Skincare expert Caroline Hirons opened up about how she was stalked, harassed and abused online by users on a viral gossip site called Tattle Life.
The 55 year old, who is the founder of company Skin Rocks, appeared on Wednesday’s episode of Lorraine to talk about teen skin care, but ended up touching upon the online forum through her own experience with it.
Tattle Life is a ‘commentary website on public business social media accounts’.
Earlier this week it was revealed that British ‘business owner’ Sebastian Bond, 41, was confirmed as the secret mastermind behind the website after losing a £300,000 defamation case to influencers Donna and Neil Sands.
Lorraine said: ‘Caroline, you were one of the people who were horribly affected by this…’
Caroline said: ‘Not just me. They came after my family.
Skincare expert Caroline Hirons opened up about she has been stalked, harassed and abused online by users on a viral gossip site called Tattle Life
The 55-year-old, who is the founder of company Skin Rocks, appeared on Wednesday’s episode of Lorraine to talk about teen skin care, but ended up touching upon the online forum through her own experience with it
‘The thing with Tattle is, I’ve had an online persona for 16 years, it started on Twitter like everyone else, then I moved to Instagram.
‘We’re used to being trolled, the lowest common demonstrator is that you talk about someone’s appearance…
‘I’ve had people telling me they’re not attracted to me for 16 years, it’s water off a duck’s back.
‘That’s not Tattle. Tattle is stalking, death threats, I really need to hammer that message home.
‘Everything that site says in terms of we monitor everything, we didn’t know this was happening, it’s all lies. It’s not an untruth, not a mistake. It’s lies.
‘They have systematically harassed, abused, stalked families, they posted mortgage docs, they’ve posted of my grandchildren in my home. You have no idea.’
She continued: ‘Most people are really good people, when you hear of this, “surely a little bit of not everyone is going to like you”, “people are going to comment on your appearance, that’s what everyone does”.
‘That is not what this is. I cannot make it clear enough.’
Caroline told Lorraine Kelly (pictured) that she has joined forces Neil and Donna Sands, doctor Jess Taylor – and they are going to the government and the police to take a stand over the issue
Caroline has joined forces with Neil and Donna Sands, and doctor Jess Taylor – and they are going to the government and the police to take a stand on the issue.
She added: ‘They will be unmasked and this site will come down.
‘It has tortured people. Now I am lucky, I’m older, I now have means. If I needed to, I could buy security.
‘But there are people out there who have had their mental health destroyed.
‘They’ve had their family stalked. Their children’s schooling exposed, they’ve had people driving by their houses outside.
‘This is not your average trolling.
‘This is systemic persistent abuse, harassment, it is absolutely the epitome of the worst of society.’
Caroline is a qualified aesthetician who boasts 783k followers on Instagram and 253k subscribers on YouTube.
She started her career working for Aveda in Harvey Nichols and has now created her own businesses, including being founder of Skin Rocks and co-founder of Beauty Backed.
Caroline has released a number of books including Skincare: The New Edit and Teen Skincare.
Katie Price has led the celebrities supporting the take down of Tattle Life after the anonymous blogger was unmasked on Monday.
Replying to Donna’s Instagram announcement post, Katie shared an array of applause emojis before also taking to her Story to raise awareness.
Meanwhile psychologist Dr Jessica Taylor took to Instagram on Monday to share that she and Neil Sands were beginning government action against Sebastian and the website itself.
And Katie reshared the announcement to her story, which asked the government to begin criminal action against Tattle users.
It read: ‘Individually, we were victims, but together with the ruling pursued by @neilsands_ and @donnasands_ – we are now unstoppable.’
A host of other celebrities also commented on Donna’s post as they shared their support after falling victim to the site themselves.
Stacey Solomon wrote: ‘Thank you. ❤️ for all you’ve done’.
Meanwhile actress Alice Evans commented: ‘Hopefully this will encourage more lawyers to take our cases on.
‘Maybe we can make up some of the income we lost through their lies.’
Influencer Sophie Hinchliffe, who is best known by her online brand Mrs Hinch, penned: ‘Oh my gosh I pray this is true.
‘The website that has damaged my mental health and harassed me and my family beyond words for over 6 years.
‘They’ve stalked me, lied about me, mocked me and my beautiful children. Accused me of the unthinkable, brainwashed my supporters. Sickening behaviour that I’ve silently had to put up with every single day.
Katie reshared Dr Jessica Taylor’s announcement to her story, which explained that she and Neil Sands were beginning government action against Sebastian and the website itself
Stacey Solomon wrote: ‘Thank you. ❤️ for all you’ve done’
A host of other celebrities including Kady McDermott, Alice Evans, Ashley James and Lauryn Goodman also shared their support
Influencer Sophie Hinchliffe penned: ‘The website that has damaged my mental health and harassed me and my family beyond words for over 6 years’
‘My thread (as I’m sure you’ve seen) is one of the largest on there , with hourly abuse. I hope to god this site gets taken down. Thank you for all you’ve done’.
Big Brother star Henry Southan added: ‘Great news’ while Love Island’s Tasha Ghouri posted applause emojis.
Fellow Love Island stars Kady McDermott and Siannise Fudge wrote: ‘Thank you so much’.
Ashley James added: ‘Amazing!!!’ and Sharon Gafka penned: ‘Thank you’.
Lauryn Goodman commented: ‘Well done guys! Amazing work now time for the data … who’s been behind those accounts! Thank you so much for taking this on .. it was huge!’
After Donna and Neil appeared on Good Morning Britain on Tuesday, Lauryn also reposted the video as she commented: ‘Can still see the pain @donnasands_ has had to endure, Well done guys @neilsands_’.
Responding to Sebastian’s comment that he ‘strongly denies ruining anyone’s life’, Lauryn penned: ‘I’m sorry the audacity…. SEBASTIAN you have denied it???? DENIED it?
‘You had SO much time to respond you ignored and still do. You’re actually in contempt of court. Honestly if you don’t laugh you’ll cry… just call him shaggy from now on “it wasn’t me.” Even with the piles of evidence.’
Thanking Donna and Neil for their work she added: ‘We can’t thank you both enough and the fight continues.. you kept going even though it took a lot of resources! Warriors’.
Tattle’s site attracts 12 million visitors a month, and is supposedly aimed at exposing disingenuous influencers who make money from social media.
After Donna and Neil appeared on Good Morning Britain on Tuesday, Lauryn also reposted the video as she commented: ‘Can still see the pain @donnasands_ has had to endure, Well done guys @neilsands_’
Responding to Sebastian’s comment that he ‘strongly denies ruining anyone’s life’, Lauryn penned: ‘I’m sorry the audacity…. SEBASTIAN you have denied it???? DENIED it?’
Thanking Donna and Neil for their work she praised them for being: ‘Warriors’
But it rapidly descended into a paradise for trolls to aim abuse at everyone including Mrs Hinch and Stacey Solomon to mummy bloggers with small followings.
Last week restrictions on identifying Sebastian were lifted after Neil and Donna were awarded £300,000 at the High Court of Justice in Northern Ireland in 2023 after successfully suing Bond for ‘defamation and harassment’ in posts aimed at them on the site.
For nearly a decade, since the site was set up in 2017, no one knew who ran Tattle Life, with the site’s operator going under the fake name Helen McDougal.
Many will be now surprised to learn the creator is in fact a man, who is the author and foodie behind plant-based recipe Instagram page Nest and Glow, which boasts 135,000 followers.
For the past eight years, the vegan cookbook author he has secretly presided over the site, which makes an estimated £276,770 in Google Ad revenue every six months, according to figures from 2021.
Meanwhile, influencers, their partners and even their children, have been on the receiving end of abuse and mockery over their weight and disabilities – while private details such as their home addresses have been shared on the forum.
