TV presenter Laura Whitmore has spoken out about her experience of being stalked, ahead of the release of her investigative documentary on the topic.
The 38-year-old from Wicklow told BBC Breakfast that felt "mortified" after going to the police to report the stalking.
She said, "I had a stalking incident years ago and I almost was afraid to talk about it because there's embarrassment, when I went to the police at that time.
"I was told it was 'kind of expected with the type of job you have' and then you’re a bit mortified and you don’t say anything else."
Whitmore also revealed that as part of the documentary, she spoke to a tech company that helps victims find their stalker by effectively "stalking the stalkers".
She said, "We are a lot more vulnerable than we know. People have access to us in a way I couldn't possibly understand beforehand.
"It's not just stalking someone hiding in the bushes outside your house. This is ex-partners still having control over the Alexa in the house and the heating, and ordering pizza in the middle of the night.
"If you add all these together, it is harassment. And I can see what it’s done to victims. A lot of them don’t want to leave their house now."
The three-part documentary series, Laura Whitmore Investigates, sees Whitmore taking on a series of highly-charged, controversial issues for ITVX.
She travels within the UK, Europe and the US aiming to illuminate often dark and troubling subjects: the culture of "incels", rough sex and cyber stalkers.
She said that investigating these topics has led to her being more conscious of her online safety.
She told host Naga Munchetty, "It's definitely made me more aware, like when I put things online maybe don't say where you are at that exact time - which is hard when you were on live telly - like when you're travelling on trains and things like that."
She continued, "So these three films that I've made about different topics, the darker side of humanity looking at everything from toxic masculinity to cyberstalking and more, I need to talk about these things because if we don't talk about it, it won't get better."
The series hits ITVX Player on Thursday and will be broadcast on ITV1 in September.
