Natalie Bassingthwaighte has hit back at “mean” and “bitter” people who have constantly criticised her same-sex relationship with girlfriend Pip Loth.
The Rogue Traders singer, who celebrated her 50th birthday on Sunday, took to Instagram on Tuesday to address the impact negative comments have on her relationship and family.
In the post, Natalie shared an old photograph of herself and revealed that the young woman in the image was “lost,” “scared” and “doesn’t love herself.”
“I came across this photo the other day,” Natalie began.
“This is a photograph of me from about 30 years ago! I am sad, lost, fragile, scared. I don’t like myself. I don’t know who I am! I lost the ability to use my words or even know what I wanted to say,” she continued.
In the photo, a young Natalie looks fresh-faced and sports a floral halterneck dress with her blonde hair pulled back in a bun.
“It took me a long time to come out on the other side of those feelings,” Natalie continued in her post.
‘I have worked and will continue to work on myself. For myself and for those around me. Sadness can arise from many areas of life: tragedy, trauma, LIFE!
Natalie Bassingthwaighte has hit back at “malicious” and “bitter” detractors who routinely criticise her same-sex relationship with girlfriend Pip Loth. The two are pictured
In the post, Natalie shared an old photograph of herself and revealed that the young woman in the image was “lost”, “scared” and “doesn’t love herself”.
“You don’t know where people have been or where they’re going. What they’ve been through. Their traumas, their triggers, their struggle not just to stay afloat but to keep swimming can resurface at any moment.”
This is the second time “Nat Bass” (as she is affectionately known to Australians) has used her platform to address the “slimy hate” she has received online over the past 12 months.
In November of last year, Natalie came out as gay.
That news, shared in a candid interview with Stellar magazine, came as a surprise to many, given that she had recently ended her 12-year marriage to husband Cameron McGlinchey.
Natalie then announced her relationship with stage director Pip Loth, whom she met while performing in the musical Jagged Little Pill in 2021, by sharing a couple selfie on Instagram.
The tabloid circus that followed pushed the singer to breaking point, as she inadvertently struggled to become the poster girl for “late-blooming lesbians” and an easy target for keyboard warriors.
“I want this to stop,” she pleaded with trolls in a heartbreaking two-part video, also posted on Instagram, last November.
The Neighbours star and Rogue Traders singer shared a lengthy and vulnerable letter about her experiences with internet trolls over the past year in the caption of the photo.
Nat Bass ‘came out’ in November 2023 in Stellar magazine after splitting from her husband of 12 years in 2022
Nearly a year later, Natalie and camera-shy Pip proudly made their red carpet debut as a couple in Sydney, and yesterday Nat shared a smiling and loving selfie with her “kind and beautiful” partner in Queensland.
She gushed about their romance in the caption of the photo: ‘Pip Loth you have opened my mind, my soul and my heart,’ Nat wrote, captioning the photo with a red heart and rainbow emojis. ‘#NeverToBeTheSameAgain.’
“Yesterday I found out that some people felt the need to comment on my post featuring my girlfriend. It was intentionally malicious,” Natalie announced in Tuesday’s post.
‘My page is for people who want to feel loved and supported. Who don’t judge. Who don’t put others down or make them feel like bad people.
‘My mental health has been a struggle and I’ve gotten through it, but I’m doing it day by day. I’ve seen people I love commit suicide because of people like you! Enough is enough!’
Natalie shared this loving selfie of her and Pip on their “birthday week” holiday on Sunday and on Tuesday wrote a lengthy letter on social media to people who left “intentionally malicious” comments on her.
‘If you don’t have anything nice to say to people, don’t say anything!
‘My mother taught me to always treat people the way you would like to be treated and for me that is with love, kindness, respect and without judgment.’
Natalie shares and co-parents two children with her ex-husband, Harper, 13, and Hendrix, 10.
Revealing her hurt and outrage, the Amazing Race Australia contestant wrote: ‘How dare you suggest I’m not a great mother or a great person or comment on my appearance!’
It’s taken me a long time to love who I am and I’m not going to let that be taken away from me.
‘I’m not going to lie, your hurtful comments made me back down, but I will be brave again, stand up like I always have and move forward.’
Nat revealed that she lost close friends to suicide because of people like ‘trolls’ in her Instagram comments.
She said it has taken her a long time to love herself and she won’t let negative comments about her ex-husband, her partner or her children take that away from her.
Finally, the singer said she forgives these people and hopes they “look inside.”
After 12 months of reading “hurtful” and “unjustified” comments from strangers about “my relationship with my partner, my ex and my children”, Natalie asked for a time out and disabled comments on her Instagram.
Only people she follows will be able to leave comments on her posts.
“We’ve all worked incredibly hard to get to where we are and I’m proud of all of us for that. We’re safe, we’re happy and we’re doing well.”
“Don’t tell me I’m a bad mother because I’m not. If you don’t like the way I look, don’t look at me. If you don’t like the love I convey through my images and words, unfollow me.”
“My children are loved and loved without judgment. They are kind, empathetic and inclusive. And those are the people we are raising.”
Natalie apologized to her fans and “the wonderful people who send their love and support,” but told them not to worry about the decision. “I’ll feel all the love anyway.”
He went on to say that he “forgives” people “forced to live a life full of bitterness and hatred” because of his “attack” and sympathizes with how “difficult” it can be to “peel back the layers” of our beliefs.
‘I can only imagine what you’ve been through and I’m sorry. I just hope you take this and look inside and do the work.’
“It can be painful to relive moments from the past, but coming out of it surrounded by incredible people who love and support me helps me move forward every day,” she concluded.
Natalie will spend her “birthday week” in Cairns, Queensland, with Pip.