Charlotte Dawson

Charlotte Dawson (8 April 1966 – 22 February 2014) was a New Zealand–Australian television personality. She was known in New Zealand for her roles as host of Getaway, and in Australia as a host on The Contender Australia and as a judge on Australia's Next Top Model. In 2014, her death by suicide attracted Australasian-wide news coverage.

Careers Dawson grew up in Auckland, after being adopted at birth. She dropped out of high school at age 16 to model in Europe and with Ford Models in New York City. A decade later she relocated to Australia where she became a familiar face on the Australian fashion scene.

In 1997, she became beauty and fashion director for Woman's Day and soon after became style editor for New Idea magazine. presenting her own fashion segment weekly on Good Morning Australia for Network Ten,

In 2012 she appeared as one of the 'celebrity' contestants, raising money for her chosen charity, on the second season of The Celebrity Apprentice Australia. August 2012 saw a new period of media unrest for Dawson, following an interview with New Zealand's Herald on Sunday about her thoughts on her former home. "New Zealand is small, nasty and vindictive. It's a tiny, little village ... a tiny country at the end of the earth," she said'.

Personal life Dawson was married to Australian Olympic swimmer Scott Miller from 1999 to 2000.

Charlotte expressed regrets about having an abortion revealing it deepened her depression.

Anti-cyberbullying In 2012, Dawson was admitted to St Vincent's Hospital in Sydney after attempting suicide due to a much publicised battle with Twitter trolls. Dawson was rushed to hospital after being found in a fragile state by a former Australia's Next Top Model finalist. A representative for Community Brave identified one of Dawson's Twitter trolls as Tanya Heti, an employee of Melbourne's Monash University. Community Brave reported the incident to Heti's employer and she was stood down without pay. She was reinstated shortly afterwards when the university found she was not guilty of misconduct.

Dawson then appeared on Channel Seven's Seven News in order to expose the alleged social media trolls. Dawson insisted that she was not involved with conducting the research for the story, and that she was only acting as a person confronting the alleged trolls on camera. An intense promotional campaign and launch of Dawson's biography Air Kiss and Tell began two weeks later. Some media sources, such as the Daily Telegraph, suggested that Dawson was guilty of double standards, citing her aggressive television persona and her history of discouraging contestants on Australia's Next Top Model. Peter Ford from Melbourne's 3AW alleged that "the problem of Charlotte taking on this cause is, her act is about abusing people and putting them down so it becomes a bit murky as to why she has become a champion of this particular cause". Dawson was also heavily criticised in the media after broadcasting disparaging remarks on AFL footballers' partners as a part of her role as a fashion expert for television coverage of the AFL's Brownlow Medal. Police were called and confirmed her death at 11:18 am.

Australian fashion designer Alex Perry said of her, "We lost a beautiful, bright, shining girl today".