Willis Raburu opens up on cruel online bullying after his daughter’s death

Former TV host Willis Raburu has opened up about one of the darkest periods of his life, the death of his daughter, and the unexpected wave of online bullying that followed.

Speaking in a candid conversation with media personality Ciru Muriuki, Raburu said that losing his child was already a deeply painful private experience, but the situation became worse when it went viral in the public space.

He said he met with cruelty instead of condolence messages.

“My lowest point was the death of my daughter. Privately was already devastating, and when it got to the online space, you would think that you would be greeted with condolences,” Raburu revealed.

“That is the natural human thing to do, but unfortunately, social media and hiding behind a screen give people audacity and power to be mean.”

Raburu recalled the hurtful comments he received while he was still hosting his famous TV entertainment show, saying some people blamed him for the tragedy.

“So many things were said, and at that time, I was hosting my show 10/10, some people started saying you lost your daughter because you are misleading other people online, so God is now punishing you. I remember seeing that tweet. I remember somebody saying, ‘This is not new; people go through this all the time, just go get another baby,'” he recalled.

The celebrated journalist further said the comments shocked him because he had always felt safe in online spaces where people celebrated his work.

“This was happening in a space where I had felt safe; people celebrate you in these spaces, and you kind of imagine this online family is your community. It was not just for me but also for my partner at that time,” he added.

Raburu added that the hate pushed him into a difficult space emotionally and spiritually. He said grief can challenge a person’s faith, but instead of empathy, some people turned his pain into accusations.

“When you go through things like this, it challenge your faith and for you to say for example you do not believe in God’ is not a final resting statement this is what I am feeling at this time and then people where ‘it is this statement that made you go through this because you did not believe in him to begin with and this is punishment from Good, look back what you did wrong for you to get to this place,'” Raburu stated.

How he felt

In addition, Raburu said the online attacks affected him deeply because he had always believed his online audience was his community.

He admitted that he feared the bullying would never end.

“In the beginning, it was anger. I was like, how could you be so mean? I also felt betrayed because they had my back. I thought you guys were my people, and also the fear of what if I cannot shake this off,” he said.

“I was actually afraid that it was not going to end,I thought that was going to be like my new reality.”

Bullied for working

At the time, Raburu was hosting the high-energy entertainment show and returning to work only opened more room for criticism.

“Even when I went back to work, again it was an entertainment show, having gone through loss and going back to work and I cannot start the show in low tone you have to be up there, people again will write on the comment section, ‘I thought this guy just lost the baby, he is dishonouring the memory of her by coming back too soon, how is he here laughing with people and he has just gone through loss,'”he shared.

But behind the scenes, Raburu was struggling to keep himself together.

“What they did not understand, before I got to the stage, I would cry in the car, then go do the show finish, go back in the car, cry, unfortunately,at that time, I got drowned in alcohol, try to forget,” Raburu disclosed.

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