‘The View’: Meghan McCain Reveals Twitter Has ‘100% Impacted My Mental Health’

Earlier this week, Meghan McCain commented on Chrissy Teigen deleting her Twitter account. Speaking with co-hosts Whoopi Goldberg, Joy Behar, Sunny Hostin, and Sara Haines on The View, McCain personally shared how the onslaught of Twitter attacks she receives on a regular basis have taken their toll on her as well, to the point of causing her depression.

Meghan McCain commended Chrissy Teigen on ‘The View’

When the topic of Teigen’s exit from the social media platform came up with The View co-hosts, each applauded her honesty and positive step of self-care. McCain gave props to the former supermodel for her transparency and courage over the years.

“I thought Chrissy Teigen was entertaining, but also incredibly brave with a lot of things she shared, specifically about her horrible miscarriage,” McCain remarked on The View. “I just thought she was a funny, entertaining person on Twitter.”

McCain noted how Twitter is often used for positive endeavors, ranging from forming relationships to raising awareness on a variety of issues.

“This is a weird topic for me, because I love Twitter for a lot of reasons,” The View star explained. “I met my husband on Twitter. There are things that you can help with, like charities, like my friend Andrew Kaczynski with his #teambeans for his his daughter that tragically passed away from a brain tumor. There are amazing things that can come from social media.”

‘The View’ star Meghan McCain described how Twitter comments make an impact

The View co-host is the lone Republican on the daytime talk show, where she often shares opinions that are not necessarily well received by her co-hosts or viewers. McCain revealed that speaking her mind often comes with a cost, resulting in backlash on social media. Yet she realizes that the risk of being disliked is part of the deal.

“I was trending on Twitter yesterday,” she said. “I don’t think it’s ever been positive. It’s always something negative. … It’s not just random people – it’s people with blue checkmarks. I don’t need a pity party. I said yesterday there’s no crying in baseball. I’ve chosen to do this work, this is not indentured servitude.”

McCain attributed the onslaught of negative comments she receives to her conservative stance, which she feels is underrepresented in today’s media.

“I’m the one conservative woman in all of mainstream television,” The View star noted. “I’m the only one left. With that, I’m saying things that are not said in an echo chamber.”

Twitter comments have caused Meghan McCain ‘depression’

McCain shared just how cruel some of the comments that she is subjected to can get at times, attacking everything from her appearance to how she got her job in television.

“I say things that people just don’t want to hear,” she explained. “If they disagree with me, it automatically becomes personal about how fat I am, I’m a disgusting white woman of privilege, I only get anywhere because of my dad. Everything you guys have already said, it’s not anything I haven’t thought and felt and been insecure about for my whole life. The problem is that every time I say something political that people don’t like, it becomes deeply personal, and now it’s involving my child.”

The mean-spirited posts have caused McCain to become depressed at times, yet she chooses to stay on the platform to be informed on current events.

“It has 100 percent impacted my mental health,” McCain said. “I have suffered from depression because of things people have done to me on social media, but I don’t feel like I’m in a place where I can’t quit social media because I need it for my job. It’s a Catch 22. We’re living in an absolutely toxic time.”

McCain shared her story hoping to call attention to young people who are subjected to constant bullying online. She called upon social media CEOs and users to be mindful of the malice spread on these platforms, and the detrimental impact it can have.

“We have a responsibility, and Silicon Valley has a responsibility to be relegating more of this,” she explained. “Do not feel bad for me. Feel bad for the teenagers who are on Twitter and young people as young 10, 11, 12 years old, who are being bullied in school and think there’s no other freaking option except to kill themselves, and that’s why this is serious.”