‘I was shamed for being child-free and happy – it was terrifying’

A single woman who revealed she is “happy” with her non-traditional life has detailed the harrowing response to her candid admission.

A US woman has revealed life has become a “nightmare” after she was horrifically trolled for revealing she was happy being single and child-free at age 37.

Emily Hart, now 38, has amassed a following documenting her life as a “solo traveller” while exploring her home country.

However, despite being perfectly content with life on the road, Ms Hart became the target of online trolls after revealing she’s “happy” being single and having no kids.

Strangers bombarded Ms Hart’s post, which has been viewed more than 16 million times, claiming she had “deluded” herself into thinking she was happy.

“I woke up with hundreds of new comments, nearly all hurtful,” she wrote in a piece for Today.com.

“From primarily men, but also women, many with Bible verses and ‘kindness’ in their bios, telling me every variation of ‘you will die alone’ and ‘no one wants you anyway’ that they could muster.

“I tried to delete and block, but it quickly became too overwhelming … it was terrifying.”

Ms Hart, who goes by @emilyventures on Instagram, explained the video showing herself at an array of beautiful travel destinations she’s visited, along with the title, “Age 37: Never married. No Kids,” appeared to attract criticism from people who glorified traditional gender roles and added it had a negative impact on her mental health.

Emily Hart went viral for revealing she was children and happy. Picture: Instagram/emilyventures

“It’s not normal to have this much negativity thrown at you. I tried to explain to friends, but the truth is not many people have ever or will ever experience anything like this,” she wrote.

“I tried to delete and block, but it quickly became too overwhelming. That first week, I don’t think I slept more than 30 minutes at a time.”

She hoped the backlash would peter out, but revealed she still was still receiving “hateful” comments and emails almost six months after her initial post went viral.

One she shared in her essay reads: “No kids, not married, and 37, just a big child with no responsibility and never done anything useful, pathetic cow.”

Many of the hateful comments claimed she would ‘die alone’. Picture: Instagram/emilyventures

Ms Hart, a solo traveller, said ‘it was terrifying’. Picture: Instagram/emilyventures

Another speculated that feminism had “deluded me into believing I was happy”.

Thankfully, there has been a happier turn in her story, with response to her piece with Today proving more positive.

“The response to the essay has been really lovely and overwhelmingly positive with many women reaching out who can relate,” she told the New York Post.

Ms Hart however has managed to continue on her travelling adventures, stating she has visited all 50 states and almost every national park, and is sharing her hardships along with her travels to spread awareness about cyber-bullying.

“I want to use my experiences to clear the field for others, and I believe vulnerability and honesty are how to do it,” she said.

Originally published as ‘I was shamed for being child-free and happy – it was terrifying’