Australian TV star and former model Charlotte Dawson, who became an anti-bullying activist after she was targeted online, has been found dead at age 47.
Famed for TV shows such as Australia’s Next Top Model, the New Zealand-born star had a history of depression. She was found dead in her Sydney apartment on Saturday morning. Police said there were no suspicious circumstances, which is how they usually describe suicide.
Sydney’s The Sunday Telegraph newspaper reported that she was found hanged.
In 2012, she was admitted to a Sydney hospital after a suicide attempt following an ongoing tirade of abuse on Twitter. She had taken prescription tablets with wine and tweeted: “you win” in a suicide note to her cyber tormentors.
She later made fighting bullying her personal mission, waging an anti-bullying media campaign on television and radio and in newspapers and magazines as well as her beloved Twitter.
Her efforts and high public profile on the issue were recognised by the National Rugby League, a major Australian football association, which last year made her an anti-bullying ambassador.
The NRL’s One-Community campaign is an extension of its zero-tolerance policy toward racial abuse in football.