One half of YouTube’s hugely popular ‘Singing Lesbian Duo’ who became the victim of revenge porn, has opened up for the first time about the devastating impact on her mental health.
Chrissy Chambers, 26, from LA was horrified when she discovered her former partner had posted videos of them having sex on pornographic website Redtube.com in 2013.
Appearing on ITV’s This Morning today, Chrissy said she felt ‘imprisoned’ by knowing that complete strangers had watched the intimate video.
The vlogger who runs the Chrissy & Brea channel with her fiancée said she’s suffered from anxiety, depression and PTSD since the footage was leaked, and has recurring night terrors as a result of having her privacy violated by her ex.
Now nearly five years later, Chrissy says she is still struggling with her mental health, and sometimes can’t look at her own naked body in the mirror.
Earlier this week, in the first civil case of its kind to be brought in England and Wales, she won a huge compensation payout at London’s High Court after suing her UK-based former boyfriend for harassment, breach of confidence and misuse of private information.
Chrissy Chambers appeared on ITV’s This Morning today to speak about being the victim of revenge porn
Chrissy was horrified to discover multiple clips of her having sex after a friend alerted her to the porn website.
She said her ‘world came crashing down’ and immediately contacted the site to take it down.
Chrissy said the videos had a severe impact on her mental health, explaining: ‘I’m constantly worried someone has seen it and even getting out of the shower looking in the mirror and seeing my body is very difficult.
‘It’s very triggering and it’s taken years to get over it.’
The couple’s videos have been viewed more than 300million times on YouTube, but viewers threatened to boycott Chrissy’s channel after wrongly believing she had taken part in pornography
As well as suffering anxiety, depression and PTSD, and has recurring night terrors, Chrissy says she suffered alcoholism and can’t even go to the supermarket without fear of being attacked.
And when the footage leaked online, she experienced a backlash from fans who didn’t realise the clip had been released without her consent.
She explained: ‘Our fans were saying ‘’I looked up to you, you were a role model but I can’t support somebody who would do this.’
The pair also lost subscribers and lost advertising opportunities because they were not ‘brand friendly’ anymore
Her ex has now agreed to pay Chrissy substantial undisclosed damages and her legal costs.
She says she now feels ‘vindicated’ by the result from the High Court case.
Chrissy continued: ‘I think that he lives in his own sort of hell and hopefully will for the rest of his life. I definitely feel vindication I feel like my name has been cleared. I got some of my dignity back.
She posted this jubilant message to her thousands of followers after winning the case
Ms Chambers celebrated today’s victory by proposing to her girlfriend outside the Royal Courts of Justice in central London. She wrote online that she ‘could not be more elated’
‘I would describe it as being imprisoned by this case for years and being unchained from the shackles.’
She celebrated the result by proposing to her girlfriend Bria Kam on the steps of the court.
She posted a photo of them kissing on Instagram, with the caption: ’I could not be more elated to announce today that I won my revenge porn case and also asked the most incredible girl to marry me. That’s right – we won and Bria and I are engaged!!!!!’
The couple have fought a long campaign to fund and bring the first-of-its-kind legal case
She says she sometimes can’t look at her naked body in the mirror nearly five years later
Ms Kam tweeted: ‘WE ARE ENGAGED! I could not be happier to call this woman my fiancé. I feel like the luckiest girl in the world. I love you so much Chrissy.’
Ms Chambers later released a statement hitting out at ‘insidious, toxic’ revenge porn and telling fellow victims: ‘You CAN fight back, and win. You will heal and move on.’
The court victory will set a legal precedent that could see other high-profile victims of so-called ‘revenge porn’ sue their former lovers under privacy laws.
Blogger says the scourge of revenge porn is ‘insidious, toxic and can pierce victims to the core’
Ms Chambers and Ms Bria at a gala in Los Angeles in 2015
In a statement released after the case today, Ms Chambers said: ‘As you’re aware, today is the culmination of a long and very painful journey for me, a journey that taught me the value of trust, and how readily that trust can be abused and lost.
‘When intimate relationships begin, the very notion of your partner ever wanting to hurt you is the farthest thing from your mind.
‘The idea that you could be abused, in person or online, is just not something you consider. When it happened to me, it changed my life in ways that I could never have imagined.
‘Revenge pornography is insidious, toxic and can pierce to the core. To have your most private, intimate acts put on broad display is not only demeaning and humiliating, but in my case, led to panic, depression, PTSD and alcoholism.
‘I needed therapy and wondered how I could go on. Could I re-build my life? Did I have anything to offer to anyone? What was my value as a human being?
‘Facing those awful questions led me on a difficult journey which has helped find positive answers.’
She added: ‘With hard work and the help of so many, including my incredible legal team at McAllister Olivarius, I have been able to regain my life.
‘We have also been able to set a legal precedent that should serve as a severe warning to those who seek to extort and harm with revenge porn: you cannot do this with impunity, and you will be held accountable for your actions.
‘To every victim of this insidious kind of attack, I am here to say: You CAN fight back, and win. You will heal and move on – and you will not have to take those steps alone.
‘All around the world, we can see that we are in the midst of a huge awakening of understanding about the prevalence of sexual harassment and sexual predation.
‘For anyone who has been living in fear of revenge porn used against you, there has never been a better time to come forward. You CAN find support and you CAN achieve justice.’