Big Brother legend Brian Dowling receives vile, homophobic abuse after birth of baby
Big Brother contestant-turned-presenter Brian Dowling. (Photo by Ben Pruchnie/Getty Images)
Big Brother’s Brian Dowling has revealed the abuse he gets for being a gay father.
Dowling and his husband Arthur Gourounlian welcomed their first child, Blake Maria Rose Dowling Gourounlian, on 1 September.
The reality TV star turned presenter has been sharing their parenting journey on social media – but sadly, this has attracted “vile”, anti-gay abuse.
Taking to Instagram, Dowling shared a response he received to a story of him trying to settle baby Blake.
“She’s [sic] wants her mother,” it read.
In response, Dowling said: “Messages like this make me sad but also so very angry.
“Arthur and I get messages like this rather often. I’m not sure if the people sending them are ignorant or just plain vile”.
Brian shared the ‘vile’ and homophobic message he received after posting a video of him calming baby Blake on his story. (Instagram)
Dowling’s husband shared the post and added: “Yes there are always message like this in our DM’s, but hey it’s life, and you just have to rise above it and move on.
“There will always be uneducated and rude people out there.”
Arthur wasn’t surprised to see his husband had received such a vile message, and he said there will “always be uneducated and rude people”.
Brian Dowling and Arthur Gourounlian, who tied the knot in 2015, welcomed baby Blake after Dowling’s sister, Aoife Dowling, acted as their surrogate.
On 3 September Dowling posted to Instagram to share how “absolutely totally in love” the couple were with their new arrival
“None of this would have been possible without our donor, a woman we have never met or even seen a picture of but has given us the gift of life,” he wrote.
Dowling said his sister Aoife was a “saint” and that they will be grateful to her “for the rest of our lives”.
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Just a week after Blake’s arrival, Gourounlian used Instagram to confront some of the nasty comments his family had received.
Sharing a video of Blake putting her finger up in her sleep, Gourounlian captioned the post: “When your daughter is new here and she dose’t give a damn about all the negative comments. The finger I can’t cope, oh the timing”.
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Supporter told the couple to “take no notice”. One fan wrote: “Blake is such a lucky little baby to be born into a family full of love and happiness.”
Another added: “Sad individuals if they have anything bad to say about an innocent beautiful baby and two loving parents, they should mind their own business and unfollow if it bothers them that much.”
