“In that moment I felt completely disgraced. I felt hated by someone I had never met.”
The Voice contestant Naomi Price is no stranger to the reality TV show process.
Two years ago, her now boyfriend, Luke Kennedy, was in the exact same position as her. He ended up coming second in the 2013 series, losing the title to Harrison Craig. But his time on the show – and hers, then as a supportive friend – were tainted with rumours and bullying, something that 31-year-old Naomi has now spoken out about in a Facebook post.
At the time, Naomi was a friend of Luke’s ex-wife Rebecca.
When Rebecca and Luke split, Naomi was quickly branded as the person who ‘broke up’ Luke’s marriage by gossip headlines and some fans of The Voice.
Naomi and Luke now live together in Brisbane and he’s the one in the supporter’s chair as she competes for the title of The Voice.
Naomi, who’s on Team Ricky, wrote about Luke’s time on the show in a powerful Facebook post that called out the severe bullying she suffered from people who thought they knew her.
Click through the gallery below for photos of The Voice contestants. Post continues after gallery.
She wrote that she was sitting in the lobby waiting for Luke to finish filming when a stranger in the chair next to her began to talk about her, using disgusting, derogatory names. In this moment, Naomi felt that she had a choice – she could walk away, or confront the girl.
You can read the post in full below.
There’s been a lot of talk about ‘battles’ this week. I made a promise to myself that I would share this battle story with you all, so here goes:
This is me sitting in the lobby of our hotel during Battle Week. Two years ago I was sitting in the exact same chair waiting for Luke to return from a day of filming. In the empty chair next to me was a girl who I had never met before and have not seen since. She was talking animatedly to her group of friends about her day. Then all of a sudden, I realised she had started talking about me. She began to tell the group some stories she had heard about me from a friend of a friend of a friend. She called me derogatory names. She spoke about me with disgust and self-righteousness. She thought she knew me well enough to talk about my life and the person I am, and yet she didn’t even know me well enough to recognise that I was sitting right next to her.
In that moment I felt completely disgraced. I felt hated by someone I had never met.
Luke arrived in the lobby and I walked over to join him at the lifts. I was going to walk away but suddenly I turned around and walked back to the group. I said, “Hi guys, you don’t know me but I couldn’t help overhearing your conversation just now. That person you were just talking about – that’s me.” The girl who had been entertaining the group with her stories went completely white, and, to her credit, apologised straight away. I thanked her for saying sorry and said, “You don’t know anything about me. I really hope you rethink the way you talk about others in the future, because what you just did was extremely hurtful.”
Then I turned away, walked back to the lift, went upstairs and I cried for an hour. I felt humiliated, completely embarrassed, and so angry that conversation even had to take place. I was so upset that somebody I had never met felt they could say such awful things about me, as if I wasn’t a fellow human being; as if thinking I would never hear her words made it okay.
That moment, and countless more that have followed, transformed the way I think about others. Writing something scathing on Twitter to a celebrity about their weight because you think they will never read it: is that okay? Regurgitating a story as fact to someone else just because you read in a magazine: is that okay? Judging someone based on fifth hand information without getting to know them for yourself: is that okay?
That girl gave me a gift that day. She helped me to confront a fear and speak up for myself. The point is: she knew such a tiny fraction of who I am. And that day I was able to show her a tiny fraction more: that I am brave, that I am calm, that I am a real person with real feelings. Everyone is entitled to their opinion. But only you can know your truth. We are all fighting battles that other people know nothing about. Let’s try to be kind.
It’s a lesson to everyone – don’t speak if you don’t know the full story. Which, let’s face it, none of us do.
The takeaway message from Naomi’s post will resonate with everyone who has ever been wrongly judged for something they have (or have not) done. You don’t know their battles. It’s not your place to judge.
Have you been watching The Voice this season?
For more on The Voice…
Is it a gimmick to have a heavily pregnant woman on The Voice?
The moment on last night’s episode of The Voice that very few women saw coming.
The most dramatic moment on The Voice had nothing to do with a catfight.
Top Comments
Would just like to say, Scott Newnham - Team Ricky - of previous Australian Idol fame, is a bully. After working with him for months I came to know him as a nasty, malicious piece of work.
Would love to hear the ex wife and ex friends version of the story. They can out whatever spin they want on it but I suspect she's the one who should be feeling hurt.