health

"It’s something I’m still trying to figure out." How Sam Frost deals with haters on social media.

From your telly to your radio, former Bachelorette Sam Frost is killing it at the moment.

But in today’s social media-dominated world, being in the spotlight doesn’t just mean positive attention (which Frost is using to her advantage as a Priceline and Stroke Foundation Ambassador) but also the dark side in the form of haters and trolls, who seem to be ready to criticise her every move.

We spoke to the radio host about dealing with negativity and why she’ll always keep it real on social media.

Can you tell us a bit about your role as a Priceline Pharmacy x Stroke Foundation Ambassador for Australia’s Biggest Biggest Blood Pressure Check?

“We lost my stepdad who raised me since I was five years old to a stroke about three years ago. He was 65 years old and it was really unexpected and quite traumatic for our family. We just had no idea, and strokes weren’t in our family, so it really came from left field. After learning about the risk factors after his death, you realise it could’ve been preventable which is such a sad thought.

ADVERTISEMENT

Frost and Sasha Mielczarek raising awareness for Australia's Biggest Blood Pressure Check with Priceline Pharmacy. Image: Supplied

"Now, and even before when I was still working in finance, I was doing things for the Stroke Foundation. A positive of having a voice in the media is that you’re able to spread awareness and have a conversation about risk factors and symptoms and signs, and hopefully someone else can avoid losing one of their loved ones as well.

"If you just get a blood pressure check, and even just have a checkup at the doctors, you find out if you’re in the high risk category and what you can do about it and find out how to lower the risk factor."

You were recently the victim of some nasty comments about your weight on Instagram - how do you deal with negativity on social media?

"Sometimes you see it and have no emotion. You just block and delete and don’t even think twice about it. But then there are other days when you’re more sensitive and vulnerable. Honestly, it’s something I’m still trying to figure out. I’m so new to this and certainly no one teaches you how to deal with these kinds of things and you're left to figure out how to deal with it yourself." (Post continues after gallery.)

ADVERTISEMENT

It must be hard dealing with it constantly.

"It is. On the radio I talk about being positive, good people, and you can say that until the cows come home, but in reality people troll and have negative things to say. It’s mean and awful, and you just have to try to not let it get to you.

"At times when they're criticising you, you even feel like saying 'I’m my worst critic, whatever you’ve written I’ve thought about myself, you don’t need to tell me'."

Your followers love how 'real' you come across. Is this something you do consciously?

"I’ve always been quite real on my social media I think, but I do make a conscious effort to not just put the best of the best photos up because that’s not reality. I don’t look like I’m going out to a red carpet event all the time and I certainly think it’s so unrealistic.

"You can’t avoid what’s going on on Instagram, with all these pictures of perfect bodies that are just unrealistic."

???? @sash1313 ????

A photo posted by Sam Frost (@fro01) on

ADVERTISEMENT


It's so easy to get swept up in it.

"Exactly. I've been caught up myself in it. It was the start of summer and I caught myself going, 'I should probably start doing some situps and start really exercising and making more of an effort with my appearance', and I literally just had to snap out of it and go, ‘No Sam, you’re not like that’.

"I like to say that I don’t feel pressure but sometimes I do feel like I have to sharpen my appearance up a bit and then I go, ‘No, because that’s not actually what I look like and what I’m about’.

So what's the reality behind the filter for you?

"I don’t wear makeup on the weekends, I wear daggy clothes and I’m not really fashionable and I have a pot belly and that’s the way I am and I can’t be bothered doing sit ups everyday. I want to play with my dog and eat toast!

"I think about 16-year-olds and if I had a daughter who was feeling like they didn't look the right way it would break my heart. That’s why I go, ‘This is who I am and I don’t want to be like that or be a bad influence on social media.' That’s what it always comes back to."

Got a tip for dealing with negativity online or in real life?