I saw Abbie Chatfield's mask slip when she came after me years ago... There's a reason other influencers privately aren't buying her crocodile tears: AMANDA GOFF

Ah, the agony of being a columnist. It's not the deadlines, the criticism, or even the occasional death threat (including one from a charming Eshay who promised to punch my teeth in after I wrote about 'reformed bad boy' Spanian).

No, the real pain of this job is having to, yet again, revisit the ghouls of my past. Not once, not twice, but now for a third time. Twits I'd happily never mention again.

People like – and it pains me to say it – Abbie Chatfield.

Honestly, there are only so many hours in the day, and I'd sooner gouge my own eyeballs out with toothpicks than give Australia's most exhausting 'influencer' another second of my attention.

But here we are. For the third – and hopefully final – time: what has our angry Greenie, bum-bum twerking, former Bachelor runner-up done now?

This time, Abbie's in tears. And not the usual kind sparked by a man failing to apologise for having an opinion – or existing.

In a recent, tearful ABC TV interview, Chatfield revealed she'd been bombarded with online abuse – threats of rape, murder, doxxing, and even AI-generated pornography. She blames it all on 'the election of Donald Trump' and says she and her boyfriend, Adam Hyde, are now considering leaving Australia because she feels so unsafe.

Now, before Abbie's army jumps in to accuse me of being a heartless, Gen X monster who doesn't understand how hard it is to be a young woman these days, let me be clear: threatening to rape or murder a woman is, obviously, abhorrent. Full stop.

I don't care who she is, how irritating she might be, what she believes, or how exhausting most of us might find her. Nobody, including Abbie, deserves to live in fear.

I'm a few decades older than Abbie and I've had my share of threats and stalkers. It's truly terrifying.

But do you know what else rattled me? A couple of years ago, Chatfield posted my private DMs to her 500,000-plus Instagram followers, dragging a family member into it – simply because I dared to disagree with her.  

I was tagged, abused by her fans, criticised and served up to her rabid audience on a platter. And I don't recall Abbie sparing a thought for my wellbeing or safety. Did you, Abbie? Of course not. You just stoked the fire.

So hear me out: while I have genuine sympathy for anyone who is fearful from online abuse, I find it rather hard to feel sorry for this now timid and tearful woman who has built her entire brand on throwing people like me under the bus.

For years, Abbie has made a career out of publicly 'calling people out' – often with sneering fury if you dared to disagree with her politics, her brand of feminism, or anything else. And it hasn't always ended well.

Last year, she shared private messages from her former best friend Heath Kelley about politics and the Israel-Palestine conflict. She accused him of supporting a genocide (he doesn't) and he sued for defamation. Abbie paid out $79,000.

Then there was Harrison Boon from Married At First Sight. She had to issue an apology on Instagram after he crowd-funded to take legal action. 

And now she's dabbing at her tears because she's finally the one being targeted? 

Give me a break.

And it's not just me who's sick of it. Carla Efstratiou, the conservative commentator behind the social media account @gowokegobrokeaus, took Abbie to task.

In a video posted over Abbie's ABC clip, she said: 'Hey, hey, Abbie! Remember me? You bullied me relentlessly... for daring to disagree with you with your opinions.

'I know what you can do about it [the death threats]. Stop being on social media, shut down all your accounts, and no one will bother you. But you won't do that, will you?

'Because you want the attention. You feed off the attention. It's your life blood.'

The scathing – and bloody accurate – take was liked by more than 9,000 people, and I couldn't help but notice fellow influencers were among them. 

MAFS bride Ella Ding liked the post. She's also a reality star and podcaster – and has been unfortunate enough to feel Abbie's wrath. 

Back in May 2024, Abbie turned on Ella and her podcast co-host Domenica Calarco for the unforgivable crime of... interviewing a MAFS groom.

They had Jack Dunkley as a guest on their show, Sit With Us, and, according to Abbie, had 'dismissed' his 'misogynistic' remarks about the women from his season.

Abbie, who is known to rant against MAFS as the root of all evil despite watching it obsessively, said the girls' interview made her 'feel sick' and urged them to take it down, apologise and 'educate yourselves on the inner workings of patriarchy'.

Predictably, it led to an onslaught of backlash and trolling against the pair.

It was so severe that Domenica checked into a mental health facility. 

I also noted with interest that fellow Bachelor star Holly Kingston (who, unlike Abbie, won her season and wasn't brutally dumped in the season finale) commented on Ms Efstratiou's post: 'This is refreshingly well-articulated.'

Seeing the tide turn against Abbie, and watching influencers publicly challenge her in ways they wouldn't have dared a few years ago, reminded me this is about far more than one (annoying) woman.

It's part of a broader trend of lefties who spent years ratcheting up the temperature with anger and vitriol, only to now call for 'calm'.

The same people who used their platforms to inflame our nasty, divisive political climate are now lecturing us about the virtues of good manners and civility. 

But I'm not ready to forgive and forget. For years, folks have been labelled bigots, racists, misogynists, simply for disagreeing on politics.

Take Hannah Ferguson, the woman behind left-wing Cheek Media, whose outlet once declared 'violence is sometimes necessary' after Charlie Kirk was shot dead, yet now moans about 'unhealthy discourse' after MP Helen Haines was mowed down.

And Anthony Albanese, whose office fired off a dirt sheet on Helen Haines a month before the attack where she lost her two legs. Now the PM is preaching calm.

As I write this, a One Nation volunteer – a 60-year-old – has allegedly been beaten with a baseball bat, though Victoria Police say they are not treating the incident as politically motivated.

Now these leftie crusaders, who made careers setting fire to anyone who dares disagree with their idealised worldview, want peace and kindness. Abbie, the queen of cancel culture, who spent years shaming people under the noble banner of 'accountability', is in tears saying it’s all too much.

I wonder how Sam Frost feels about all this? 

Frankly, it makes my conservative blood boil.

I'm all for a kinder Australia – actually, I'd welcome it. But for God's sake, we're all sick of being lectured on 'hate' by the same ones who bloody started it.