Mel Greig reveals she suffered suicidal thoughts and ‘started to believe’ trolls saying she ‘deserved to die’ in a candid chat about infamous 2012 royal prank on a nurse who later took their own life
Radio host Mel Greig has spoken candidly about the infamous royal radio prank that changed her life forever.
The 38-year-old admitted she even considered suicide in the wake of the tragic 2012 on-air stunt on a nurse who later took her own life, during an interview with 9Honey.
Mel said she received so many death threats following the incident that ‘I started to believe that I did deserve to die’.
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Never the same again: Radio host Mel Greig has spoken candidly about the infamous royal radio prank on a hospital nurse in London, who took her own life two days later
In 2012, Mel and 2Day FM co-host Michael Christian posed as the Queen and Prince Charles to gain information about the Duchess of Cambridge during a hospital stay.
Jacintha Saldana was the nurse who took the call at King Edward Hospital in London. She took her own life two days later and mentioned the prank in the note she left behind.
Mel said the fallout left her ‘in the most fragile mental state’ and that at its height she was receiving over 1,000 threatening messages a day.
Some even suggested they would take the life of her mother.
Devastated: In 2012, Mel and 2Day FM co-host Michael Christian (pictured) posed as the Queen and Prince Charles to gain information about the Duchess of Cambridge during a hospital stay. On Friday, she admitted to suffering suicidal thoughts in the fallout
Tragic: Mel said the fallout left her ‘in a fragile mental state’ and that at its height she was receiving over 1,000 threatening messages a day. She is pictured here in a 2012 interview about the incident
The ex-model said that despite her own suicidal thoughts, she ‘chose life’ and now actively fights trolling online.
Mel is pushing changes to cyber safety and implores everybody to ‘make sure we’re not crossing that line into trolling.’
She advocates for a two-point ID verification for social media profiles and was the the face of the Troll Free Day movement in 2017.
The radio star is also a passionate advocate for body positivity.
Fallout: Jacintha Saldana was the nurse who took the call at King Edward Hospital in London. She took her own life two days later and mentioned the prank in the note she left behind
On Monday, Mel proudly showed off her ‘chins’ on Instagram and encouraged others to do the same.
‘I want to give you a daily dose of realness and I want to introduce you to my chins because it’s all about angles on social media and I’ve got four rippers,’ she said.
‘Just embrace it, don’t worry about the angles. I love my chins, you should love yours too.’
Mel also captioned the post: ‘Daily dose of keeping it real. Today I want you to meet my chins. Inspired by the @imperfectlyperfectcampaign mental health forum.’
Getting better: The ex-model said that despite her own suicidal thoughts, she ‘chose life’ and now actively fights trolling online
Her post comes after she accepted she may never get back to the weight she once was in her twenties and has thrown out her old garments.
She encouraged others to throw out their ‘skinny boxes’ too, and said: ‘No I didn’t get back to 68kg, and I don’t intend to.’
If you are in crisis, please call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 1-800-273-TALK (8255) or contact the Crisis Text Line by texting TALK to 741-741.
For confidential support in the UK, call the Samaritans on 116 123 or visit a local branch. See www.samaritans.org for details.
For confidential support in Australia, call Lifeline on 13 11 14 or visit www.lifeline.org.au. Alternatively, call Kids Helpline on 1800 55 1800
Advocate: Mel is pushing changes to cyber safety and implores everybody to ‘make sure we’re not crossing that line into trolling.’ She was the face of the Troll Free Day campaign in 2017