Former Rose of Tralee and Fine Gael MEP Maria Walsh has revealed that she received ‘grotesque’ abuse during her IVF treatment.
Over the weekend, Maria revealed to her followers that she was pregnant with her first child after undergoing IVF treatment alone. She shared her happy news in the hope that her personal journey may help other single women and those who are LGBTQI+ to become mothers if they wish to do so.
But the politician revealed that during her IVF treatment, she received trolling – mainly from men – who targeted her about her weight.
Maria Walsh opens up about trolling
She told The Sunday Times: ‘It’s not just your Twitter space where often negativity is found — it’s also in forms of Meta and Reddit too. There has been more and more sexualised, quite abusive and incredibly personalised language used, particularly around my weight.
‘I’m pumping so many hormones into my body to be able to do what I’m doing under the guidance of incredible care, but I’m doing that to get [my] body ready. Naturally, your body will change on top of the emotional weight too.
‘Certainly, from my lived experience, I add weight when I’m going through something really emotional and then you go online and you’re posting something about canvassing or agriculture, or cardiovascular healthcare or mental health and the commentary has been very, very grotesque around my body and my shape. We think it’s only bots, but it’s really not any more.’
The Rose of Tralee winner said that regardless of how ‘thick skinned’ someone is, the comments can hurt.
‘The on and offline world has really blended. Do I think it’s all of society as a whole? No, but it’s certainly growing, and in a really grotesque way,’ she added.
On Sunday, Maria took the opportunity to thank followers who have wishes her congratulations following her pregnancy news.
She said: ‘Thank you very, very much for all the kind messages, comments, phone calls, text messages that I’ve gotten, and not just me, but also my family and friends, my team, both here in Brussels and in Ireland, overwhelmed we are with the kindness from so many of you.
‘There’s just so much love out there, and I’m forever grateful,’ she added.
