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<\/p>\nThe former \u2018Big Brother\u2019 star has no regrets posting about his children \u2013 but worries about trolling\n<\/p>\n
However, the father of two, who is set to return as host for the new season of Virgin Media\u2019s Six O\u2019Clock Show alongside Katja Mia, said he has \u201cno regrets\u201d with sharing the pictures of his children online.<\/p>\n
Dowling (47) has two daughters, Blue (1) and Blake (3), with his husband and Dancing with the Stars judge, Arthur Gourounlian (45). <\/p>\n
\u201cWhat I found about being a new parent is that everyone has an opinion on how anyone is bringing up their child,\u201d he told the Irish Independent.<\/p>\n
“So what took me a bit to get used to was the unsolicited advice and people telling me everything I was doing wrong. And as a first-time parent, \u2018You’re holding her wrong, you’re putting her down wrong, you’re holding the bottle wrong, the blanket\u2019s on wrong\u2019.<\/p>\n
\u201cOne day, I was wearing the baby pouch for the first time, they wrote: \u2018She’s too low, you’re damaging her neck\u2019, so that took a beat, and then, obviously, it escalates with trolls, and they talk about the way your kids look.<\/p>\n
“I had someone commenting that Blake was autistic at one point and that there was something wrong with Blue at one point.<\/p>\n
\u201cAs a parent, you feel guilty because you’re putting your children out there. Arthur and I are just so happy in what we’re doing, and we’re so happy to share our children. Like today, Blake started school. We’re very happy to document that and share that.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut there may be a time when Blake gets a little bit older and she doesn’t want to be on social anymore, and then that’s something we will have. But at the moment, I’ve no regrets with sharing them, because I think the message that we get of love and support outweighs anything,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
However, Dowling added he decided to pull back from Instagram and \u201cbeing as open and vulnerable\u201d due to messages he would sometimes receive online.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat was a conscious decision, because at one point the trolling and the messages were so deeply offensive that I thought I just need to protect myself a little bit.<\/p>\n
\u201cI’m still quite cautious about how I come across on social, whereas before I wasn’t.\u201d<\/p>\n
The TV presenter will also host a new documentary on Virgin Media, Toxic Threads, where he will lead a personal investigation into the online hate in the wake of the Tattle Life case, and the second season of Salvage Squad.<\/p>\n
It comes as Dowling and his husband recently made a vow renewal, while his co-host Katja Mia (29) is planning her big wedding abroad.<\/p>\n
Prior to that, she sets off for her traditional engagement in Burundi this week with fianc\u00e9 Darragh Curran, also known as \u201cGuinness Guru\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe’re essentially planning two massive ceremonies. I am flying to Burundi because I have a traditional engagement.<\/p>\n
\u201cMy whole background is Burundian. So when someone gets married, Daragh, who’s never been to that side of the world, has to officially be introduced into my clan of 300 people. It’s going to be tribal, traditional, amazing.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat\u2019s the main thing we’ve been planning so far. So once that’s done in September, we have an amazing wedding planner for next year, we’re getting married abroad,\u201d she added.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Virgin Media’s ‘The Six O’Clock Show’ with Brian Dowling and Katja Mia. Photo: Virgin Media<\/p>\n
Mia, who will also host Gaslit: The Fight for Women\u2019s Health, exposing how systemic misogyny and medical gaslighting fuelled a women\u2019s health misinformation epidemic, also spoke up about online trolling and how she and her Six O’Clock co-host support each other.<\/p>\n
\u201cI was very vocal about immigration and growing up and being a refugee, and I have received thousands of hateful comments about that, because there is such a weird climate in this country around immigration.<\/p>\n
\u201cSo it’s caused me to pull back on something that I’ve always been passionate about, which is weird, and I’m still trying to find my way and my voice around that, but it’s weird what trolls can do to you,\u201d she added.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, Dowling said: \u201cThere are some days when we use the makeup room and it’s like therapy, because I will cry and she will hug me, or you come in and I’ll hug you.\u201d<\/p>\n
Mia said hosting the Six O\u2019Clock Show has not only been an \u201cescape\u201d for the audience but also for its presenters.<\/p>\n
\u201cBecause the show is so lighthearted, even with everything going on today, it was such an escape for people watching, but also for us as well. So that’s why we love it.”<\/p>\n
Six O\u2019Clock Show will return to Virgin Media One at 6pm every weekday.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The former \u2018Big Brother\u2019 star has no regrets posting about his children \u2013 but worries about trolling However,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":46872,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[75],"tags":[18,117,19,17,34851],"class_list":{"0":"post-46871","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-entertainment","8":"tag-eire","9":"tag-entertainment","10":"tag-ie","11":"tag-ireland","12":"tag-virgin-media-television"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/46871","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=46871"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/46871\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/46872"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=46871"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=46871"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=46871"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}