The Bride and Prejudice star who was wrongly reported as dead last month – only to reveal a week later she was alive – has shared her side of the ‘horrible’ ordeal.
Dannii Erskine, who spoke to Daily Mail Australia outside her home in Rosebud, on the Mornington Peninsula, said the whole saga was a cruel prank orchestrated by an obsessed fan from the Geelong region who hacked into her social media accounts.
The fan allegedly posted a death notice and funeral details after gaining access to her Instagram.
The story was picked up days later when a person claiming to be Dannii’s sister – who Dannii believes was actually the same woman who hacked her social media – ‘confirmed’ her death via email to a reality TV podcast. The email stated Dannii died in a car accident caused by a drunk driver on April 28.
Dannii suspects the ‘stalker’ who started the rumour is a former moderator of a Facebook group she started years ago. Daily Mail Australia cannot publish her name for legal reasons.
Dannii Erskine, the Bride and Prejudice star who was widely reported as dead last month only to reveal a week later she was alive, has been pictured for the first time since the ‘horrible’ ordeal. In exclusive photos obtained by Daily Mail Australia, she was seen leaving her home in Rosebud, on the Mornington Peninsula, on Monday morning and taking her dogs for a walk
In a video interview (above), Dannii said the whole saga was a cruel prank orchestrated by an obsessed fan from the Geelong region who hacked into her social media accounts
A furious Dannii said she was particularly ‘disgusted’ by her ex-husband Denton Ansley (right), whom she has not spoken to for 18 months, for speaking out before knowing whether she was really dead
Dannii also denied ‘cruel’ speculation that she was somehow involved in faking her own death, admitting she and her family have been ‘humiliated’ by the attention.
‘I did not fake my own death. There has been too much loss [among the Bride and Prejudice cast] as it is, and we all know how sad that’s been,’ she said.
‘It’s not just disgusting and cruel, it’s humiliating for everybody – not just for myself, but also for my family. If I wanted to disappear, I would just shut everything [social media accounts] down. It’s really just common sense; I don’t understand.’
Dannii denied ‘cruel’ suggestions she was involved in faking her own death, adding she and her family have been ‘humiliated’ by the press attention
Dannii struggled to get down the porch stairs and sported a bandage on her foot. This is from surgery she underwent in hospital recently following a non-fatal car crash last September
When asked why she didn’t shut down the reports of her death straight away, Dannii said she had been ‘advised not to comment or post’ on social media because she was in hospital at the time recovering from foot surgery
Dannii went on to reveal she was ‘incredibly sore’ following an ankle reconstruction on May 1, which stemmed from injuries sustained in a ‘real car accident’ in September 2022
A furious Dannii said she was particularly ‘disgusted’ by her ex-husband Denton Ansley, whom she has not spoken to for 18 months, for speaking out before knowing whether she was really dead.
‘I am disgusted in my husband – my ex-husband, sorry – for the way he’s gone and spoken about me. I would never, in my entire life, if the tables reversed, do that to somebody,’ she said.
Dannii said she’d been through an ‘extremely stressful two weeks’ in the wake of the hoax.
The emotional toll was evident as Dannii spoke of the brutal cyberbullying she faced by trolls who falsely accused her of faking her own death.
‘This is why people commit suicide,’ she said.
‘They are nasty. What people write behind [my back] because they’re too scared to come and confront me. They write behind a keyboard, and they say all these nasty comments when they can’t face me face to face.’
Dannii said she’d been through an ‘extremely stressful two weeks’ in the wake of the hoax
The emotional toll was evident as Dannii spoke of the brutal cyberbullying she faced by trolls who falsely accused her of faking her own death
She also revealed how a common cybersecurity mistake left her vulnerable to a malicious hacker, confessing: ‘I’ve had the same password for about 15 years, and it’s a very, let’s just say, simple password’
When asked why she didn’t shut down the reports of her death straight away, Dannii said she had been ‘advised not to comment or post’ on social media because she was in hospital at the time recovering from foot surgery.
‘They said, “You need to focus on your recovery. This is just going to stress you out,”‘ she explained. ‘Mental health is a massive thing these days, and people don’t understand that this type of stuff is wrong and disgusting.’
Dannii went on to reveal she was ‘incredibly sore’ following an ankle reconstruction on May 1, which stemmed from injuries sustained in a ‘real car accident’ in September 2022.
The death hoax started when a person allegedly claimed to be Dannii’s ‘sister’ Dee said the TV star died in hospital following a horrific car crash in North Melbourne that left her brain dead
This death notice also appeared on Dannii’s hacked Instagram account
Dannii said the September collision resulted in her being hospitalised and having to undergo rehabilitation for three months.
In her interview with Daily Mail Australia, Dannii revealed how a common cybersecurity mistake left her vulnerable to a malicious hacker.
‘I’ve had the same password for about 15 years, and it’s a very, let’s just say, simple password,’ she confessed.
‘I shared that [password] with quite a fair few people.’
Dannii’s ‘death’ was announced on May 2 by the So Dramatic podcast. The report was later followed up by various media outlets, including News.com.au, 7News and Daily Mail Australia, among others.
A person falsely claiming to be her ‘sister’ Dee said Dannii passed away in hospital following a horrific car crash in North Melbourne that left her brain dead.
‘As [Dannii] went through a green light, a driver was intoxicated and T-boned her. She was alive and taken to the Royal Melbourne Hospital,’ the person falsely claiming to be her sister told So Dramatic via email.
‘She passed away the morning of the 29th [of April] at 12:01am… She will be loved, very much missed and it was a horrible tragedy. Please be safe on the roads. This can happen to anyone.’
That claim was then disputed by Victoria Police and the coroner, who said no accidents or deaths of this kind were reported at the time.
Police sources also confirmed to Daily Mail Australia last week Dannii was ‘alive and well’, according to their internal systems.
Dannii’s ‘death’ was announced on May 2 by the So Dramatic podcast – but that claim was soon disputed by Victoria Police and the coroner, who said no accidents or deaths of this kind were reported at the time
Police sources also confirmed to Daily Mail Australia last week Dannii was ‘alive and well’, according to their internal systems
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