A popular writer, whose death by suicide was announced this week, has been tormented by “evil” trolls, her friends claim.
Heather B. Armstrong, 47, pioneered the “mommy blog” in the early 2000s and went on to have a successful writing career, chronicling her own experiences as a mother of two girls and her struggles with alcohol and depression.
Armstrong’s death was announced on Wednesday by her boyfriend Pete Ashdown, who told The Associated Press she died by suicide after recently relapsing after 18 months of sobriety.
The trolling mostly took place on a website founded by New Yorker Alice Wright, who describes herself as the “most despised woman on the internet”.
Heather Armstrong has been dubbed the “Queen of Mommy Bloggers” by The New York Times magazine
Alice Wright, seen in May 2022, founded the site GOMI – Get Off My Internets – in 2008 as a forum for comments on well-known people
Wright founded the site GOMI – Get Off My Internets – in 2008 as a forum for comments on well-known people.
Armstrong, who blogged as Dooce, frequently appeared in posts like “Dooce Will Bravely Post Soul Sucking Sponsored Content.”
Others were: “Dooce Wants You to Know Her Struggle” and “Dooce’s Grief Sponsored By Headache Medicine”.
Armstrong’s friend Jill Smokler, creator of the Scary Mommy blog, told the New York Post, “I’ve had some bad experiences with them, but they were so angry with her.”
“I was attacked for my upbringing, but they got very personal with Heather.” “It was outright bullying and so cruel.”
Smokler added, “They were relentless with her.” They knew she was fragile and depressed.
“It’s not easy being bombarded with messages that you’re a terrible mother and shouldn’t be alive.” It gets to the core of who you are. I wonder how people at GOMI feel now.”
Another friend, Deborah Cruz, who runs MotherhoodTheTruth.com, told the newspaper, “I was told my children should die.” But Heather was in really bad shape, and she was more fragile than the rest of us.
“But she was also more successful.” People are jealous. She had an empire that she built based on her truth, and as it grew, some people wondered, “Why would she have that?”
Upon hearing the news of Armstrong’s death, Wright spoke harshly about Armstrong.
Wright shows no remorse for the content of her website and was brutal in her comments after Armstrong’s death
‘[Armstrong] “was a bigger bully than me, was or ever will be and hasn’t been relevant since she refused to accept online monetization and the celebrity morphed like 10 years ago,” she wrote.
“But for some reason the people who hated her a month ago are acting like she’s a shining saint and an important force in creator culture.”
“But she’s dead, so hush, hush! We have nothing but good things to say. ‘GMAFB.’
One of Wright’s supporters, Pontica Tottos, replied, “Good deliverance.”
‘[Armstrong] wasn’t a nice person and the whole world finally saw that. She did more harm than good to the people in her life, and her suicide was just another way of taking selfish action against those she loved.
“Your memory will never be a blessing.”
Wright insisted in 2016 that despite the content she authored and hosted, her website was not about cruelty.
“I can’t speak for all the GOMI people and I realize there are some people who fall a little bit into that category: ‘Let’s take that person down’ and ‘Let’s get rid of that person and show them.’ – that’s “Not at all where I’m from,” she said.
“I’m just like, ‘Oh my god, did you see what they posted?’ ‘How crazy is that?’ and then talk about it.’
She added, “It’s not fair game to ruin someone’s life or anything, but what someone discloses publicly is fair game to debate and speculate about.”
Armstrong is survived by daughters Leta (18) and Marlo (14).
Her heartbreaking latest blog post, published on April 6, was about her battle with sobriety and a tribute to her firstborn daughter.
Armstrong’s mother (right) said her daughter (left) was gifted with intuition from a young age
Armstrong with her daughter Marlo, now 14, and her ex-husband Jon
“Early sobriety is like living like a shellless clam,” she wrote.
She shared how she was sober for six months in October 2021 and “lay alone on the floor by my bed and felt like I was a wounded animal that wanted to be left alone to die.”
She described the milestone as “brimming with tears and sobbing so hard I thought my body would split in two.”
“Sorrow washed over me with tidal waves of pain.” “I found it hard to breathe for a few hours,” she wrote.
“I had completely isolated myself from the outside world because I didn’t understand what was happening to me. And I was embarrassed.
“Here, two years into that often frantic and wandering dance with life, I understand that I couldn’t take anyone’s gaze because everywhere I looked I saw nothing but my own worthlessness.” And so I decided to loneliness. “I couldn’t face the thought of anyone else knowing how bad I was.”
She added, “Sobriety wasn’t a mystery for me to solve. It was just looking at all of my wounds and learning to live with them.”
Her death was announced on her Instagram page.
“Heather Brooke Hamilton aka Heather B. Armstrong aka Dooce aka the love of my life.” July 1975 – May 9, 2023,” the post read.
”It takes an ocean not to break’.
“Hold on to your loved ones and love everyone else.”
Armstrong’s death was announced on her Instagram page on Wednesday
In 2016, Armstrong took part in a clinical trial in which she was brain dead three times a week for three weeks to cure depression
Armstrong started her blog Dooce in 2001.
The name came about because she mistyped the word “dude” in a business email.
According to a 2019 Vox profile, she had a monthly readership of 8.4 million in 2009 and was making $40,000 a month from banner ads.
In 2016, after battling suicidal depression and sharing her struggles online, she entered a clinical trial at the University of Utah.
The three-week process involved putting her in a minute-long coma three days a week.
The results were promising – six of the 10 patients who took part said that their mental health had improved and that they continued to feel better for three months.
It’s unclear if the treatment was ever submitted for approval.
She participated in drastic experiments to cure her depression. She signed up for brain death ten times and wrote about it in the book The Valedictorian of Death. Her previous books include Dear Daughter and It Sucked Then I Cried.
Armstrong with her children Leta (left) and Marlo (right)
After the trial, Armstrong wrote about it in her book, The Valedictorian of Death.
In the experiment, her brain was numbed with propofol anesthesia for 15 minutes. She was the third person to try.
In an interview with the New York Post about the treatment, she said she was not at all afraid that she might die.
She did it ten times and, after initial bouts of nausea, noticed small changes in her behavior.
“After the second treatment I suddenly realized, ‘Oh, I took a shower without even thinking about it.’
“After the third treatment … I started styling my hair and wearing cleaner clothes,” she said.
She wrote about this experience in her book The Valedictorian of Death.
Her previous books include Dear Daughter and It Sucked Then I Cried.