Leigh Nicol is hoping to raise awareness after an iPhone hack saw her private content uploaded onto porn websites.
Photos and footage of ex-Celtic player Nicol having sex aged 18 were stolen and then shared by online hackers who allegedly targeted her iCloud account in 2019.
The explicit video, made in 2014, was removed by Pornhub after she sent “numerous emails”, and received “generic, automated responses.”
But it was only taken down after at least one video trended across the X-Rated website top three, and was downloaded and posted elsewhere on the internet.
According to the 179-page lawsuit filed in California’s state court against Pornhub’s parent company Mindgeek, Nicol was forced to stop playing football professionally for a year because of the distress it caused.
She still suffers “significant emotional harm, including anxiety, suicidal thoughts, and panic attacks” after the ordeal, according to the document.
Nichol bravely chose to waive her anonymity and speak out about the traumatising incident, in a bid to help others educate themselves on the adult online world.
Speaking to Source she said: “The sickness was extreme. It was a mixture between having a panic attack and being sick.
“It was a vicious cycle. It was absolutely atrocious. There’s shame, there’s embarrassment, there’s disgust, sickness, there’s doubts that I’m not good enough.
“I feel like no one would ever potentially want to actually be my future husband, because I’ve got these videos attached to me.
“People watch these videos and do not realise the damage to people’s lives. They are giving these websites a lot of money with their views, their sharing and their downloading but there are victims here.
“The damage is done for me so this is about the next generation. I feel like prevention is better than someone having to react to this.
Nicol said she still “feels sick” when she looks in the mirror over the videos shared showing her having sex.
Multimedia files from her phone dating back to 2014, when she was 18 years old, was taken and posted onto X-rated websites.
Nicol has now opened up on the ordeal in a bid to raise awareness of the suffering that was caused.
She says that she was left with anxiety and suicidal thoughts, which led to sickness, depression and weight loss.
The 25-year-old was also forced to close her social media accounts temporarily, and has now blocked more than 350 people due to abusive comments.
Football clubs were also reluctant to offer her contracts.
“What did it is the fact that I play football. That is the reason it got so big,” she told Source.
“No matter where I go I cannot escape it. It is there in the industry. Every corner I turn. Everyone knows.
“I have nieces and nephews who are getting to that age where they are very proud of me and want to Google me. But you cannot Google my name without it being attached to dirt.”
Nicol is thankful for the support that she has received from Crystal Palace since she joined the club last summer.
She says that she is continuing to live with the repercussions but hopes speaking out can alert people to the mental health problems caused by her experiences.
