{"id":2690,"date":"2014-02-22T23:06:58","date_gmt":"2014-02-23T07:06:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/?p=2690"},"modified":"2014-02-22T23:06:58","modified_gmt":"2014-02-23T07:06:58","slug":"australian-tv-star-charlotte-dawson-anti-bully-activist-found-dead-at-home","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/2014\/02\/22\/australian-tv-star-charlotte-dawson-anti-bully-activist-found-dead-at-home\/","title":{"rendered":"Australian TV star Charlotte Dawson, anti bully activist, found dead at home"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

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SYDNEY, Australia – Australian TV star and former model<\/p>\n

\"Charlotte<\/a>
Charlotte Dawson, photo taken in 2013. (Wikipedia photo)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

, who became an anti-bullying activist after she was targeted online, has been found dead at age 47.<\/p>\n

Famed for TV shows such as “Australia’s Next Top Model,” the New Zealand-born star had a history of depression. She was found dead in her Sydney apartment on Saturday morning. Police said there were no suspicious circumstances, which is how they usually describe suicide.<\/p>\n

Sydney’s The Sunday Telegraph newspaper reported that she was found hanged.<\/p>\n

In 2012, she was admitted to a Sydney hospital after a suicide attempt following an ongoing tirade of abuse on Twitter. She had taken prescription tablets with wine and tweeted: “you win” in a suicide note to her cyber tormentors.<\/p>\n

She later made fighting bullying her personal mission, waging an anti-bullying media campaign on television and radio and in newspapers and magazines as well as her beloved Twitter.<\/p>\n

Her efforts and high public profile on the issue were recognized by the National Rugby League, a major Australian football association, which last year made her an anti-bullying ambassador.<\/p>\n

The NRL’s One-Community campaign is an extension of its zero-tolerance policy toward racial abuse in football.<\/p>\n

Dawson revealed in her 2012 autobiography “Air Kiss & Tell” that she was frequently visited by the “depression bogeyman.”<\/p>\n

She had long graced the pages of women’s gossip magazines and scenes in reality TV shows. Her modeling career had taken her to Italy, Britain and Germany during the 1980s.<\/p>\n

New Zealand Prime Minister John Key tweeted he was “shocked and saddened” by the news of her death.<\/p>\n

The Sun-Herald newspaper in Sydney reported Sunday that her body was found only minutes before her luxury waterside apartment was due to be sold at auction.<\/p>\n

The tragedy was discovered the day after the birthday of her former husband, Scott Miller, an Australian Olympic silver medal-winning swimmer who became addicted to the drug ice and accrued multiple convictions for illegal drug and firearm possession.<\/p>\n

Dawson professed her enduring love for Miller and sadness at his fall from grace ahead of Australian “60 Minutes” broadcasting an exclusive interview with him on Feb. 16.<\/p>\n

Kate Carnell, chief executive of Beyond Blue, a not-for-profit organization promoting depression awareness, criticized Twitter for failing to sign up to an Australian government complaint-handling program designed to remove hateful material from social media sites.<\/p>\n

Facebook, Google, Yahoo and Microsoft signed up to the project last year.<\/p>\n

“There’s lots more work that people like Twitter need to do,” Carnell told The Sun-Herald.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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