Sasha Attwood Has Opened Up About Getting Death Threats For Being Jack Grealish’s Girlfriend

This morning, Sasha Atwood was trending high on Google as a major search term. The model and make-up artist who happens to be dating Jack Grealish had opened up about the hate she received during the 2021 Euros, and watching the video she posted explaining the messages, it is haunting.

Who is Sasha Attwood?

Sasha, aged 25, goes by Sasha Rebecca on Instagram - where she posts modelling pictures and her work in bridal and appointment make up. According to Google, everyone know wants to know everything about her - with 'Sasha Attwood age' and 'Sasha Attwood Instagram' both breakout search terms.

Both Jack and Sasha have kept their relationship private since they met aged 16. The couple have since been together nine years but despite Jack’s growing stardom in English football, had managed to maintain some level of secrecy in public.

That all changed of course when every teenage girl – and grown woman, to be honest – fell in love with Jack during his Euros tournament this year, with Sasha quickly being found by press outlets and social media users alike. She hadn’t been hiding, the model had a modest social media following already, but it certainly opened her up to a mass audience like no other. An audience that, apparently, hated her simply by virtue of dating a man they had seen kick a ball a few times.

‘Let’s just address the elephant in the room as that’s probably why the majority of you are here,’ Sasha said in her YouTube video. ‘Yes I have a boyfriend and yes you know who it is… It’s really not interesting, I keep things private off social media on all my open accounts because people are mean…it’s not been a secret at all it’s just something I’ve not posted about.’

While she didn’t delve into their relationship, she did explain exactly why she chooses not to – and judging by the death threats she received as soon as fans of Jack found her, she was right to.

‘I never in a million years thought it would be this bad,’ she explained. ‘I was receiving 200 death threats a day [during the Euros], so many messages every single day and I still get them now all day every day. [Things like] “I hope you die, I hope you get cancer and die, I hope your whole family dies, I hope the next time you’re in the car you crash it and die, I hope after Wembley you die” it’s just crazy. The nasty messages about my appearances, the way that I am. What are you all doing? It’s so embarrassing.’

‘The scary thing is it’s young girls,’ Sasha continued. ‘I go on their accounts and they’re literally 13/14. I try and put it down to age but I was never like that at that age, I just think social media is so toxic and it’s really sad that these generations are growing up thinking it’s okay to say something like that. You hear it all the time “Oh I didn’t think she was going to see it, I didn’t think she’d reply” but why are you doing it? Please ask yourself.’

Sasha went on to explain that the mass death threats made her feel incredible anxious, telling viewers ‘I didn’t ask for any of that, I didn’t ask for anything to be put out there.’

What is Sasha Attwood's YouTube?

You can watch Sasha's entire YouTube video above, but what’s telling about her video isn’t just the impact of trolling itself, but the reaction to her admission that it was mostly young girls. It’s what most people are picking apart on social media, with one user boldly stating ‘most abuse online directed at women is from other women’.

Of course, this statement is not based on any factual evidence at all, and while it’s important to understand what would drive any teenage girl to send death threats online, it does not serve women to dismiss online abuse as ‘toxic femininity’. In fact, male violence flourishes against women online - with cyberstalking and explicit messages and photos all most commonly perpetrated by men.

According to a survey by Plan International, the most common type of online harm against women and girls is abusive and insulting language, followed by deliberate embarrassment and then threats of sexual violence. Another study by Amnesty International UK also found that one in five women have suffered online abuse or harassment, with almost half receiving sexist or misogynistic abuse and 27% threats of sexual or physical assault.

‘Violence has flourished to the point where for many girls, abuse is a day-to-day reality,’ chief executive of Plan International, Susanne Legena told The Guardian last year. ‘When you consider the shockingly high number of girls worldwide are subject to abuse every time they participate in discussions online, in addition to being hassled and harassed on the street when they step outside their homes, and that harassment is a form of violence, there is no space – virtual or other – where girls are safe and free from violence.

‘As a result, girls are reporting long term mental health problems and in many cases, are opting out of expressing themselves and their opinions for fear of retribution, and sometimes removing themselves from these platforms altogether.’

Caitlin McGrane, the leader of the enhancing online safety for women project at Gender Equity Victoria, supported the research, stating that is it vital we teach ‘young people, especially young men, about respectful, appropriate communication.’

That does not dismiss Sasha's experience, of course, and it's vitally important we tackle online abuse among teenage girls. But it's also important that we recognise the role of male violence in digital harm, any attempt to use Sasha's trauma as a way to disregard it not only does a disservice to her, but women at large.

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