know it's OK to do what they do because it's got to you. You've just got to make a stand."