On December 6th, 2016, Niall Horan tweeted against the cyber-bullying and abuse suffered by golfer Paige Spiranac when she tearfully revealed her battles with online bullying at a news conference held before the Omega Ladies Classics. As a sports celebrity, Paige has a following of over 800,000 on her social media sites and unfortunately, some of her followers have been abusive.
In the interview, Spiranac was asked a question about the cyberbullying she has encountered with her large social media following and she became very emotional when addressing the subject. Clearly, she was deeply affected by the hate she has been subjected to online following her professional debut last year at the same tournament when she carded rounds of 77-79 missing the cut. According to Paige, it was the “the hardest experience” of her life. She ended up completely avoiding social media for three weeks to try and regroup as she struggled with depression brought on by the bullying. She even considered quitting golf altogether, but instead decided to use her experience as an example to speak out against the dangers of cyberbullying.
“If I can share my story, and I’m okay with being emotional about it and I’m okay with kind of expressing what happened to me,” she said, “because people don’t realize how hard it was on me . . . people saying the world is better off without me,” she said. “Cyberbullying is a huge problem and no one ever discusses it. It’s no longer funny. It’s not the cool thing to do to make fun of other people, and you need to be supportive and I think that’s really important.”
In another event known as the Cactus Tour, Paige Spirinac was the top winner and was happy she continued on with the sport and didn’t let others steal that from her with their bullying. She is hoping her story can help others facing a similar situation.
“It doesn’t matter how I play this week, it really doesn’t. But the fact that I’m here and I’m sharing my story, hopefully, can save someone’s life, I think that’s so much more important than if I make the cut or miss the cut.”
Paige Spirinac has continued to show her stand against bullying and on June 15th of 2018, she has tweeted in support of Stop Cyberbullying Day, a campaign launched by the CybersmileFoundation.
Cyber-Bullying has, unfortunately, become more and more prevalent through the age of social media and is often one of the most damaging and difficult types of bullying to handle for the victim. There are several sites we have written about that help victims just like Spirinac to take positive steps in taking care of themselves; these include the CyberSmileFoundation and with the Diana Award StandUpToBullying. If you or someone you know suffers from cyber-bullying please get help. You are not alone.
Pictures are credited to Paige Spiranac’s and Niall Horan’s Twitter accounts.
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