Greek Australian actress Olympia Valance has spoken out about her long battle with cyber crime after falling victim to an attack which resulted in intimate pictures being released and circulated online.
The Australia’s Got Talent judge took to Instagram yesterday with a lengthy post confirming her fight in protecting her privacy for “over a year”, telling fans the scandal has “pushed her anxiety to a space it’s never been.”
“Taking intimate photos for yourself, or to share with a partner is not a shameful thing to do,” she wrote.
“Stealing them and sharing them online without consent is.
“We should be allowed to embrace our sexuality without fear that someone will take those images and manipulate them for their own gain.”
The Neighbours star said despite the ongoing battle, her legal team have struggled to contain the images from being distributed.
“Such offences involve leaking (in my case hacking) images without consent in order to humiliate, degrade, control and blackmail a person,’’ she wrote.
“As a victim of this, I have had to fight to try and contain these images from reaching the broader public and for media not to publish stories using my name.”
Valance said she had hoped by sharing her story it would “help bring this broader topic of conversation to light”.
“I have had days where I have been exhausted and where the depths of my sadness have scared both myself and the people I love,” she said.
“I want to be at peace. I am tired of trying to fight.
“Despite having the police involved, legal representation and my management team, we have not been able to contain these images from being distributed.
“So, now I want to take some of the control back and use my voice for good. For positive change.”
