Domenica Calarco shares concerning message revealing she is ‘not okay’ and is entering a mental health retreat amid Abbie Chatfield backlash

Domenica Calarco has spoken out candidly about her mental health struggles following criticism from Bachelor star and podcaster Abbie Chatfield.

The backlash came after Calarco and fellow MAFS bride Ella Ding hosted controversial groom Jack Dunkley on their podcast, Sit With Us.

On Sunday morning, the former MAFS bride took to Instagram to share a worrying post revealing how she took time out to attend a mental health retreat,

“Over the past month I have been struggling with some deep issues that have left me emotionally, physically and psychologically exhausted,” she began.

‘Every day I try to be the strong, independent and vibrant person that you all know me to be, but the reality is that I am not doing well and the recent discourse on social media has forced me to realize that I am at the end of my life. my chain.’

She continued, “As someone who has been dealing with mental illness for fifteen years, I have come to the realization that I need to make my health, both physical and mental, my number one priority and have decided to participate in a retreat for mental health care. ‘

The controversy erupted after Domenica and Ella were criticized for their interview with Jack Dunkley, who previously sparked outrage by telling co-star Jonathan McCullough to ‘muzzle’ his wife Lauren Dunn during a dinner party.

The interview sparked a heated response from Abbie, further intensifying scrutiny of the podcast hosts.

Domenica previously broke her silence in a series of TikTok videos, revealing to fans that she was feeling extreme anxiety.

In one clip, the brunette admitted that she struggled to leave the house due to the stress, and even started picking at her skin in response to the anxiety.

“It’s a really unhealthy thing to do,” she said, showing off a series of self-inflicted scratches on her arm.

“It’s scary that this stress, this fear, this pressure, this feeling of failure and this feeling of ‘I’m not good enough’ and this feeling of ‘I messed up’ manifests itself in this way of wanting to do that to myself because I wanted to run away, was very scared,” she complained.

“I just wanted to make this little video. I’m not doing it out of sympathy at all, because that’s not what I’m looking for here. I’m just putting this out there to say I’m human, I’m human,” she continued, adding that her self-esteem is “literally at an all-time low.”

Domenica also shared a video of herself reapplying her makeup after crying in her bedroom.

“So this is how I bring myself back after crying and hating myself quite a bit,” she said, as she applied another layer of concealer, blush and lip liner.

Her posts have since been flooded with comments from fans asking her to address the podcast controversy.

Although Domenica chose not to make a statement, she did assure several fans that she and Ella will respond to the backlash “very soon.”

“In light of our society, we cannot give misogynistic men an inch right now. Not one. Women need to speak out against it,” one user commented.

Domenica responded, “On reflection, we obviously wished we had done things differently. We will address this very soon.”

Elsewhere, another user wrote: ‘Maybe you should sit this out, honey. It could be a good excuse to take a moment to think about your behavior and how dangerous it is to support misogynistic men [sic] and excuse that behavior.”

“Thank you for your feedback,” Domenica responded, adding, “We will address all of this very soon.”

It comes after Abbie let go of Domenica and Ella during this week’s episode It’s a lot with Abbie Chatfield.

“I don’t think those girls even know why the muzzle comment was wrong. I think that’s the biggest problem,” she claimed.

“I didn’t think they were malicious at the time. I thought they just didn’t fully understand feminism or patriarchy… they had a basic understanding of feminism,” she added.

Abbie continued, “I thought that was it, and they actually went out of their way by signing this loser.

‘And then they thought what they did was enough, but I thought; “It’s actually not enough and it’s really harmful to post this.”

The former Bachelor contestant also stated that her fellow reality dating show stars were ill-equipped to have conversations about misogyny and feminism.

“I think the first step would be, because you’re not equipped to have these conversations, would be to not have it on at all,” the FBoy Island host said.

“And say, ‘I’m not going to put the misogynist on stage if I can’t call him out.’ Another thing you could do is put him on the stage, stand his ground and ask him why he thinks this is okay, and also understand why the muzzle comment was wrong.”