Unfortunately the law of social media averages goes that for every few thousand people saying nice stuff online, there’ll be some bored, unloved dickheads who feel it’s their place to upset people just for upsetting’s sake. Step in those twats who’ve managed to troll Robin Williams’ daughter Zelda off social media in the days after his death aged just 63. Just FYI, some of the stuff we’re about to talk about here might be deeply upsetting or triggering, so please look away now if you don’t think you’ll be up to it.
After her comedian dad’s death, Zelda posted a sweet statement to Twitter, a quote from The Little Prince, along with the comment: ‘I love you. I miss you. I’ll try to keep looking up.’
READ MORE: Russell Brand's Tribute To Robin Williams Teaches Us An Important Thing
She also posted on Tumblr to thank people for the support they were giving her following his death: ‘While Ill never, ever understand how he could be loved so deeply and not find it in his heart to stay, theres minor comfort in knowing our friend and loss, in some small way, is shared with millions.[sic]’
However, she also mentioned that the comments she’d received weren’t all positivity. She continued in her Tumblr post: ‘As for those who are sending negativity, know that some small, giggling part of him is sending a flock of pigeons to your house to poop on your car. Right after you've had it washed. After all, he loved to laugh, too.’
But this didn’t deter the trolls, who then apparently Tweeted her images of her father PhotoShopped to mock up what he looked like right after he died. Yep, people actually took the time out of their day to do that.
READ MORE: Remembering Robin Williams' Career Is A Nostalgic Trip Through Our Childhood And Beyond
Zelda alerted her followers to the trolls by telling the 175,000 of them: ‘Please report @PimpStory @MrGoosebuster. I’m shaking. I can’t. Please. Twitter requires a link and I won’t open it. Don’t either. Please’, according to JustJared.com.
But after getting even more hate from them, she then deleted the Tweet, instead saying the following:
Over on Instagram, she also announced that she won’t be using the platform any more ‘I will be leaving this account for a but while I heal and decide if I’ll be deleting it or not. In this difficult time, please try to be respectful of the accounts of myself, my family and my friends.’
She continued, making a direct call to get people to stop looking into the reasons why her or her brother might not have insty-ed loads of photos with her dad: ‘Mining our accounts for photos of dad, or judging me on the number of them is cruel and unnecessary. There are a couple throughout, but the real private moments I shared with him were precious, quiet, and believe it or not, not full of photos or ‘selfies’.’
‘I shared him with a world where everyone was taking their photo with him, but I was lucky enough to spend time with him without cameras too. That was more than enough, and I’m grateful for what little time I had.’
She added in the caption, which accompanied a picture of a butterfly: ‘My favorite photos of family are framed in my house, not posted on social media, and they ‘ll remain there.’
‘They would’ve wound up on the news or blogs then, and they certainly would now. [sic] That’s not what I want for our memories together. Thank you for your respect and understanding in this difficult time. Goodbye. Xo’
The shame is, it’s totally up to Zelda what she posts online, and so what if she has never posted selfies with her dad? The horrific photoshopped images people have made specifically to troll Zelda and her brothers with at a time of sadness are horrific enough, but why would anyone want to condemn the fact that she's chosen to keep images of her family at times of happiness private?
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Samaritans is available round-the-clock on 08457 90 90 90 or email jo@samaritans.org or visit samaritans.org
** Follow Sophie on Twitter @sophwilkinson**
Picture: Getty
This article originally appeared on The Debrief.