Actress Erin Moriarty announced she is leaving Instagram following accusations from former Fox News anchor Megyn Kelly that she’s had plastic surgery. In a lengthy statement posted to the platform, Moriarty wrote that her detractors “can believe whatever you want” and added, “But there’s no excuse for these horrific allegations, the verbal abuse that I have had to delete, and genuinely false information that is being used to perpetuate a message that is exhibitionist feminism.”
During a Jan. 17 episode of “The Megyn Kelly Show” podcast, Kelly shared a clip from Michael Knowles in which he labeled plastic surgery a “social illness.” She then accused Moriarty of having work done and said, “More and more young women are doing this.”
“It’s not about an objection to plastic surgery,” Kelly added, “it’s about an obsession with turning yourself into this fake version of yourself… I find it like a sign of mental illness. I really want to get in the heads of these young girls and say, ‘Please don’t do this.’”
She then said that she thought a recent photo of Moriarty was an “AI-generated face.” While Kelly claimed the photo was “relatively recent,” Moriarty insisted in her Instagram statement that it was taken at least a decade ago.
Moriarty’s statement began, “This is something I truly never anticipated writing. We’re all subject to levels of bullying throughout our lives but I am horrified, and felt that I deserved to take a second to address these things. I had no idea what was going on, to be honest, because I’ve had one of the most challenging weeks of my life.”
“And I specifically thought that as I emerge from this period of time — so stressed that I have BARELY been able to eat and sleep. I thought OK, I’m going to emerge this 10 pounds thinner and the verbal abuse/accusations will be flying — usually either drug use or flippant ‘eat a burger’ comment,” she continued.
“You learn to become teflon and move on,” Moriarty wrote. “I had NO idea what was going on this time. To receive a message about a disgustingly false, counterproductive to the degree of being ironically misogynistic video of Megyn Kelly commenting on the manner — to learn the widespread nature of this left me horrified.”
She added, “Megyn used a photo taken ‘a year ago’ according to her, that had in actuality been taken a decade ago before I was of LEGAL DRINKING AGE (I’m about to turn 30) as an example (maybe do some research that would take 30 seconds). How utterly misinformed, inaccurate, and clickbait seeking people who we follow and consider to be informed is appalling.”
“I got my makeup done that day and it involves major contouring and I remember leaving and feeling pretty,” Moriarty said. “And even that day was an immensely stressful day for me. I came running to those girls and showed up in tears after what had happened that day and I left feeling better simply because I felt like they had reduced my lack of sleep and worked their magic wands.”
You can see the video of the Megyn Kelly segment here:
In her Instagram statement, Moriarty continued, “I saw the comments, scathing enough to just turn my comments off. But this is becoming harassment. This is becoming false news.
“The only reason I have not deactivated my account is because I will be leaving this here. Otherwise, consider it deactivated. I will not have access to it for an extensive if not permanent break. Social media was my ability to connect with fans. My ability to work with but also mostly just share brands I believe in, on an independent level and otherwise. To share news or updates.
“But I’m deciding to invest my energy into my work. Social media is not something that came naturally to me and that was an investment of energy to connect with you guys. And I am horrified by the reaction, the reductive assumptions, and the aforementioned video that is a primary example of such harassment,” Moriarty added.
“It’s broken my heart. You’ve broken my heart. You’ve lost the privilege of this account. So, you can believe whatever you want. But there’s no excuse for these horrific allegations, the verbal abuse that I have had to delete, and genuinely false information that is being used to perpetuate a message that is exhibitionist feminism. You don’t have to believe me when I say these videos are absolutely false.
“But the way this has been spoken about, the way that I have been spoken to, I will not accept. I have been in a hole and I have been consumed by this personal situation at hand. You never know what someone is going through, social media is a platform that is not representative of a whole person, and irregardless there is no excuse for the words that have been spoken directly to me or about me.
“Shame on you Megyn Kelly. Shame on you Fox News (Vought incarnate),” she wrote, later correcting herself in a follow-up post to note Kelly no longer works for Fox News. “Implying that my photo is reflective of women being in a worse place is as false as my conviction in saying that if you resigned, you would be leaving women in a better place.”