“Love Island USA” star Phoebe Siegel is staying positive despite “gruesome death threats” from viewers who don’t agree with her choices on the Peacock reality series.
“People can talk and assume the worst in me, that’s OK,” she tells Page Six exclusively.
“But to go out of your way to send really, really, really harsh, cruel and gruesome death threats to someone that you don’t know … it honestly is super upsetting.”
The college student and part-time model explored connections with Islanders Isaiah Campbell, Chazz Bryant and Joel Bierwert before falling for Chad Robinson, the handsome Casa Amor bombshell she left the villa with to pursue a relationship in the real world.
Siegel’s bold approach to finding Mr. Right unnerved a portion of fans who felt she moved from man to man too fast without consideration for others. However, she asserts that she was “100 percent transparent” with her Season 4 castmates before making any moves.
“Nothing came as a surprise,” she tells us. “I was always honest about my intentions even if that wasn’t shown.”
Regardless of how she approached romantic possibilities on “Love Island USA,” Siegel knows she doesn’t deserve the vicious DMs.
“People have emotional reactions to what they saw and they’re entitled to have those emotional reactions. That’s fine,” she says.
“But when it starts to get cruel and it starts to be harassment and bullying and death threats to the quantity where of which I went through 400 death threats last night and 900 when I opened my phone for the first time [after the show], that’s not OK.”
Siegel — who serves as the president of the Mental Health Matters club at the University of Michigan — assures us that she is “OK” and feels “strong” amid the backlash.
“I am a huge mental health advocate here at my school. I hear all these stories and I help all these kids on campus with so many things and now I’m a victim to it as well,” she explains.
“I’m not going to let my voice be silenced because people are trying to intimidate me and tell me to kill myself and that I deserve to kill myself, that I should choke and die and that I should never be loved and my parents f–king suck. You don’t scare me.”
Siegel says she intends to use her platform from reality TV to advocate for those also impacted by cyberbullying.
“For people who are too scared to allow their voices to be heard,” she says, “I will do that for them.”
Robinson — who lives 25 minutes away from Siegel in the Great Lakes State — tells Page Six that he is “proud” of his partner for how she’s handled the high volume of online hate.
“I think our connection and relationship has caused a lot of her backlash that she’s gotten. It’s just so wrong for people to take it that far. If you are taking it that far, you need to look in the mirror and understand, ‘What am I doing?’” he says. “Phoebe is a champ.”
The “Love Island USA” Season 4 reunion is available to stream Thursday, Sept. 1, at 9 p.m. ET on Peacock.
If you or someone you know is in emotional distress or considering suicide, call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 1-800-273-TALK (8255).
