Nick Knowles’ wife Katie has called out the cruel comments she has endured from trolls after revealing she was raped by her father.
The 35-year-old - who married DIY SOS star Nick, 63, last year - discussed the sexual abuse she suffered in an Instagram video at the weekend.
She chose to share her ordeal and condemn the “terrifying” world we live in after reading an expose about a global “online rape academy” where men shared tactics on how to sexually assault women.
While Katie received hundreds of comments of support, she also got “idiotic” comments from some readers online and was quick to call them out.
She shared a screenshot of one user, who wrote: “Shouldn't you have reported it to the police at the time... why wait until the has passed. A dead man can't defend himself. So sad.”
Katie - who had a hysterectomy last year - responded: “Because I was a child - what a backwards f**king idioic comment.”
The designer posted the photo on her Instagram Story with the caption: “Idiot watch part 1.”
She shared a second screenshot of another user who commented, “Hard to defend himself as he’s dead,” and captioned it: “Part two.”
Katie spoke out about her sexual abuse for the first time in an emotional video on Saturday.
“I have never spoken about this publicly, other than to friends, family and even then not everyone,” she said.
“I was raped by my dad for years, years and years.
”There are times when it comes up but I have had a lot of therapy to get to be being as balanced as I can be about it now, and can be is the important bit.”
She went on: “Things like this, if you know a woman, if you are a woman, if you're a mother to women, just anything, any affiliation with women, I think we should be worried looking at the news.
“It's not all men, but it is. It is men. It is men who commit the majority of domestic violence and sexual abuse.
“In my case it was a man. It's almost always in sexual abuse like that, someone that you know or a family member or a partner, or an ex-partner. Almost always.”
Katie said her mood had “dipped” after reading a CNN investigation into a global online rape academy, where men shared tactics for drugging and sexually assaulting women, often within relationships.
”It's a terrifying world sometimes to think being a woman is like this, where I walked from the gym back to the car and I had my keys like this [tightly gripped] in my hand,” she said.
“I'm wearing this, a sports bra and shorts. I'm not asking for attention or rape, I sweat profusely at the gym so I wear this. And I'm really aware walking like that, is anyone looking at me?
“I was at the gym and there were guys shouting and stuff and standing next to me at the machine.. We shouldn't have to worry anymore.”
She captioned it: “In this video, I talk about something I’ve carried for most of my life - the fact that I was sexually abused by my dad.
“And how often abuse doesn’t happen in dark alleys or from strangers. It happens in homes. Inside families. In places that are supposed to be safe.
“We spend so much of our lives being told to protect ourselves from the outside world. Holding our keys while we walk. Covering our drink. Checking behind us.
“Being told how to dress, where to go, what time to come home. Sending messages to say we got home ok. And yet, sometimes the danger is already inside the house.”
In a separate video, she related other incidents of harassment she had experienced when she was younger.
“For instance - getting the train to school every day and doing my make up and after months of seeing the same guy every day while in my school uniform he managed to find me on Facebook and ask me out,” she penned.
“Again, a man in his late 30s early 40s who somehow managed to find my name and my social media.
“And another one who asked me out having seen me in my uniform multiple times.
“These are not isolated incidents, and I could list 100 more. But so could every other woman I’ve spoken to about it. Whether it’s unwanted touching, verbal harassment, sexual abuse, being followed or intimated, domestic violence... This is all happening to too many, too often.”
Katie and Nick got married in a lavish wedding at Braxted Park, Essex, last summer.
They met at a kids playgroup attended by her daughter and his son.
Discussing her first impression of the TV presenter, she previously said: “I actually didn't like him very much. I'm very shy and quiet, while Nick is quite extroverted and a complete chatterbox.”
She said they got to know each other better over a coffee date and things progressed from there.
Katie has two daughters from a previous relationship, and Nick has four children from three different relationships.
If you've been the victim of sexual assault, you can access help and resources via www.rapecrisis.org.uk or calling the national telephone helpline on 0808 802 9999
