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Going viral isn’t all fun and games.
Singer Rebecca Black recently got candid about her struggle with depression after the release of her viral hit single, Friday, nine years ago.
The song and music video made the then 13-year-old Rebecca an instant YouTube celebrity but also an international joke and the brunt of vicious online bullying.
In an emotional post on Twitter to honour the song’s anniversary, Black spoke about feeling "afraid of the world" during the height of the song’s success.
During the hit’s 2011 success, Rebecca faced serious online bullying as a young teen, reports The Guardian.
She wrote in the post, "Above all things, I just wish I could go back and talk to my 13-year-old self who was terribly ashamed of herself and afraid of the world.
"To my 15-year-old self who felt like she had nobody to talk to about the depression she faced. To my 17-year-old self who’d get to school only to get food thrown at her and her friends."
The now 22-year-old also reveals that she struggled to move on from the debacle, especially when it came to creating new music.
"To my 19-year-old self who had almost every producer/songwriter tell me they’d never work with me. Hell, to myself a few days ago who felt disgusting when she looked in the mirror!"
Things reportedly came to a head when Rebecca received death threats from strangers online and had to drop out of high school.
The musician has spoken about her struggles before and told Billboard last year that her instant fame had a major impact on who she is.
"Everyone has moments that go bad or good, and that's totally fine. But beneath all of that, there's a person. I was a kid," she said.
"[The backlash] certainly affected me growing up, in positive and negative ways, as to who I am and the insecurities I had as a teenager.
"It's been a really weird journey. It's definitely not been an easy feel-good story."
But the star is back at it, and has taken her struggles and pumped her energy into creating new music on YouTube.
Recently, she released singles Sweetheart, Anyway and Do You to her more than 1.4 million subscribers.
(Source: Twitter, The Guardian, Billboard)
