Young Offenders’ Jennifer and Bishop hit back at Twitter trolls

YOUNG Offenders star Jennifer Barry has taken on Twitter trolls after someone criticised her weight on the social media platform.

The Kilbrittain actor, who plays Siobhán Walsh in the popular RTÉ/BBC television series, took to Twitter to call out a person who said she wouldn’t get any more acting roles as she was too ‘hefty.’

‘To the person in my DMs (direct messages) who told me I wouldn’t get any more roles as I was now too ‘hefty’, I get roles with hard work and luck,’ Jennifer posted.

‘My shape, size and figure has nothing to do with it. I take care of my body by eating healthily and exercising. My size does not matter.’

She also posted several selfies of herself in the message and also told her followers that ‘your body is beautiful whether it is big, small, tall, short, round or straight.’

‘Everybody is beautiful no matter what, so please stop judging yourself and others for the skin that surrounds our souls.’

Jennifer has spoken in recent years about her battle with mental health and being diagnosed with depression, two months before filming began on the second series of ‘The Young Offenders.’

She is currently attending UCC on a Quercus Scholarship, having started an arts degree but swapped to theatre and performative practices and is studying online like many other of her fellow students.

Jennifer has also recently spoke about how exercise has helped her manage her anxiety.

Such is her passion for exercise now, Jennifer recently became a qualified personal trainer at FLYEfit in Cork city and has a new body positivity Instagram page.

Meanwhile, Church of Ireland Bishop of Cork Paul Colton has commented that Twitter has become ‘less conversational and more agrumentative’ since he joined the social media platform 12 years ago.

Cork city-based Bishop Colton, who is very active on the platform and has over 11,000 followers, tweeted on Monday: ‘I think I need to learn to ‘harden my heart’ when it comes to trolls. Easy to say “block and move on” but the softy in me often worries about what’s brought the bitterness on.’