ABC ‘deeply concerned’ by Rosie Waterland’s claims of manipulation and mistreatment during Australian Story filming
CONTENT WARNING: This post mentions mental ill-health and suicide and may be triggering for some readers.
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Lifeline 13 11 14 www.lifeline.org.au
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Beyond Blue 1300 224 636 www.beyondblue.org.au
Australian comedian, podcaster and author Rosie Waterland has taken to Twitter to accuse the ABC of treating her badly and harming her mental health during the filming of an Australian Story episode about her tumultuous upbringing.
Waterland told her version of events on Twitter, claiming the ABC asked her to re-enact her suicide attempt, and labelling the entire experience “an absolute fuck up” by the national broadcaster.
In a series of 18 tweets, Waterland said no media platform is perfect, but – despite all the good things the ABC does – the national broadcaster should not be above reproach. “You’re never allowed to admit that ABC fucked you over”, she said.
Good on her for calling it out. My profile is tiny but I’ve been involved in these bullshit scene setups before (and refused). It’s not just Australian Story that carries on with this crap.
I’m sorry, just because she didn’t cancel the whole thing or have the episode deleted, doesn’t mean that it was ok that she was treated like shit. And she doesn’t need “special care”, she just needs a basic level of respect. ABC have been incredibly condescending in every aspect of this.