Sue Perkins and other stars who quit social media

The 45-year-old comedian was the bookies’ favourite to take over from Jeremy Clarkson, but has taken a break from the site as “my timeline has been full of blokes wishing me dead”.

While social media is a handy tool for stars to connect with fans and promote their work, it can bite back.

Famous faces including Lily James, Stephen Fry and Iggy Azalea have all been burnt by malicious messages.

Here are 10 celebs who took leave from social media after trolls tipped them over the edge.

1. Lily James

Actress Lily James quit Twitter after trolling from fans who did not like her Downton Abbey storyline.

She told the Radio Times: “I was surprised people had an opinion about me, but now I don’t want to engage with that stuff.”

2. Zayn Malik

Granted it was only two days, but One Direction’s Zayn Malik quit Twitter after getting “abuse” from 1D fans in 2012. He explained: “The reason I don’t tweet as much as I use to, is because I’m sick of all the useless opinions and hate that I get daily goodbye twitter.”

He then quit Twitter, only to be back on it two days later telling fans: “Sorry, I was getting some abuse on twitter but I don’t want to let my fans down. So I am back!!”

3. Nicki Minaj

Singer Nicki Minaj took a short break before returning to Twitter. At the time she said: “A voice in my head told me to delete my Twitter and that’s what I did.”

4. Matt Lucas

In 2012 Little Britain Star Matt Lucas left Twitter for some time after a 16-year-old tweeted him a joke relating to his former partner’s death.

Matt replied saying: “I’m not joking. I think you should delete that tweet. It really upset me.”

He later announced he was leaving Twitter: “I appreciate all the support on here over the past couple of years but it’s time to shut down my Twitter account.”

5.Emma Roberts

The one thing you learn quickly about Twitter is how devoted certain fan groups are. Just ask Emma Roberts. She appeared as a guest on The Tonight Show with Robert Pattinson and made the mistake of saying she was in fact probably more Team Jacob than Team R-Patz.

She received such a backlash online from Twilight fans that she quit Twitter for a few days. She’s back online now though.

6. Jane Goldman

Jane Goldman, screenwriter and wife of talk show host Jonathan Ross, deleted her account last March after her husband received online abuse from sci-fi fans who did not want him to present an awards ceremony because they claimed he had made fat jokes about women and wasn’t a suitable host.

She left it to her husband to announce her farewell from the site.

7. Zelda Williams

The daughter of the late comedian Robin Williams, Zelda Williams, removed herself from Twitter and Instagram after trolls posted Photoshopped photos of a body masquerading as her father’s in a morgue with bruises on his neck.

She bid farewell last August: “I’m sorry. I should’ve risen above. Deleting this from my devices for a good long time, maybe forever. Time will tell. Goodbye.”

She returned to Twitter three weeks later.

8. Tom Clarke

Lead singer of The Enemy Tom Clarke left Twitter in September over cyber bullying. He issued a statement explaining he had suffered from depression and needed to leave the site “for my mental well-being”.

9. Iggy Azalea

Australian singer Iggy Azalea left Twitter in February after returning from a holiday to find paparazzi shots of her on holiday with her boyfriend had been causing a ruckus online.

She wrote: “I feel the hatred and pettiness I see online at all times is making me become an angry person and I cannot be that.”

Her account is now run by her management team, although she has promised fans a “monthly chat” to “stay connected”.

10. Sinead O’Connor

After sharing intimate details about the state of her mental health on the site, singer Sinead O’Connor left Twitter in 2012 over a negative backlash.

She explained: “I’ve stopped Twitter now because, although it was fun for a while, I had to stop because I was getting too much abuse.”