Molly Russell: Friend of 14-year-old who died from self-harm speaks out over Online Safety Bill
Davine Lee still has the birthday present she bought for her friend Molly five years ago, an unwrapped box containing a hoodie featuring her favourite TV show, that remains sitting untouched at home.
She learned of her friend’s death, at the age of 14, after seeing her empty chair at school and wondering where she might be.
Hearing the news, nothing made sense.
Warning: Some readers may find the content in this story distressing.
Molly Russell, a seemingly happy teenager from Harrow, northwest London, was found dead in her bedroom in November 2017, just a day after rehearsing with Davine for a show she had been picked to play a lead role in.
It later emerged she had viewed masses of content related to suicide, depression and anxiety online.
In a landmark ruling at an inquest in September, a coroner ruled she died not from suicide, but from “an act of self-harm while suffering from depression and the negative effects of online content”.
Dealing with the death of a friend in this way, especially at such a young age, is a particularly complex form of grief to process.
“To have to lose a friend at that age, it’s scarring,” Davine quietly explains. “Losing Molly… it’s something we won’t ever be able to forget or entirely move on from…
“I’ve still got her birthday present from 2017 – it would have been her 15th birthday, and of course she never made it to that birthday. That present still sits in my room, I’m just really not sure what to do with it. I obviously can’t give it to her but it feels in some way like I can still hold on to her through that.”
With permission from the Russell family, this is Davine’s first media interview, speaking exclusively to Sky News. Now 20 and at university, she says she was moved to speak publicly for the first time to highlight the importance of bringing the Online Safety Bill back before parliament. Reliving that time, she hopes, might prompt anyone struggling to see how much they would be missed.
“It was shocking to see that it was that bad,” says Davine, referring to the graphic material that was shown at Molly’s inquest. “I want people to know that what happened to Molly isn’t an isolated event and the content that she was being pushed, it still exists.”
‘Poor mental health can hide almost in plain sight’
Davine, now 20, wants social media companies to be held responsible for harmful content
Molly and Davine had been friends since they started secondary school together and shared a love of singing and musicals. They starred together in school productions of Les Miserables and Beauty And The Beast.
“[Molly] had just been given like one of the lead roles for the show we were doing that year… she was still doing the things she loved… either depression or poor mental health can hide almost in plain sight in that sense,” says Davine.
Recalling the horrific day that she and her school friends were told what had happened, she remembers the teachers ushering them all into a room. Then came the news that Molly had died.
“My first thought was like, ‘no’. It was like an instant sense of doubt, like, ‘no, Molly wouldn’t’. It just didn’t even make sense.”
Davine says she was told the news with other students. They were all in tears. “And that’s a sound I can’t forget, the sound of that many children just in such emotion.
“To attend a funeral at that age for someone who is a friend… we were just trying to get through each day.”
The coroner’s ruling: How content ‘romanticised’ self-harm
Molly’s family would later learn that alone in her room, social media algorithms had been feeding her a weight of disturbing content.
The coroner at her inquest ruled the content she had viewed “romanticised” self-harm, “normalised” her depression, and that some content “discouraged” the teenager from seeking “help” – ultimately contributing to her death.
Davine wants to highlight that Molly was not an isolated case, and that young people being drawn into looking at dark content on social media is a huge and damaging issue.
On Instagram, many of the hashtags Molly searched for have now been blocked. However, Sky News’ data and forensics unit found that while these blocks have been made and some content removed, the autofill device or misspellings can still lead users to some content, which Molly viewed; this was shown to her inquest but is too distressing to publish here.
Read more:
The digital trail that sheds light on the final months of Molly Russell’s life
‘No one is immune from such tragedy’
Social media ‘almost impossible to keep track of’
A spokesperson for Meta, which owns Instagram, responded to Sky News to say the company is committed to protecting young people.
“We’ve already been working on many of the recommendations outlined in [the coroner’s] report, including new parental supervision tools that let parents see who their teens follow and limit their time on Instagram,” the spokesperson said.
“We also automatically set teens’ accounts to private when they join, nudge them towards different content if they’ve been scrolling on the same topic for some time and have controls designed to limit the types of content teens see.
“We don’t allow content that promotes suicide or self-harm, and we find 98% of the content we take action on before it’s reported to us. We’ll continue working hard, in collaboration with experts, teens and parents, so we can keep improving.”
‘I felt so unwell I couldn’t work’: Former social media moderator speaks anonymously
Sky News has spoken anonymously to a former social media moderator who described managing harmful content on social media platforms as “an impossible task”.
Working for one of the world’s leading social media companies for a year during the pandemic, her job was to carry out a secondary viewing of content that had been flagged as potentially problematic, including posts that could be “extremely violent, homophobic”, or even show paedophilia.
“But there was probably one video in particular that affected me the most,” she said. This was footage of someone taking their own life.
She said she would watch and tag at least 1,000 videos a day. “It more just upset you about the world – seeing so much, sorry to say it, s**t, really. Things that people would do to themselves or others, it gives you a lack of belief in the world, really.”
After a year, she says that mentally and physically she could not carry on. “I felt so unwell that I literally couldn’t work, and I had to call my GP to advise me not to do it anymore.
“The effect it had on me the most was the sleep. I couldn’t sleep because I was so stressed. I was dreaming about some of the videos I could have incorrectly tagged.
“I won’t go into personally exactly what happened, but it wasn’t far off from Molly [Russell]. I can recognise feelings in how I felt seeing all of this content coming at me.”
The enormity of the task of policing all the content was just too much, she says. “The system there was just chaos… no one really knew what was happening.”
“We’re just a lot of young [people], like a lot of [people who have] just finished their degree… sat there trying to figure out how to judge all this content with no legal background.”
The rise of potentially harmful online content
Research by mental health charity Young Minds shared exclusively with Sky News suggests disturbing content is a growing problem.
It found that more than a fifth (22%) of young people are automatically shown distressing content by social media platforms, based on their previous online activity, at least once a week.
Nearly all young people (89%) who have had mental health problems said social media helps drive harmful behaviours, and more than half (52%) of that group said they had sought out content which they knew might make them distressed or uncomfortable.
The government has been accused of dragging its feet when it comes to introducing legislation to regulate social media firms but now, after years of delay, the online safety bill is back before parliament next week – proposing fines for tech companies of up to 10 % of their global turnover if they fail to protect users from harmful content – and criminalising posts that encourage self-harm.
But critics such as Baroness Claire Fox want the bill to be scrapped.
“The danger is that we – on the back of a very emotional response to something like the tragedy of Molly Russell – bring in a piece of legislation that doesn’t just protect children but actually infantilises adults and treats them like children,” she told Sky News. “And if you’re a free speech campaigner, as I am, this bill is a major, serious censorship tool.”
To those campaigning for better protections against potentially dangerous social media algorithms, Molly’s case embodies the horrific consequences of doing nothing.
The long-term impact and the ‘crisis’ in children’s mental health
Pic: Russell family
Olly Parker, from Young Minds, says: “I’m kind of a researcher in this field, but I’m also a father as well and it absolutely terrifies me.
“I don’t think we’re really going to see what the long-term impacts of this are maybe until 10, 15 years down the line. But one thing we are seeing is a real crisis in children in young people’s mental health. So every month right now we see record numbers of young people being referred to their GPs and doctors for more mental health support.”
When the online safety bill returns to parliament, Molly Russell’s friends and family hope it will be the first step towards holding big tech responsible for the content on their platforms.
Read more: Why the online safety bill is proving so controversial
‘Why are you doing this?’ – heated exchange at inquest
Child psychiatrist ‘did not sleep well’ after viewing content
“It’s big news that they now want to criminalise harmful content and anyone responsible for that but at the same time it does feel like it’s been an awfully long journey,” says Davine. “But I think it’s good to appreciate that we’re here now.”
But while it is something to place hope in, it can never bring back Molly.
“She was so loved by all of us,” Davine says. “I think she genuinely believed we would be better off without her… I think if she saw how much pain we were going through, I don’t think she would have made that choice.”
Anyone feeling emotionally distressed or suicidal can call Samaritans for help on 116 123 or email jo@samaritans.org. Alternatively, letters can be mailed to: Freepost SAMARITANS LETTERS
Paris Hilton says her “heart has shattered into a million pieces,” after visiting the charred remains of her Malibu beach house which has been destroyed in wildfires sweeping LA.
Describing herself on Instagram as “in complete shock,” the hotel heiress said seeing her family memories “reduced to ashes” was “devastating”.
Meanwhile, Mel Gibson has said the loss of his family home and all his belongings in the fire was “emotional”. It burned down while he was recording the Joe Rogan Experience in Texas.
Follow live: Latest blaze investigated as possible arson
At least 10 people have been killed in the blazes, which have been burning for four days, forcing 179,000 to evacuate their homes. Tens of thousands of acres of land still burning.
The fires affected multiple celebrities, as the fires have ripped through exclusive suburbs in southern California, home to film stars and billionaires.
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Celebrities’ homes have burned down in the LA fires
Hilton, 43, said she watched her home burn to the ground on TV – and shared a video on social media from inside her gutted home.
She said she was grateful to be safe along with her husband Carter Reum and their two children, Phoenix and London, but was devastated to have lost her family home.
She wrote on Instagram: “I’m standing here in what used to be our home, and the heartbreak is truly indescribable.
“When I first saw the news, I was in complete shock – I couldn’t process it. But now, standing here and seeing it with my own eyes, it feels like my heart has shattered into a million pieces.”
She has lived in the multi-million-pound property for three years.
Hilton added: “This house wasn’t just a place to live – it was where we dreamed, laughed, and created the most beautiful memories as a family.
“It was where [son] Phoenix’s little hands made art that I’ll cherish forever, where love and life filled every corner. To see it reduced to ashes… it’s devastating beyond words.
“What breaks my heart even more is knowing that this isn’t just my story. So many people have lost everything. It’s not just walls and roofs – it’s the memories that made those houses homes. It’s the photos, the keepsakes, the irreplaceable pieces of our lives.”
She described herself as “incredibly lucky,” adding: “My loved ones, my babies, and my pets are safe. That’s the most important thing”.
She thanked the firefighters, first responders and volunteers who she said were “all risking their lives” to help, adding “Even in the ashes, there is still beauty in this world”.
Water dropped by helicopter on the burning Sunset Fire in the Hollywood Hills. Pic: AP
The West Hills section of Los Angeles. Pic: AP
‘When I got home, it wasn’t there’
Braveheart star Mel Gibson, who was away when the fires began, told NewsNation’s Elizabeth Vargas Reports that the home he had lived in for over a decade had burned while he was appearing on an episode of the Joe Rogan podcast.
The 69-year-old actor said it was “emotional” to know all his belongings have been lost, but he was doing his best to stay positive.
He said he felt “relieved from the burden of my stuff, because it’s all in cinders”.
Gibson, who lived in his Hollywood home with his partner Rosalind Ross and their seven-year-old son Lars, described finding out about the loss of his house.
“I was doing the Rogan podcast… And [I was] kind of ill at ease while we were talking, because I knew my neighbourhood was on fire, so I thought, I wonder if my place is still there.
“But when I got home, sure enough, it wasn’t there. I went home and I said to myself, well, at least I haven’t got any of those pesky plumbing problems anymore.”
Read more:
What caused the ferocious fires and when will they end? Everything we know about the LA wildfires
Furious LA woman challenges California governor over wildfires response
He said the family’s pet chickens had survived the blaze, and while many “personal things from over the years” had been lost, the important things were still there.
“These are only things. And the good news is that those in my family and those I love are all well, and we’re all happy and healthy and out of harm’s way, that’s all I can care about, really.”
LA fires as of Friday morning
The ancestral home of Big Lebowski actor Jeff Bridges is also understood to have been destroyed.
The four-bedroom home, which had been in the Bridges family for generations, had been inherited by Bridges and his two siblings in 2018 according to the Los Angeles Times.
Tina Knowles, the mother of singer Beyonce, has also lost a house she owned in Malibu to the fires.
Tina Knowles with Jay-Z, Beyonce and Blue Ivy Carter in December. Pic: AP
She shared a short video of dolphins playing in the sea on Instagram, writing: “This is what I was looking at on my birthday this past weekend from my tiny little bungalow on the water in Malibu! It was my favorite place, my sanctuary, my sacred Happy Place. Now it is gone!!”
She went on to thank the fire department and first responders and offered condolences to others affected by the fires.
Take That star Mark Owen and his family were evacuated from their home, with his wife Emma Ferguson describing them waking to “helicopters, thick black smoke and winds howling”.
She said while she was grateful her family was safe, it was “exhausting” to be “constantly looking online to see if your house is gone.”
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Steve Guttenberg: ‘I’ve seen such tragedy’
Actor Steve Guttenberg, best known for his role in the Police Academy film franchise, has called the fires “absolutely the worst” he’s ever seen, and has been doing what he can to help distressed residents.
Other stars to have lost their homes in the fires include Billy Crystal, Miles Teller, Diane Waren, Ricki Lake, Cary Elwes, Milo Ventimiglia, Anna Faris, Adam Brody and Leighton Meester, Spencer Pratt and Heidi Montag.
On Friday, the Recording Academy, which runs the Grammy Awards, and charity MusiCares have pledged $1m (£813,000) to support music artists impacted by the fires.
Actress Jamie Lee Curtis has pledged the same amount to fire relief efforts from her family foundation.
Alec Baldwin has filed a lawsuit against prosecutors who pursued a criminal charge against him after the death of cinematographer Halyna Hutchins on the set of Rust.
The Hollywood actor, who was the lead actor and co-producer of the Western film, was pointing a gun at Ms Hutchins when it fired in October 2021.
The cinematographer was killed and director Joel Souza was wounded.
Baldwin, 66, was accused of involuntary manslaughter but his trial was upended in July when a judge threw the case out based on the misconduct of police and prosecutors over the withholding of ammunition evidence from the defence.
He has now filed a lawsuit for malicious prosecution and civil rights violations against those involved in pursuing the charge.
The lawsuit alleges that prosecutors intentionally concealed evidence that would absolve Baldwin from blame and “sought at every turn to scapegoat” him to “maliciously bring about or advance” the actor’s trial and conviction.
It claims the defendants, which include special prosecutor Kari Morrissey and Santa Fe district attorney Mary Carmack-Altwies, were “blinded by their desire to convict Baldwin for all the wrong reasons”.
In a statement, Ms Morrissey said: “In October 2023 the prosecution team became aware that Mr Baldwin intended to file a retaliatory civil lawsuit.
“We look forward to our day in court.”
Representatives for Ms Carmack-Altwies have been contacted for comment.
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From July 2024: Special prosecutor Kari Morrissey accused of calling Baldwin a ‘c*********’
Baldwin’s lawsuit has been filed less than a month after Ms Morrissey withdrew an appeal over the court’s decision to dismiss the involuntary manslaughter charge against the actor.
After the lawsuit was filed, Baldwin’s lawyers Luke Nikas and Alex Spiro said in a joint statement: “Criminal prosecutions are supposed to be about the search for truth and justice, not to pursue personal or political gain or harass the innocent.
“Kari Morrissey and the other defendants violated that basic principle, over and over, and trampled on Alec Baldwin’s rights.
“We bring this action to hold the defendants accountable for their misconduct and to prevent them from doing this to anyone else.”
Read more:
What next for Alec Baldwin?
Rust premieres three years after fatal shooting
Prosecutors say Baldwin has ‘no control’ of his emotions
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From November 2024: Tributes paid to Halyna Hutchins at Rust premiere
Baldwin had always denied the charge of involuntary manslaughter, maintaining he did not pull the gun’s trigger and that others on the set in New Mexico were responsible for safety checks on the weapon.
If he had been convicted, he could have faced up to 18 months in prison.
According to the prosecution, the actor had behaved recklessly during a scene rehearsal on the set near Santa Fe, playing “make believe with a real gun” and violating “the cardinal rules of firearm safety”.
Baldwin’s defence team argued this was not true – saying he was “an actor, acting” and “committed no crime”.
Following repeated suggestions from defence lawyer Alex Spiro that evidence had been concealed, in an unusual move, Ms Morrissey called herself to the witness stand during the trial, despite the judge telling her she was not required to do so.
Mr Spiro told the court that she had referred to the actor as a “c*********” and an “arrogant p****” to witnesses. Ms Morrissey said she did not recall this.
Entertainment
Los Angeles fires: Hanks, Affleck, Witherspoon and Star Wars legend among stars evacuated as fires spread
Hollywood celebrities are among thousands of people to have been evacuated from their homes as fires rip through areas of Los Angeles.
Sky News’ US correspondent Martha Kelner reported that Tom Hanks, Ben Affleck and Reese Witherspoon were all evacuated on Tuesday as wildfires continued to spread in the Pacific Palisades suburb of LA.
The blaze spreading there is one of four raging in California.
Follow latest: At least two killed as flames spread
The US flag flies as flames from the Palisades Fire engulf a structure during a windstorm on the west of Los Angeles. Pic: Reuters
A wildfire-ravaged property in the Pacific Palisades neighbourhood of Los Angeles. Pic: AP
The area, which is home to billionaires as well as Hollywood A-listers, is located between Santa Monica and Malibu.
Other celebrities who have fled their homes include the award-winning actor James Woods, who said last night he had been safely evacuated from his home in Pacific Palisades.
But he added in a post on X: “I do not know at this moment if our home is still standing.”
Actor Mark Hamill, best known for playing Luke Skywalker in the Star Wars films, also posted on social media last night saying he evacuated his home in Malibu and his family were “fleeing for our lives”.
This Is Us actress Mandy Moore was also forced to leave her home due to the fires.
She said in two Instagram stories she had fled the Eaton fire, which is raging near Altadena, with her children, cats and dog. They have found temporary refuge with friends.
The actress said: “Trying to shield the kids from the immense sadness and worry I feel.
“Praying for everyone in our beautiful city. So gutted for the destruction and loss. Don’t know if our place made it.”
Mark Hamill and Mandy Moore fled their homes. File Pics: Reuters
Tom Hanks, Reese Witherspoon and Ben Affleck were all evacuated from their homes. Pics: AP
According to Velvet Ropes, which maps celebrity properties, Tom Hanks and Rita Wilson, Matt Damon, Steven Spielberg, Hilary Swank and Sally Field all have homes close to where fires are raging.
Dr Dre, Adam Brody and Leighton Meester, Tyra Banks, Martin Short, Anna Faris, Milo Ventimiglia, Linda Cardellini, Mary McDonnell, Adam Sandler, Miles Teller, and Jennifer Love Hewitt are also said to have houses in affected areas.
The Palisades Fire burns a Christmas tree inside a residence in the Pacific Palisades neighborhood. Pic: AP
The skyline of Los Angeles covered with smoke due to wildfires raging in the area. Pic: Reuters
In neighbouring Malibu, which was also affected by fires in December, stars including Beyonce and Jay-Z, Kim Kardashian, Lady Gaga and Billie Eilish are said to be among the celebrity residents.
The Palisades blaze has already burnt through more than 11,000 acres of land while the Eaton one has caused the death of two people, Los Angeles County fire chief Anthony Marrone said on Wednesday.
The two other fires are known as Woodley and Hurst, after the main areas affected.
All four blazes are still growing, Mr Marrone said.
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