Charlotte Dawson: found dead, aged 47.
I found it tough not to jump to conclusions on hearing the news, having been keenly aware of her troubles in the past few years.
In late 2012, Dawson was hospitalised following a barrage of death threats via Twitter, and subsequently, her speaking out about bullying.
An avid viewer of Australia’s Next Top Model, I found Dawson to be brutally honest, and occasionally downright mean, dishing up scathing critiques to contestants from behind the judge’s desk, as she said herself, a ‘tough-love bitch’.
I was certain that if I ever had the misfortune to find myself in a bikini in front of her, I’d be wedged in a toilet cubicle crying my eyes out for some time thereafter.
But when the Twitter trolls descended on her, she didn’t take it lying down – she retweeted their vile messages to her tens of thousands of followers and fought back, exposing them to a hefty digital spoon of their own medicine.
It was an ugly thing that just kept getting uglier, ending with her hospitalisation.
A very Hollywood move, some might have said, but one that I felt was incredibly human.
Somewhere along the line, with her travel shows, magazine photo shoots, surgical procedures and her tiny dogs, the fabulous Dawson had become something un-human.