Rachel Riley has said the stress caused by online trolls caused her unborn baby stopped kicking in the womb.
The pregnant Countdown star has been a target of abuse on social media after criticising the Labour party and its leader Jeremy Corbyn over the anti-Semitism row that has engulfed the party.
The 33-year-old, who is expecting her first child with her former Strictly partner and husband Pasha Kovalev, said she blocked Twitter trolls after her unborn baby stopped kicking for two days.
Speaking on the Trolled podcast with EastEnders actress Tracy-Ann Oberman, she said: “I was very stressed and upset for a couple of days and my baby stopped wriggling for a couple of days.
“So at that point, it’s like, ‘You know what, nah’. It’s not worth the hormones.
“I’ve now changed most of my Twitter settings as you don’t need to see them.
“They’re not after proper debate. They’re not after their minds changing. They’re not doing it for virtuous reasons, so I block them.”
Rachel, who announced she was pregnant in May, said the abuse intensified in July after she endorsed a BBC Panorama documentary critical of Labour’s handling of anti-Semitism complaints.
“Being pregnant has highlighted that for me: I don’t need this,” she said.
She recently joined stars including ex-England striker Gary Lineker in a campaign to stamp out online abuse.
The group of high-profile celebrities pledged not to publicise any abuse they receive in an attempt to starve trolls of attention.
Rachel, an Oxford maths graduate, rose to fame after replacing Carol Vorderman on Countdown in 2009.
