Issa Pressman tearfully opens up on cyberbullying, mental struggles

Trigger warning: self-harm

Issa Pressman turned tearful as she talked about the bashing she received while under the spotlight.

In a tell-all interview on Karen Davila’s YouTube channel, Issa said that after going public with her relationship with James Reid in 2023, she received a lot of hateful comments on social media calling her “ahas,” “mangaagaw,” “third party,” and “a lot of negative sexual stuff.”

Issa tried to manage the bullying by closing her comments sections and blocking accounts but the action led to hear losing brand deals. Her six businesses soon closed down.

“’Yung online bullying, it became so intense. Nag-level up pa siya kasi now naman, in real life,” Issa said, adding while out in public, people would also take videos of her with their middle fingers up, “as if I was just a thing.”

Turning emotional, Issa said, “I would stand there not knowing what to do. Kasi I felt like I was just a thing to them. That if they post it, they’ll get a lot of likes, they’ll get a lot of comments and that’s fun for them."

But "it’s not right that they could just go that far," she said.

According to Issa, whenever she would post about where she is, she would get threatening messages. “Mag-ingat ka, tatapunan ko ng acid ‘yung mukha mo," she gave an example.

“So I became so scared. Until now, when someone calls me, I’m like nagaalangan ako kung lilingon ako or hindi.”

With this, Issa started stepping back by avoiding events and not posting on social media.

But there's also the issue about her relationship with James. In the interview, Issa revealed that a business partner actually wanted to break them up “kasi they think that I’m ruining James’ career.”

“And to save James’ career, he paid off someone to put more stuff online to really make us break up," Issa revealed.

Not feeling safe affected Issa's mental health. She endured sleepless nights, not getting proper sleep for a year, she said.

“Every time I would wake up, nakatulala na ‘ko and wala na ‘kong gana,” she added.

Issa would also lash out, shake, and avoid James’ care for her, but the worst thing to happen was Issa believing the hateful comments.

“I started believing the accusations. I started believing that I was hated. I started believing that I was worth nothing,” she said. “I started believing all of the things they were throwing at me so I started hating myself too. Because I’m like, what’s the use of living in a world like this if it’s full of hate?”

It was during this time that Issa started hurting herself, saying she gave up and felt like she let herself down. She credits James for helping her through it all.

“And even after what I did, that I survived the attempt that I did, and the fact that I woke up and I was still alive… And even if I felt like nothing talaga di ba, like I had James to really help me.”

“He taught me how to love myself," Issa added.

“And that’s why now, like I look back at these moments and I’m like, I’m thankful that I went through that. I’m thankful for the bashers, for the JaDine haters, I’m thankful that you guys pushed me to the edge that I saw that there was nothing more to travel outwards that I was forced to travel inwards.”

Issa added that Emman Atienza’s passing affected her and agreed that kindness goes a long way.

“I wish people can see life the way I see it. I wish that people could life is God’s gift, why waste it diba?” she said.

“Sayang if you’re going to waste your time going online to hate someone. Why don’t you give a hug to your mom, to your dad, to your sibling, or you know to yourself. Why do we have to push people so much to the edge? For what? ‘Yung mga couple of minutes or seconds na nag-cha-chat ka ng mga hate stuff in exchange of someone else’s life, why?”

Issa's tell-all with Karen was uploaded on YouTube Thursday night. In the same interview, she revealed Nadine Lustre actually gave her blessing on relationship with James Reid. — Nika Roque/LA, GMA Integrated News

The Philippines has several mental health hotlines and services. These include: DOH-NCMH Hotline: 0917-899-8727 and 02-7989-8727; Natasha Goulbourn Foundation Hopeline: 0917-558-4673, 0918-873-4673, and 02-8804-4673; and In Touch Crisis Line: 0917-800-1123, 0922-893-8944, and 02-8893-7603.