Sick trolls threatened to STAB me over rumours I’d pocketed charity money from our Christmas number 1s, says LabBaby

LADBABY has opened up about ''the toughest time'' of his life after trolls "threatened to stab him" over rumours the family had pocketed charity money from their Christmas number 1s.

The influencer, who recently broke his silence on his historic groping accusations, said that although time has passed, the trauma is still there.

''As we write this book in 2024, more than three years on since the rug was pulled from under us, it's something we are still suffering the fallout from,'' said LabBaby, real name Mark Hoyle.

The 37-year-old, whose new book, Our LabBaby Journey, came out yesterday, told that having to deal with vicious trolling and threats online ''took an immense toll'' on his mental health.

It all began right before the festive season on 10 December 2021, when Mark and his wife Roxanne, also 37 and known as LadBaby Mum, revealed their big secret and announced the collaboration with the music legends Ed Sheeran and Elton John.

Their Christmas special, Sausage Rolls for Everyone, would be released the next week and the stars had hopes the tune would become number one - and all the profits would be going to the Trussell Trust.

The Trussell Trust supports a nationwide network of food banks and provides emergency food and support to people locked in poverty, and campaign for change to end the need for food banks in the UK.

The artists behind the song, which has been viewed more than 3million times on YouTube, had a load of social media lined up and they were scheduled to appear on The One Show on the day of the release.

''We were so exited about what the next couple of weeks had in store,'' said Mark, who took the music industry by storm in 2018 with their debut song ‘'We Built This City on Sausage Rolls'’.

Unfortunately, for the couple, who share two children together, things didn't go smoothly - and soon it all took a sharp turn.

Roxanne, who used to live off £20 a week before the fame, said: ''But there came a backlash so quick and so severe that it was like a punch in the face.

''It seemed to be getting stirred up by a singer/songwriter guy we'd never heard of,'' said the 37-year-old, adding the artist had an issue with their song being released on the same day as his.

Right after the couple had publicly announced the collab with Ed and Elton, the star allegedly posted a video across his socials, in a desperate attempt ''to whip up some anti-LadBaby feeling'' to stop them ''getting to number one'' - and it worked.

Prior to the traumatic incident, Mark and Roxanne - who have managed to stay humble despite their growing fame - would mainly boast a social media family that was kind.

But suddenly, once the vide has been posted online, the pair ''were getting messages that came from a place of pure malice and there was so much of it''.

Mark, who described it like being inside ''a pressure cooker'', was struggling with sleepless nights.

''I'd block the worst offenders, but it was like whack-a-mole,'' he said.

''I'd get rid of them - and then five more would appear.''

Sadly, the worst was yet to come, after Mark appeared in an interview and shared his honest thoughts about the ''anti-government song'' the other artist had launched during the festive season.

'''It takes a certain sort of person to download a song with
that much swearing in the title,’ I said, ‘but you never know.

''There’s definitely an element that people aren’t happy with
this government, but our song is for charity . . . and ours is
trying to raise more money than ever for food banks.

''It’s something that is even more important given everything
that is going on,'' he said in a chat with the Official Charts.

The person spreading the hate had managed to dig around and find an interview from two years ago - one Mark had forgotten he had done with The Guardian in 2019.

But although the record label PR wanted the influencer focus on food banks, the publication asked his thoughts on the Conservatives being voted back in after the general election.

"She’d pushed me a little, asking me who I’d voted for and I’d
replied that while yes, I had voted, I’d prefer not to say who for.''

Two years later, the rival had all the ''evidence'' he needed, said LadBaby.

''He posted that old interview and started putting it about that,
‘LadBaby’s a Tory, he voted Tory, the Tories are the reason
food banks exist and LadBaby voted them in'.''

Roxanne chimed in: ''He accused us of using the food banks ‘to hawk records’ and gain ‘lucrative sponsorship deals’.

''And, most despicably of all, to ‘bolster’ our bank balance.

''He was saying we were profiting from the charity singles. None of it was true. Not one bit.''

The untruth took hold - and then spun out of control online, where Mark and Roxanne had switched off all monetisation on their channels for the period over Christmas.

Roxanne, who together with Mark voted for Labour in the 2019 election, went on: ''I was permanently on edge and felt extremely unsafe.

''We’d hear people in the street saying, ‘Look it’s those f***ing dick-
heads’, and then whisper about ‘the charity money’.

''We were getting threatening DMs and emails saying, ‘We
know where you live’, and I started not wanting to leave the
house because I knew that there were people who believed
what they’d read and seemed willing to lash out at us.''

According to Mark, the pair were also dealing with threats more violent than others.

''There were messages from people saying if they ever saw me
round Nottingham, they were going to stab me.

''A kid came up to me during a Nottingham Forest home
game and asked me to sign his copy of Greg the Sausage Roll,
which of course I was more than happy to do.

''Unbeknown to me, someone sitting a few rows back had filmed this encounter and then posted it on Twitter saying: ‘Look at this f**ing tw*t. He really thinks he’s a somebody now'.''

Roxanne, too, was exposed to an army of brutal comments, with DMs that said the sick and twisted trolls would follow LadBaby home - ''and kill him''.

Although the pair, who Daily Star reported are worth more than £1.2million, reported this to the police, the authorities said ''there was nothing they could do''.

''In the end I had to stop reading the comments for my own
sanity.

''I needed to be mentally right for the children and I
couldn’t take it,'' the mum-of-two said, as Mark admitted to ''blocking people left, right and centre''.

''It was the worst time of my life. We were being accused of
something we hadn’t done, but denying it seemed to make it
even worse,'' LadBaby added.