Inside the Tattle Life scandal: The gossipy website that became the ‘most hate-filled corner of the web'

Business owners Donna and Neil Sands won a landmark defamation case against the online platform that tore influencers, celebrities and TV presenters to shreds. But who was behind the vitriol and why did they do it? Kirsty Blake Knox tries to make sense of online trolling
It was a friend who first brought Tattle Life to the attention of Irish business owner Neil Sands.
Someone on the site had opened a thread about his wife Donna Sands' fashion brand Silkie. 'And what they were saying, you wouldn't repeat,' Mr Sands says.

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Sunday World

28 minutes ago

• Sunday World

Eurovision star says he considered taking his own life after mental health turmoil

'I thought we were going to be millionaires. I thought I was going to be able to buy my mother out of the council estate. I got a holiday to Crete, that's what I got.' Former Eurovision singer Joe McCaul has told how he has struggled with mental health for years and even thought of taking his own life – but is coping much better now and is engaged to his partner Mark. The brother and sister double act Donna and Joe McCaul were selected to represent Ireland at the Eurovision in 2005 in Ukraine with their song 'Love' while Joe was still just 17. However, they failed to qualify for the finals – coming 14 out of 22 in the semi-final – and Joe has told how he was ridiculed and trolled in the aftermath. 'I thought we were going to be millionaires. I thought I was going to be able to buy my mother out of the council estate. I got a holiday to Crete, that's what I got.' The Athlone man revealed his lifelong struggle with his mental health and negative side of becoming a household namewhen he spoke to Brenda Dennehy on The Comeback podcast. Donna and Joseph McCaul News in 90 Seconds - June 18th 'Remember when we didn't get in, the devastating effect that had on me. I went back to my room, I was only 17, and I struggled very hard because that was more shame, more embarrassment, more rejection. Everyone was going out, and they (Donna and the crew) went to the finals on Saturday night, I didn't go, I just stayed in my hotel room.' He said when he returned to Ireland he was ridiculed regularly. 'I think over the years, I was nearly taken advantage of. I was made an eejit out of by people, people in the media. That was hard because I was saying, 'Where is my self-worth, why can't I be assertive?' 'I found it very hard to be assertive because I didn't like conflict, and then because I didn't like conflict, if I reacted a certain way, some people would say 'Oh that was very aggressive,' So I couldn't even stand up for myself.' Joe is the youngest of six siblings and his mother raised them on her own. 'My dad, unfortunately, he's passed away a couple of years ago, but I had no kind of relationship with him. Alcoholism, unfortunately, took over his life and then he moved to London.' Joe said when a media outlet discovered his father's issue with drink it caused massive stress on the family. 'Once or twice I thought of taking my own life.' He said he had suffered recurrent intrusive thoughts about suicide from an early age. 'The intensity of it then would probably get a little more if I was under any increased stress or anything significant was happening in my life or something bad was happening… I was always terrified of the thought…I would always be going, f**k, I need to see a psychiatrist.' In 2015, X Factor producers asked him to audition for the UK show in front of Simon Cowell. He agreed, hoping it would go okay. 'I thought maybe I could have a little breakthrough here.' However, Cowell described him as an awful performer and stopped him halfway through. 'And then there was the shame, the embarrassment, the rejection, and I just wanted it to be over there.' They asked him to perform another song. He took solace from the empathy of presenter Caroline Flack, who died by suicide in 2020, after he was given another chance to perform in front of the judges. 'Caroline Flack, God love her, was with Olly Murs back then, and she was so kind to me and so nice and help me pick a song. She was even singing with me… Caroline Flack had an energy about her. She had her hand over me and it was like a way of apologising for the way I was treated. She had empathy.' Joe said it was one of the lowest moments of his life. Joe was trolled online in the aftermath. 'The s**t that was put online, I remember my friends used to be sending them to me and the horrible stuff that people were saying. I used to have to say please do not send me this, I don't want to be looking at it.' He said on the plus side he did a bit of media again in the aftermath and got a few gigs but he still 'really just wanted to forget that whole moment ever existed'. Joe revealed in 2014 that he had been diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis at the end of 2013, 'I literally just lost the plot then. I think I went on a self-destruct button that was hit. I went off the rails for months.' He said he was on medication that didn't suit him at the time but has since changed medication and is currently symptom free and in remission. He said he got back into running that has helped a lot as well as support from his partner Mark and his therapist and family and friends. 'Fitness, running, doing kind of high-intensity interval based kind of training has been my saviour. Not just for my physical heath because that's quite good but for my mental health which is an ongoing struggle that some days I'm really, really shit. But I have really good coping tools and I have a really solid support group around me.' His sister came out as gay years ago and Joe said when he told his family he was gay as well, it didn't surprise any of them. 'It was like they all kind of new. Donna was more of a shock. He said he went back studying in recent years doing a business course and a course on mental health before starting teaching in stage schools doing vocals. "...I met Mark. Mark is already a teacher. He said why don't you go back and do your teaching degree – so I went back and did my degree and I have that nearly four years now. So I am secondary school music and special educational teacher now.' If you have been affected by issues in this article, call Samaritans free on 116 123 or email jo@ or call Pieta on Freephone 1800 247 247 or text HELP to 51444.

The Irish Sun

an hour ago

• The Irish Sun

Drogheda United's owners can't blame FAI or anyone else for European mess, the responsibility was Trivela's

THE TIMES reported on Tuesday that Liverpool are looking to buy LaLiga outfit Getafe. Manchester City are top of the City Football Group, Chelsea and Strasbourg have the same parent company and then there is Red Bull. 2 Kevin Doherty guided Drogheda United to an unlikely FAI Cup triumph last season 2 Board member Conor Hoey spoke to SunSport this week about the club's dilemma The energy drink group also has a minority stake in Leeds United. And the individual who chairs their largest shareholder is also part of Glasgow Rangers' ownership. Then you have Manchester United minority owner There are reports that Newcastle United's owners will buy it if he sells. There are also owner links between Crystal Palace and Lyon, Brighton and Royale Union Saint-Gilloise, Aston Villa and Vitoria Guimaraes plus PSG and SC Braga. Read More On Irish Football And of course, Last season, Manchester City and Girona, and Manchester United and Nice, were all passed to play in Europe after doing the legal bits necessary to satisfy Uefa. And this year, Nottingham Forest were put in a blind trust by Olympiakos owner Evangelos Marinakis for that same reason before Forest fell short on the pitch. But they did write to Uefa Most read in Football So the worms have long since crawled out of the can when it comes to multi-club ownership and that is not going to change. Just as members made way for rich benefactors, who were replaced by richer benefactors, oligarchs, investment vehicles and wealth funds, football finds a way to find more money. Watch Messi score stunning free-kick as Inter Miami stun Porto 2-1m We can question the pros and cons of them all, but the only truly bad owners are the chancers who leave a club high and dry when the funds run out. When the owners fund the good days, little else matters as James Montague's book 'Engulfed' highlighted in chapters talking to many Newcastle United fans. And it is why Drogheda United members voted 90-1 for their sale to Walsall's owners Trivela in 2023. And while the story of the Drogs since then will centre around Kevin Doherty's management and their players, it was made possible because of Trivela. The Drogs' FAI Cup victory as a part-time club was a fairytale last year. But it was only possible due to Trivela's largesse. Accounts on the club's website show Drogheda made a net loss of €792,848 last season, and total liabilities exceed total assets by €1,042,185. It is why board member Conor Hoey — who led the search for the investment that saw Trivela take over — is sure their expulsion from Europe under multi-club rules is just a blip. He told me this week: 'This changes nothing. Trivela are still the right owner. We won the Cup because of their investment in our players and management. 'Of course we're hugely disappointed, particularly for the players and supporters, but Uefa won't break us.' LOOK INWARDS The club can argue Uefa gave them a raw deal, and cite previous examples where they say clubs were given more time. And one of the three arbitrators at the Court of Arbitration in Sport agreed with the grounds of their appeal. They can also question the FAI on why they did not forward on the relevant rule changes regarding multi-club ownership to Drogheda. Everyone in the league can wonder why no club had their arm twisted to apply for a European licence in case Drogs were expelled. But just as clubs bear responsibility for fielding ineligible players after the FAI compounded clubs' registration mistakes, clubs should not rely on others to hold their hand. And Trivela's first statement on the Drogs in 2023 promised 'to increase investment in the club's front-office operations' before it mentioned football or fans. Club chairperson Ben Boycott said this week when he did list grievances, 'accountability falls on us at DUFC and at Trivela Group'. The problem is not that there was no leeway for Drogheda, but that it was hoped there would be leeway when the issue was spotted. Because while multi-club models are probably here to stay, it is up to clubs to navigate it. After all, Silkeborg's qualification for Europe should not have been a surprise given they had done so twice in the previous three years.

Irish Independent

an hour ago

• Irish Independent

IFA raises alarm over CAP as Germany pushes back on bigger EU budget

European People's Party calls for bigger budget to meet new priorities Irish farmers could be caught in the crossfire of a major budget row in Europe, as Germany resists calls for more EU spending while changes to CAP funding threaten to reshape rural incomes. The European Union's next long-term budget must be bigger than the current one, the main political group in the European Parliament said, putting itself on a collision course with the biggest contributor Germany, which does not want any increase.