![]() Ginger Gorman (GG): I actually think there’s a troll in all of us. Why do people troll and bully others online? Melissa Hoyer (MH): Let’s start with the question that has driven us all to gather for a discussion today. Stellar asked designer Alex Perry – a close friend of Dawson’s who served with her as judge on Australia’s Next Top Model – along with model Simone Holtznagel (a 2011 ANTM finalist often referred to as Dawson’s “little sister”) journalist Ginger Gorman, who devoted a chapter of her 2019 bestseller Troll Hunting to the scorn Dawson endured and media personality and editor-at-large Melissa Hoyer to gather for a virtual exchange on Dawson and the legacy of her online battle. In the years since, similar incidents involving reality television stars around the world have occurred – Love Island UK host Caroline Flack, another ongoing target of cyberbullying, took her life in February. "It's very hard and we're all still coming to grips with it.When television personality and former model Charlotte Dawson was found dead in her apartment on a Saturday morning in February 2014, the 47-year-old’s decision to take her own life shed further light on a still-growing phenomenon in the world of social media.ĭawson had been on record about her mental-health struggles, but she was also subject to relentless online trolling. "His death has overshadowed everything," he says. Given a head’s up about the award just a week before Alex’s death, he admits he had given it little thought beyond feeling appreciative and humbled for the honor. Earlier this month, he was recognized by the Canadian Red Cross with its 2009 Humanitarian Award. Fountain, named to the Order of Canada last year, is gradually returning to the life he knew. Renown for his volunteerism and philanthropy, Mr. We don’t know what triggered his suicide. The family had Sunday brunch together just days before he died, and before that, went on a family fishing trip. More than 650 people filled First Baptist Church on Oxford Street in Halifax for his funeral and 950 signed on to a Facebook group created by Alex’s sister Katharine to share memories of the “guy who radiated positivity.”Īlex, who lived off campus, came home to St. As one friend said soon after his death, “he was always the friendliest guy in the room.” He had a beaming smile and loads of friends. A great music lover, he was working as a summer student at the Halifax Pop Explosion. “But really, has that helped anybody?”Īlmost 21 years of age, Alex, an A-student, was about to begin his fourth year of university at Dalhousie when he took his own life on August 22. “I know suicide and mental health and depression aren’t talked about,” he says carefully. But, as painful as it is, he wants to talk about the son he loved deeply. Fountain struggles to make sense of the why and how and what he could have done. ![]() With Alex’s death still shocking, his absence still keenly felt, Mr. Fountain, interviewed in the downtown office of his investment management firm, Great Eastern Corporation. “I looked for him in all the faces I saw, especially those of the tall, handsome young guys,” says Mr. But this fall, just two months after the suicide of his son Alex, he found it especially difficult. ( Photo courtesy of Fred Fountain)Īs Chancellor at Dalhousie University, Fred Fountain says attending convocation and greeting new graduates is one of the perks of the position. Alex, his mother Elizabeth, sister Katharine and father Fred.
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