Rosie Jones has revealed that abuse from trolls pushed her into therapy, days after she received hurtful ableist comments for taking part in Channel 4 series Taskmaster.
The comedian, 33, who has cerebral palsy, has told how viewers sent her direct messages on Instagram after the show’s new line-up was revealed last week, including one troll who accused her of ‘ruining’ the series and claimed that the series would have been tampered with. for her to win because “it’s a PC thing to do”.
Taskmaster’s official social media channels were also flooded with users who criticized her addition, accusing her of being “unwatchable” and “not funny”, while others warned that her involvement would see her leave the series due later this year would be broadcast would be skipped.
Rosie admits she has faced online abuse since turning comedy into a career eight years ago. The taunts increased after high-profile appearances on Channel 4’s Big Fat Quiz of the Year and the Royal Variety Performance, which aired on Channel 4 and BBC1 last December.
And in a new interview, Rosie – whose speech is slurred due to her condition and her mobility issues – admits the abuse has become so bad it has had serious consequences for her.
Rosie Jones has revealed abuse from trolls pushed her into therapy, days after she received hurtful ableist comments for taking part in Channel 4 series Taskmaster
Taskmaster’s social media channels were also flooded with users criticizing her addition, accusing her of being ‘unwatchable’ and ‘not funny’ (pictured by Greg Davies and Alex Horne)
Rosie says: ‘It’s been hard lately, it’s terrible sometimes.
‘I wake up some days and I think it would be so much easier if I wasn’t disabled, so don’t look at me and say ‘she’s happy all the time’ because it costs me a lot to stay on top of things my own mental health.”
The Yorkshire comic says she met one of her trolls during a documentary she filmed for Channel 4 called Rosie Jones: Am IA Retard? last July led to her decision to seek therapy in the first place.
She admitted she “wanted to get violent” when she came face to face with him after enduring a barrage of skilled abuse, and admits she struggles beneath the surface of her cheerful exterior.
Speaking to tattoo artist and TV presenter Grace Neutral in the latest episode of her Under Your Skin series on YouTube, she explains: ‘Making that documentary took a toll on my mental health and I started going to therapy as a result, where I’m so happy with it.
‘Financially it can be a problem, but I would tell anyone who can afford therapy to do it because your brain is the most important part of you and you don’t have to wait until you’re at rock bottom to check in yourself.
“I even had a guy say to me, ‘What? Are you in therapy? You seem so happy?’ And I’m like, it’s not about me crying in the street, you don’t know what’s going on in my head, but right now it’s maintenance that makes me approach my work, life and relationships like the best possible version of myself and that is possible because I am in therapy.’
The comedian, 33, who has cerebral palsy, has told how viewers sent her direct messages on Instagram after the new line-up was unveiled last week
Rosie will star in the 18th series of Taskmaster alongside veteran comedian Jack Dee, I’m A Celebrity star Babtunde Aleshe, comedy actress Emma Sidi and funnyman Andy Zaltzman
Rosie will star in the 18th series of Taskmaster alongside veteran comedian Jack Dee, I’m A Celebrity… Get Me Out of Here! star Babtunde Aleshe, comedy actress Emma Sidi and funnyman Andy Zaltzman.
In the cult show, created and co-hosted by Alex Horne together with Taskmaster Greg Davies himself, the comics take on a series of crazy challenges over ten weeks.
Rosie also received a lot of support from fans when the line-up was announced, with some viewers believing her ‘chaotic’ character would make ‘unmissable’ TV.
The star says she turned to comedy when she was young, in an effort to keep people from feeling sorry for her.
She explains: ‘I’ve done comedy all my life because my difference and cerebral palsy made people feel sorry for me and I hated that because I felt like a victim or someone who needed to be pitied.
“Literally, when I was four years old, I realized that if I told a joke, people would say, ‘Oh, she’s fine,’ she doesn’t need people feeling sorry for her.
Rosie also received a lot of support from fans when the line-up was announced. Some viewers believed her “chaotic” character would make “unmissable” TV.
The comedian was pictured getting a tattoo
She got star-shaped ink on her arm
Rosie was thrilled with the tattoo and gave the artist a hug
Alex Horne has become one of the richest presenters on television since the huge success of his comedy show Taskmaster
The show featured a wide variety of celebrities including (LR Doc Brown, Jon Richardson, Joe Wilkinson, Katherine Ryan and Richard Osman)
‘So I was always the one in the family or at school who told jokes. But I was also the annoying one because not only was I the class clown, but I was also very smart – so I did it all.”
She was inspired to become a comic due to the lack of disabled characters on TV, believing she could become a pioneer.
And now Rosie hopes to use her profile to raise awareness of ‘ableism’ – prejudice against people with disabilities – which she feels isn’t highlighted enough in society, and to continue to fight the trolls.
She says: “I suffered in silence for a long time because I get so much abuse on social media every time I’m on TV, but I didn’t want anyone to know because it made me feel like I couldn’t handle it. .
“But then I thought that was all nonsense and that I didn’t have to face abuse just because I am who I am.”
Rosie added: ‘I didn’t know what ableism was until I was 28 and it’s so damaging to face that level of discrimination every day and not really have a name for it, and even now when you go out onto the streets people know what racism, sexism and homophobia are, but they don’t know what ‘ableism’ is, so I thought: I’m going to change that and try to bring more attention to that word.’
