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All you haters made Samantha Brick cry.
Not sure if this made it into the OP, but she wrote a follow up article to her I'm Too Pretty article.
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The I'm so beautiful backlash: In yesterday's Mail, Samantha Brick claimed other women loathe her for being too attractive. It provoked a worldwide internet storm. Here she says: This bile just proves I'm right
Brickbats: Writer Samantha was reduced to tears by the reaction to her article
The past 24 hours have been, to be blunt, among the most horrendous of my life. But then, the 4,510 (at the time of writing) people who have left comments on Mail Online, and the thousands who have done the same on Twitter, would probably say that it's all my own fault.
Yesterday, I wrote an article in the Mail, posing the question: Why do women hate me for being beautiful? The response it provoked has been extraordinary in its volume and vitriol, and beyond anything I could have imagined when I first started work at my keyboard.
Of course, I knew when I came up with the idea that it would provoke debate. I'd even prefaced the idea by explaining to the editor that I was fully aware I was setting myself up for a fall. I knew this was sensitive territory at which women would take umbrage ? but I thought it was a taboo that needed shattering.
Yet even I could never have imagined the fury my piece would spawn and the thousands upon thousands of nasty comments I've been subjected to since it was published.
I've been lambasted on Twitter. Dragons' Den judge Duncan Bannatyne has asked if what I've written is 'a joke', DJ Lauren Laverne tweeted about me all day (none of it nice) and countless so-called comedians have written unprintable things about me.
Other people who don't know me have queued up to call me ugly, stupid, a b****.
Then there are those who have sought out my email address and bombarded my inbox with bile-filled messages ? over 1,000 so far.
I've had malicious mail from everyone from Swedish crime writers to bored housewives asking me what planet I'm on for daring to write such a feature.
This was all from strangers. But far worse came from those I had considered friends. When I logged on to Facebook, I found a group of them had torn me to shreds. Some were asking: 'What the hell does Sam think she's on?'
Others I haven't seen since college had crawled out of the woodwork to criticise me for 'always being like that' ? and even for having a 'girly voice'.
While I've been shocked and hurt by the global condemnation, I have just this to say: my detractors have simply proved my point. Their level of anger only underlines that no one in this world is more reviled than a pretty woman.
In my article, I recalled how men I'd never met before had sent bottles of bubbly to my restaurant table, presented me with impromptu bouquets and even bought train tickets for me ? all on account of my pretty face.
And yet women had reacted to my good looks in a very different way. Their hostility had stood in my way at work and even friends had dropped me, fearing their husbands fancied me.
Without doubt, this is a gender issue. For not only is it mostly women who are attacking me, it is also because I am female that I am being attacked for acknowledging my attractiveness.
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-2124782/Samantha-Brick-says-backlash-bile-yesterdays-Daily-Mail-proves-shes-right.html#ixzz1rB81EpH3
If Brad Pitt were to say: 'Yes, I'm a good-looking fella,' then the world would nod sagely in agreement. But if Angelina Jolie uttered something along those lines, she'd be subject to the same foaming-at-the-mouth onslaught hurled at me yesterday.
I've been astounded at the intelligent women ? I'm talking well-known columnists and opinion-formers ? who, rather than entering into a debate about why we can't compliment women when they are good looking, have instead taken to their Twitter accounts to trash me in typical playground bully style.
Smart women I've previously admired appear to have relished putting the boot in. No debate, no discussion, let's just attack this bit of skirt for daring to declare she thinks she's not too bad when she looks in the mirror.
Perhaps one of the most extreme comments on Twitter comes from a woman who declares: 'Samantha Brick should be bricked to death.'
As far as I can see, the criticism falls into two camps: those who judge me for daring to mention my attractiveness and those who wish to attack my appearance, calling me ugly ? well, that's a polite way of putting it. And it's the latter camp who are harder to brush off.
I'm normally pretty thick-skinned, but tears have welled in my eyes on more than one occasion.
Take the latest message I've just received, which is pretty mild ? but the intention is still to wound: 'I am sorry to be the one to burst your arrogant and conceited bubble but I don't find you attractive at all. You look a fool.'
Or how about this one, who used her office email and signs herself as an admin executive: 'You look a ridiculous fool, you make me ill'.
I am at a loss as to understand what goes through someone's mind before they press the 'send' button on a message like that.
I'm the first to give out compliments when someone I know looks good or has made an effort. I don't understand why other women don't do the same.
What really struck me was how quickly the fury snowballed.
When I first logged on to the Mail's website at 6am, there were only four comments on my article. I thought nothing of it and got on with my day, driving to the supermarket to do the weekly shop.
It was on my way there that I started receiving phone calls and emails to my BlackBerry ? within an hour there had been 1,000 comments left on the website. And by mid-morning the Twitter debate was in full flow, with my story eventually getting an unprecedented one million hits.
The phone calls were largely from other people in the media ? radio and television researchers ? calling in their droves to ask me to defend myself in the face of the 'Twitterstorm'. Most of them, when they spoke to me, conceded (and were surprised to do so) that I was 'all right' as a person and had a point in writing the piece. Predictably some went on to lecture me for thinking I was all that.
No one bothered to ask how I was coping. But what everyone wanted to know, vulture-like, was what it's like to be so hated and reviled.
Well, I'll tell you what it's like: it's soul-destroying.
Until this week I never really understood the term 'Trolling' ? used to describe when anonymous people viciously attack others on the internet. Now I do!
It would appear it's OK for anyone to post comments without any remorse or thought for the consequences their actions might have.
And although such technology is global, and there were plenty of comments from around the world, I do consider this particular breed of venom to be especially poisonous when coming from the British.
I have lived and worked in Los Angeles and I doubt that such a reaction to my piece would have happened there. For in the U.S. you're expected to look good and you're rightly applauded for it.
No woman would ever dare to go to work in a pair of Uggs, grubby top and tracksuit bottoms (and expect to receive tea and sympathy for having a fat day). Unsurprisingly then, over in the U.S. there just isn't the same level of female jealously, snippiness and rivalry that there is the UK.
Is it any wonder Victoria Beckham has decided to stay put in LA, rather than move back to Hertfordshire? She knows better than anyone how your looks can be used against you in Britain ? here we reward false modesty instead and gang up against anyone who isn't suitably self-deprecating.
While I have a strong coterie of friends who emailed me all day asking me if I was OK, telling me this will all pass and trying to shield me from the worst of the insults lobbed my way, what hurt the most?
The tears really fell when I happened across those sly and sneaky comments from women I know well enough to call friends messaging each other about me on Facebook.
Women I've supported emotionally and financially taking the first opportunity to declare I had it coming. And what has my husband made of all this?
At first, he shrugged it off, saying they were just the spiteful remarks of a few jealous women. But as the storm brewed?.?.?. well, I've had to hide the worst of it from him; the tame few I've read out have riled him enough to want to take his own form of action.
Yes, I have cried on and off all day. But do I regret my article? Not at all. I'm know I'm risking the wrath of the online community once more, but there is an irony to yesterday. While I was tearfully dealing with the emails and calls outside the supermarket, a young man approached me, offered to park my car and even get me a coffee.
He could see I was having a tough time ? and yes, my looks had helped me out again.
I know women reading this will think I deserve to be attacked again. But why should I be? Yes, I'm a good-looking woman ? albeit one that has feelings, too.
Re: All you haters made Samantha Brick cry.
~Benjamin Franklin
DS dx with celiac disease 5/28/10
Meredith, 6-1-06 and Alex, 11-5-09
"While I've been shocked and hurt by the global condemnation, I have just this to say: my detractors have simply proved my point. Their level of anger only underlines that no one in this world is more reviled than a pretty woman."
If this is not a hoax but a real woman and a real story, then she still just doesn't get it. It's not about her looks, it's her attitude.
Until this week I never really understood the term 'Trolling' ? used to describe when anonymous people viciously attack others on the internet. Now I do!
It would appear it's OK for anyone to post comments without any remorse or thought for the consequences their actions might have.
Kinda sounds like a newbie or bumpie that says "We're supposed to come here and support each other and lift each other up, not write snottybitchy things over the interweb where we can be anonymous and meeeaaaannn."
Welcome to the internet, lady. I wonder what she'd think of 4chan lol.
It has to be. No one can be THAT narcissistic and clueless, can they?
It's totally to believe we're all jealousE hosebeasts than to admit that you're just average.
Like I said on ML, she's not fug. She's not drop dead gorgeous. But she does look like a stereotypical high class call girl, L&O styles. lol
And honestly, that dude didn't notice her looks. He just felt bad for that poor, bawling blond chick.
Click me, click me!
OMG this is exactly it. She looks like she should be being interviewed by Briscoe and Curtis about her whereabouts the night that Sabrina was murdered after leaving the Chiffon Club.
My Blog - Really Renata
I saw a quick video of her on the CBS morning show this morning and I will say she is more attractive on video than in photographs, but definitely not the supermodel she believes herself to be.
I think if someone really is drop dead gorgeous, women would be able to admit it (even if some are jealous). I stand by my belief that she manipulates men to get what she wants and she treats other women poorly because of her delusional perceived jealousy.
I also want to know why she's apparently the only beautiful woman in the world, since other beautiful women don't seem to have a problem with everyone hating them.
ETA: I have a friend who is drop dead gorgeous, a former model. She has lots of female friends and none of them appear to hate her. Maybe it's because she's a nice person with a good personality?
I knew one girl who definitely manipulated men. She was attractive too, but her use of it always sat wrong w/ me, and I think it said a lot about the rest of her too....
~Benjamin Franklin
DS dx with celiac disease 5/28/10
I agree. I can see a guy being truly concerned when he sees a woman bawling her brains out in public.
There's absolutely nothing wrong with looking in the mirror and being pleased with what one sees. In fact, I wish more women had the confidence to like what they see. But when you like what you see so much, that you believe other women hate you for your looks, then you're probably a bit delusional. This is all too "I don't have any women friends because they're jealous of the way I look."
Also, this woman lacks so much perspective, especially with the comparison to Angelina Jolie, who I'm able to say is hott and not feel bad.
Or the night that dude was found in his car with her lipstick shade on his diik.
Mt Kisco!
Click me, click me!
or he wanted to distract her with free coffee while he stole her car.
This. And, also, I've spent time with DH and women who I know are hotter than I am, I've never once gotten pissed about him leaving me for them. So, the women she hangs out with are either crazy and insecure, she's lying, or she flirts hard core with her friends' Hs.
~Benjamin Franklin
DS dx with celiac disease 5/28/10
There, I fixed it for her.
Anything you can achieve through hard work, you could also just buy.
I think she is a pretty woman. She could also be one of those women who has such confidence in real life that it isn't so much her physical beauty that is off-putting to people, but the fact that she is confident in the way she looks. Women like that are so rare and when we come across one I think we women don't really know how to take it.
I disgaree with some of the hateful comments in the other thread, which is why I stayed out of it.
But I also disagree with her assessment of her life. While it could be her perception and certainly her "truth", I think that putting it out there like that lacks humility and modesty. When you act in those ways people don't always respond well and are usually more critical of you than they would be if you kept your mouth shut.
I'm not going to say she asked for it, because no one should ever have to deal with thousands of hateful comments, but she should have expected it given the topic of her first article. She should just delete the messages and go on her happy way.
Maybe the 'real' Samatha Brick is in fact a supermodel, and she is posting these pictures of the fairly homely woman in order to raise her hit count.
But mostly, I call BS on the whole thing. (Captain of the airplane sending her a bottle of champagne? Please.)
OK. This is just ridiculous.
Why? If I were claiming to be so stunningly beautiful that everyone hates me (and being pretty vile about it) I would make damn sure that I looked as awesome as possible in any published picture of me. I don't think she's ugly but I also don't think her beauty or body is anything to be jealous of. She's an average person, with an average body, and an average face. The picture of her in the purple dress is not the most flattering.
My Blog - Really Renata
Whoa. Samantha Brick is 41? I pegged her at 50, older by the look of her arms.
Wow.
Her immodesty is one thing. But women picking apart other women for their flaws is another thing, even if the woman "asked for it". This woman isn't fat and doesn't need body shapers. I just get angry when I hear women criticizing other women for their bodies (and don't get me started on body shapers either). I thought we were all trying to be above this and trying to be valued for more than our bodies and looks? Sure, this woman is making it about looks, but we aren't doing ourselves any favors by feeding on it and ripping her looks apart.
I just women would stop being so critical of each other. The idea that there is something wrong with this woman's body (who is obviously in very good shape for her age) speaks to a larger problem - that women have a distorted image of "normal".
But who am I to talk about the value of womenn (and women b eing a huge part of the problem)? We've been down this road and I know better
Pfft, WTF-ever. If I'm going to roll out on the Internet putting everybody on blast about how drop-dead gorgeous I am, and how all the men want to hit it, and how all of you ladies are just haters that hate, I'm going to make DAMN sure that my picture reflects that reality. Which means no poorly fitting dress showing a muffin top and limp hair that looks like it's had one too many visits to Barbie's Bleaching Salon. And fugly shoes. At least with that dress. Open toed stilettos. Just saying.