A British glamor model has moved thousands of miles to Australia after a ‘horrific’ stalking ordeal left her with PTSD.
Fenella Fox says she was afraid to leave her home for three years due to fear, and fled Down Under earlier this year.
Fenella Fox says she was afraid to leave her home for three years[/caption]
The 31-year-old, originally from Hereford, was one of several victims of Callum Blake-O’Brien, who she met on a night out.
No relationship developed, but she said his harassment got worse when he realized she was an OnlyFans creator.
“I met him in a bar one night and he decided to stalk me,” she told The Sun.
“As soon as he heard about my job, it was just kind of fun, like ‘jackpot.'”
She continued: “He repeatedly sent me long, highly descriptive horrific messages via Facebook, which unfortunately left me with PTSD.
“I didn’t feel comfortable in Hereford after that and traveled a lot, which eventually led to me moving to Australia where I feel safer.”
She continued: “His messages were personalized and mentioned things about me that I had shared on social media and they all described how he would rape and torture me.
“The police didn’t take it seriously at first, but eventually realized how serious it was when other women came forward with similar threats, some much worse than mine.”
Blake-O’Brien created numerous fake social media accounts to send women what prosecutors described as “unimaginably gruesome” messages. reports the BBC.
He knew some of his victims and knew others. One was only 17.
He sent the teenager a message out of the blue one evening, with the content so disturbing that she “freaked out” and showed it to her parents before reporting him to the police, Worcester Crown Court heard.
Blake-O’Brien, then 25, admitted charges against ten women and was jailed for two and a half years in 2018.
Seven offenses involved stalking involving fear of violence, while three involved sending electronic communications of an indecent or grossly offensive nature.
Fenella has been an OnlyFans creator for five years and has been active in the online sex industry for thirteen years.
TIP OF THE ICEBERG
She said Blake-O’Brien’s harassment of her was just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to creeps.
“I would go out sometimes and people would expect me, because of my job, to sleep with them, go home with them and there were occasions where boys would corner me,” she said.
“It would be very intimidating, like they would follow me home thinking I would have sex with them. It’s so strange.”
She said it’s actually quite the opposite: many such creators suffer from social anxiety and aren’t even sexually active.
“I only recently got a boyfriend, so things have changed for me. But if I ignore the fact that I’ve only had sex twice in the last ten years,” she explained.
“There are some creators who are completely asexual, and they’re just doing it for the money.”
Her experiences with people like Blake-O’Brien – who was jailed for two and a half years in 2018 – led to her being afraid to leave her home.
“For about three years I had severe agoraphobia,” Fenella explained.
‘I was afraid to leave my house and I would have everything I needed delivered. If I were going to the grocery store, I would drive about an hour and then go somewhere further.”
I was in a wheelchair and experiencing terrifying symptoms from overusing my PHONE
BY JACOB JAFFA
A MODEL was left with terrifying symptoms and needed a wheelchair because she used her phone too much.
Fenella Fox said she spent up to 14 hours a day scrolling through her iPhone and iPad while running her OnlyFans account, leaving her bedridden and unable to walk.
Fenella, 29, from Worcester, Worcestershire, developed severe dizziness due to overuse of her devices.
After some initial pain in her head and neck, which often required her to lie down to ease the pain, her condition deteriorated after she moved to Portugal, before peaking in November 2021.
She said: “I started to feel dizzy. I remember walking back from getting my groceries one time and I thought it was heat stroke or something, I just didn’t feel good.
“I had to sit on the side of the road on this little patch of shade, thinking I had to get through this.
“It just felt like I really couldn’t walk properly, I really didn’t feel well. Dizzy and a bit distorted. I can visualize it, but it’s not easy to explain.”
Fenella even had to rush home while visiting a friend because the symptoms came on so suddenly.
However, she was baffled as to the cause of the problem.
She explained: “I’m lying in bed, scrolling from awake to asleep. What I don’t know is that at that moment I’m just making myself worse.
“I didn’t know it was my phone that was causing this. I thought I had picked up a bug – was it Covid?”
The young model had to move back to Britain and live with her parents because she could not look after herself.
She recalled being unable to shower or cook for herself and even having to use a wheelchair during the six-month ordeal.
Read the full story here.
In addition to Hereford, she also lived for a time in Worcester, Manchester and Portugal.
In Brisbane, the model says she works an average of just 10 minutes a day and currently earns $7,000 a month from her 700 subscribers.
Fenella went viral for having unshaved armpit hair – and she said the decision to remain ungroomed polarized people led to more trolls.
“There were so many men commenting…things like ‘this is disgusting,'” she explained.
“’You shouldn’t be doing this, and ‘you should cover up.’ ‘You have to be clean’. “You should be shaved.”
“In the beginning there was a lot of outrage about my armpit hair,” she continued.
“I didn’t really get that much hate before the hair. It is usually caused by the armpit hair.
LESS SEXUALIZED
Fenella continued: “I moved to Australia six months ago, and a lot of the reason I moved here is actually because I feel safer here and find my body is less sexualized here,” Fenella continued.
“I think it’s because of the beach culture, so many people wear bikinis and sundresses.
“It’s so normal to see women’s bodies in tiny, tiny clothes, and the same goes for men wearing tiny trousers to the beach, not like the British with the long shorts.”
She added: “I feel like everyone here is a little less sexualized.”
Fenella – who earned around $23,000 a month when she was more active – has blocked access to her OnlyFans account for users in Australia.
“I just decided, I’m going to try not to have an Australian fan base,” she said.
Fenella suffers from PTSD as a result of the ordeal[/caption]
Fenella was afraid to leave her home for three years[/caption]
How to get help
Women’s Aid has this advice for victims and their families:
- Always keep your phone nearby.
- Contact charities for help, including Women’s Aid’s live chat helpline and services such as SupportLine.
- If you are in danger, call 999.
- Familiarize yourself with the Silent Solution, reporting abuse without saying anything, but calling “55” instead.
- Make sure you always have some money with you, including change for a phone booth or bus ticket.
- If you suspect your partner is about to attack you, try going to a lower-risk part of the house, such as where there is a way out and access to a telephone.
- Avoid the kitchen and garage, where knives or other weapons are likely to be present. Avoid rooms where you could become trapped, such as the bathroom, or where you could be locked in a closet or other small space.
If you are a victim of domestic abuse, SupportLine is open on Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays from 6pm to 8pm on 01708 765200. The charity’s email support service is open weekdays and weekends during the crisis – messageinfo@supportline.org.uk.
Women’s Aid offers a live chat service – Available on weekdays from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. and on weekends from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.
You can also call the free 24-hour National Domestic Abuse Helpline on 0808 2000 247.
