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Erin Molan‘s war on cyber bullies THE TV SPORTS PRESENTER AND COMMENTATOR SPEARHEADS A CAMPAIGN FOR A CHANGE TO LEGISLATION WHICH COULD SEE TROLLS JAILED
By JENNI GILBERT
After years of weathering online abuse and threats, Nine network NRL football frontwoman Erin Molan finally cracked in 2018. While pregnant with her daughter, Eliza, she received a vile message on social media: “I wish you a [expletive] stillborn and you die in the process, hip, hip, hooray”. The perpetrator, who was revealed to be a young father of girls, was eventually tracked down and arrested, becoming a rare example of an online troll who was successfully convicted. He received a suspended sentence. The incident had a devastating affect on the mum-to-be, giving a radio interview soon after in which she broke down on air. But it also steeled her 4 | THRIVE #3
to launch her campaign to lobby government to make changes to legislation, which could see cyber bullies and trolls jailed. In another emotional interview on Nine’s 60 Minutes on October 11, Erin wept as she revealed to 60 Minutes reporter Tom Steinfort that the message took her to “some pretty dark places”. Her older sister suffered a stillbirth in the years prior to her own pregnancy, leading her to have a “pretty anxious' wait” for the birth of her daughter. “She carried a beautiful little girl to full term and to watch her bury that little child - It really impacted me,” Erin says.
