Abbie Chatfield takes on Dipper in the jungle: the words ‘asking for’ it were quite triggering to me
Reality star Abbie Chatfield says she wishes she spoke up more after being criticised by AFL great Robert “Dipper” DiPierdomenico for wearing her swimsuit.
Confidential
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Reality star Abbie Chatfield says she wishes she spoke up more after being criticised by AFL great Robert “Dipper” DiPierdomenico for wearing her swimsuit.
Dipper questioned Chatfield’s outfit choice in acontroversial scene that played out in the “jungle” camp on I’m A Celebrity … Get Me Out Of Here!
“I really hate myself for not pushing the conversation further,” she told Confidential.
“I had a bit of trauma from The Bachelor, from being the person on the out, and it scared me a little bit that I would be the person that everyone thought was being aggressive, which is kind of selfish,” Chatfield told Confidential, explaining that she regretted not taking the issue further.
“The fear of getting trolled and death threats in that moment overwhelmed me.”
Chatfield was a contestant on both The Bachelor and Bachelor in Paradise.
On I’m A Celebrity, she questioned Dipper when he said: “As a father, you are not going out like that” in what Chatfield described as her “most conservative togs”.
When pushed, Dipper said it was “like you’re seeking attention and asking for (it).”
“The first couple of times I ignored it and after the third time, I asked what do you mean by that Dippa,” she recalled.
“The best way to disarm people is to make them explain themselves. I don’t think Dippa is an inherently mean or awful person.
“Those words ‘asking for’ it were quite triggering to me. It was so jarring. It was disappointing.
“I get a lot of emails and messages from girls who have been sexually assaulted so I got quite triggered.”
Chatfield, 25, has stood out from her reality TV appearances because she speaks her mind on issues important to her.
That has ranged from body positivity and speaking out against body shamers to being a proud feminist.
“No one deserves to be sexually assaulted at any time. No one is ever asking for it,” she said.
“The main issue with that rhetoric is that women dress for the male gaze, for the optics of men. If you wear a bikini, that I am asking for it. Asking for what? Am I asking for male attention? Am I asking to be sexually assaulted? Am I asking to be harassed in a club.
“Most women I know, I’d say 80 per cent, have been sexually assaulted in some way, ranging from being groped in a club to rape.
“I have been groped, the usual things, the usual grey area things where you want someone to stop and they don’t.”
When contacted, 62-year-old Dipper wouldn’t comment further than a tweet he posted on social media.
“Abby is an absolute force of nature,” he wrote.
“I shouldn’t have said what I said in camp. I am glad we had the chance to discuss it.
“It was a learning moment and I am glad we could ‘TWERK it all out in the end’.”