Former Ireland AM presenter Anna Daly has opened up about the doubt she felt after reading negative messages from viewers while she was heavily pregnant.
The 46-year-old presenter, who hosted the weekend programme for 12 years, explained how she was often subjected to "toxic commentary" from viewers of Ireland AM while her male co-hosts would have nothing said about them.
Although she admits she grew to develop a thicker skin, she explained that she sought approval from viewers in the early days of her broadcasting career.
READ MORE: Anna Daly says her children will always be her 'biggest achievement'
Now a freelance broadcaster, the mum-of-three said that her worst experience came while she was heavily pregnant.
Anna said: "In the very early stages of joining Ireland AM, the texts used to come in on a screen in front of us and me like an eejit rookie used to read them. I genuinely wanted to know if people liked me and if I was doing an OK job.
"There were gorgeous things said but, of course, they washed over me.
"I do remember being heavily pregnant, feeling great, running from studio to garden to kitchen, so delighted that I had a healthy pregnancy and everything was going well and thinking I was fabulously blooming and then I read the texts and they stopped me in my tracks."
She recalled one man texting in to say: "Would someone send that poor girl home, she looks like she is about to burst."
“It was at a time when I was looking for approval in the early days and hoping I was doing everything right - I thought to myself, 'Oh my God, everyone is looking at me thinking I should go home'," Anna told the Sunday Independent.
"I started to wonder are people thinking I am too big and I shouldn’t be running around doing this job?"
While she said that she began to doubt herself after reading viewers' messages, over the years she has learned to not let people's opinions get the better of her.
"I always remember Tess Daly did an interview and she said, 'I always like to think the people who don't like my dress - I like to think of them in their dressing gown covered in Monster Munch passing comments on women who are out there trying to do their best'," she said.
"A bad tweet says more about the person than it does about you. I know that now."
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