Vanessa Feltz has come under attack from online trolls who attacked her following claims she was indecently assaulted by Rolf Harris during a live TV interview.
The TV presenter spoke out about the attack during a radio discussion, where Feltz revealed Harris put his hand up her leg – eventually reaching her knickers – during a live interview on The Big Breakfast in 1996. She also said that Harris’ wife Alwen was in the room at the time.
Speaking out about the incident yesterday morning, Feltz said:
“I was on live television so I could not look down but I sensed that his hand was at the bottom of my dress and he was slowly gathering the fabric up and moving his hand higher and higher up my leg.
“He was carrying on talking as though nothing was going on, smiling and joking, as he moved his hand further up.
“Suddenly his hand had reached my knee and he was still going up and travelling at speed. I was so shocked. This was Rolf Harris. I could clearly see his wife. How could this possibly be happening? But of course, as he knew perfectly well, I could not say anything.”
According to the Huffington Post, the revelations led to an online backlash by trolls, who labelled Feltz an “attention seeker”, “desperate” and made comments about the presenter’s weight and appearance.
The 52-year old told BBC London on Monday, that the trolling had been “upsetting”, describing the reaction as an “outpouring of misogyny and hatred”:
“You think if people react like that, you can see why people don’t come forward.
“I’m 52 and I can handle myself so imagine if I was a seven-year-old child, or 12 or 17. I’m not saying just if it’s someone famous, but imagine if it was your dad, uncle or teacher.
“The kind of reaction I have had, I found so upsetting. I was upset by the outpouring of misogyny and hatred and you know ‘who would want to assault Vanessa Feltz’.”
Rolf Harris was jailed for five years and nine months for indecent assault last Friday, after being found guilty of 12 charges brought against him.
