‘Worst nightmare’: Aussie actress Clare McCann reveals son’s tragic death

An Australian actress has revealed she made repeated complaints and pleas for help before her young son died following “months of bullying”.

Australian actress and filmmaker Clare McCann said she made repeated formal complaints about bullying to a Sydney school she says failed to protect her 13-year-old son Atreyu who she has now lost to suicide.

“He was just 13. He deserved a future. If the school and government had acted when I asked he might still be alive,” McCann told news.com.au.

Atreyu was a student at South Sydney High School - best known as the filming location for the popular Netflix series Heartbreak High - when he suicided after “months of relentless bullying”, his mum said.

Despite repeated formal complaints to the school, the Department of Education, and Children’s Services, along with medical information and a confirmed PTSD diagnosis, no effective action was taken to protect her son, she said.

“I begged for help. I submitted complaints. I shared medical records. No one listened,” McCann said.

Clare McCann at a Sydney event …

And at the premiere of Annie the musical with son Atreyu.

The school and the NSW Department of Education have been contacted for comment.

McCann is now trying to raise $300,000 within seven days to fund cryopreservation of his body - a process that she believes could offer the possibility of revival in the future.

“Now I have one chance to preserve my son’s body before it’s too late. And I will not let this happen in silence,” she said.

Clare and her young son were regulars at Sydney opening nights.

The actress announced the heartbreaking news on Instagram yesterday, and in further updates revealed Atreyu had died by suicide on Friday.

“It’s with shattered hearts that we share the passing of my beautiful son, Atreyu McCann. He was the brightest light in my world — kind, creative, and endlessly loved,” McCann wrote on Instagram yesterday, sending shockwaves among her 62,000-strong following.

“Right now, we are grieving a loss that words can’t hold. Please give us time and space as we process this unimaginable pain.”

McCann is best known for her roles in the noughties Channel [V] shows Blog Party and Clublife and as an organiser of the Sydney international Women’s Film Festival.

She’s also a regular on the Sydney social circuit, often bringing her son with her to red carpet premieres for new movies and theatrical productions.

She gave further harrowing details of Atreyu’s death in another Instagram post shared overnight, describing the situation as her “worst nightmare.”

McCann at 22 – she’s been working as an actress since the early noughties.

Clare said Atreyu died after ‘months’ of school bullying.

“It breaks my heart beyond what words can compare to share that in a moment of unbearable pain Atreyu took his own life. This was not his fault,” she wrote.

McCann said her son had “suffered horrendous amounts of bullying” and asked her followers to “help preserve” his life.

To that end, McCann the GoFundMe account to “cryogenically preserve” her son’s body.

The GoFundMe states that Atreyu “tragically took his own life” and that his mother is “urgently raising $300,000 to cryogenically preserve his body within the next 7 days — or the opportunity for him to live again will be lost forever,” she wrote.

At the time of writing, the GoFundMe has raised $3295 against its $300,000 goal.

McCann states that every dollar raised will go toward “immediate cryopreservation and legal transportation, required medical and legal services for the procedure” and “a trust in (Atreyu’s) name to protect his legacy. She says that any funds raised above the $300,000 goal will go towards anti-bullying education and reform.

Australia’s first cryonics facility, Southern Cyronics, opened for business in Holbrook last year, making headlines last May when a man in his 80s who had died in a Sydney hospital became the first “patient” to be frozen at the facility in the hopes of being one day revived via future technological advancements.

Who is Clare McCann?

Clare circa 2021... Picture: Christopher Khoury

...and at a more recent event.

McCann’s IMDB bio states that she was best known for her breakout role as “Cherry” on the Channel [V] series Blog Party, which aired in 2007 and won an ASTRA Award.

A year later she created the Channel [V] series ClubLife, which ran for eight episodes.

McCann’s more recent credits include the 2019 independent film Benefited, which she wrote, directed and starred in.

Her son Atreyu also appeared in that film, one of a growing list of on-screen credits the budding child actor had collected before his tragic death last week.

Originally published as ‘Worst nightmare’: Aussie actress Clare McCann reveals son’s tragic death