Married at First Sight Australia 2023‘s Melissa Sheppard has urged fans to ‘say no to bulling’ amid backlash after she appeared to pressure her husband Josh White to be more sexually active with her.
The 41-year-old hairdresser has been labelled the ‘horny older’ bride after her entire storyline has centred around her expressing her sexual desires.
During the February 8 episode, Melissa got mad at Josh for not wanting to have as much sex as her and copped backlash en masse.
Some fans and commentators even went as far as to label her behaviour towards her 40-year-old husband as “predatory” and “sexual harassment.”
Now, Melissa has hit back at the online hate, begging fans to stop “bullying” her.
The mother-of-one reshared a cyber safety message from the MAFS page asking users to refrain from “negative, offensive or personal comments against participants, experts or fellow MAFS viewers.”
She captioned it: “Say no to bullying. Before you assume, learn the facts. Before you judge, understand why. Before you hurt someone, feel. Before you speak, think.”
It comes after sources told So Dramatic! that Melissa was “distraught” after being “slut-shamed” after she seemingly didn’t respect Josh’s boundaries around discussing their sex life.
As reported in episode 253 of the So Dramatic! podcast, Melissa has been “crying every day” since MAFS 2023 premiered because of the over-produced “horny older bride” narrative.
Married at First Sight 2023 fans are concerned for Josh as Melissa continues to push for a ‘healthy sex life’
Melissa and Josh had a “great connection” from day one, but they had very different outlooks on discussing their sex lives.
Some viewers believed that Melissa’s constant emphasis on a “healthy sex life” and risqué comments would be considered “sexual harassment” if the roles were reversed.
However, others believed that the discomfort was rooted in ageism.
In fact, insider sources have previously revealed to So Dramatic! that a lot of Melissa’s comments have been edited together for dramatic effect.
But even Josh became frustrated with Melissa’s seemingly constant need to talk about sex.
“I still have some concerns about the fact that Mel seems to think that [being sex positive] is a defining personality trait. There has to be something deeper,” Josh said during the February 9 episode.
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