RuPaul’s Drag Race star Brita suffered overdose amid troll abuse
"It got too much to bear".
RuPaul’s Drag Race star Brita Filter has opened up about suffering an overdose after getting abuse from trolls.
The star appeared on this year’s series, ultimately won by Jaida Essence Hall, which aired in the spring.
After repeatedly clashing with Aiden Zhane and weathering backlash from viewers, Brita was forced to deactivate her social media.
“You can try to brush it off, but it starts to get to you”
Speaking on the Sean L. Show, Brita admitted she did not perform as she wanted to on the show, but was “blaming on someone else”, adding that she apologised to Aidan after a spat “but it wasn’t shown.”
Saying she watched the “entire season with my parents in Maine” while in lockdown, with social media her only connection to the outside world, Brita explained: “I would go onto social media and there would be hundreds and hundreds of messages every single day.
“[…] It got too much to bear. When someone starts to tell you you should kill yourself or how horrible of a person you are… you can try to brush it off, but it starts to get to you after a certain time.”
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The 34-year-old explained the abuse would start “all over again” every time the show aired in a different country.
“In July I had two friends pass away,” she said. “I was drinking a lot. I was abusing drugs, doing so much cocaine. I broke up with my boyfriend. The messages were still coming… I tried to hurt myself. I woke up on my floor in my room… after doing an entire eight ball of cocaine and drinking an entire bottle of Tito’s and taking every drug I had.
“I threw up and I was passed out on my floor the next day. And I knew that I had to do something because I was going to hurt myself. And so I had to take a step back.”
Since the frightening incident, Brita has been spending with family time in Hawaii and says she “made a decision to leave social media for the month of September, my birthday month, to really figure myself out, to know what’s important. None of that is important.”
She adds that she’s kept Instagram but deleted Twitter (“toxic”) and only posts on Facebook “when I need to.”
Sending you our best wishes, Brita!
If you or someone you know is in need of support contact the Samaritans on 116 123 (UK) or 116 123 (Republic of Ireland).
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