2Day FM host Ash London upset One Direction fans in 2017 and received more than 1 million abusive messages. Photo / Getty Images.
2Day FM host Ash London upset One Direction fans in 2017 and received more than 1 million abusive messages. Photo / Getty Images.
Radio presenter Ash London has revealed she still suffers from anxiety after being "viciously" trolled by One Direction fans two years ago.
London was co-hosting the Hit Network's summer breakfast show in 2017 with Ed Kavalee and Ash Williams when she sparked the ire of thousands of teenagers and Louis Tomlinson himself after joking about the singer's "ratty facial hair".
"Just so we're clear, because I'm a very visual guy, Ash — he's the guy with the smaller face with the short brown hair?" Williams asked her during the segment.
"Kind of like ratty facial hair …" London replied.
"He's not Harry Styles basically," chimed in Kavalee. "He's the least popular one."
Louis Tomlinson from One Direction talks to media during teh band's 2012 visit to New Zealand. Photo / NZ Herald.
Speaking about the incident on air this morning, London said One Direction fans blamed her for her co-hosts' jokes about the singer.
"I was defending the artist and I think what happened was, fans were listening, lines got crossed and some things were attributed to me that Ed (Kavalee) had said.
"Within about four hours I think I'd gotten 10,000 messages. I got over a million in the end.
London temporarily switched her Twitter to private at the time before making it public again and issuing an apology.
But things went from bad to worse when Tomlinson himself tweeted at her, "Probs best to stay on private for a bit longer love!" and included an emoji of a middle finger.
Probs best to stay on private for a bit longer love ! 🖕
"The tweets started before he (Tomlinson) got involved and then he gave me the finger and there was a barrage," London said on 2Day FM this morning.
"They were wishing death, wishing rape, saying they knew where I lived.
"I was terrified," she added.
London told her current breakfast show co-hosts, Ed Kavalee and Grant Denyer, that she's still scarred from the experience.
"It has really, really affected me in ways I never saw coming," she said.
"I think it's part of the reason I'm so addicted to my phone is that I am always waiting for things to be misinterpreted, or if I get an Instagram alert I have to check it straight away.
