Piers Morgan and Game of Thrones’ Sophie Turner in Twitter spat over ‘fashionable’ mental illness comments
Piers had backed Corrie's Beverley Callard who claimed celebs are trying to make mental illness 'fashionable'
PIERS Morgan locked horns with Game of Thrones star Sophie Turner in a heated Twitter spat over mental illness.
Sophie hit back after the Good Morning Britain presenter threw his support behind Coronation Street's Beverley Callard, who claimed celebrities were trying to make mental illness "fashionable".
Retweeting The Sun Online's article about Beverley's comments, 53-year-old Piers wrote: "She'll be hammered for saying this, but it's 100% true."
But Sophie, 22, disagreed, retweeting Piers and adding: "Or maybe they have a platform to speak out about it and help get rid of the stigma of mental illness which affects 1 in 4 people in UK per year.
"But please go ahead and shun them back into silence. T***."
Piers couldn't resist mocking the young actress, replying: "Hi Sophie, please don’t abuse me like this – it’s harmful to my mental health. Thanks."
Sophie didn't rise to the bait, instead writing a string of messages backing up her point to her 1.8million followers - without tagging Piers.
She wrote: "Part 1 : People who think it’s okay to make jokes about mental illness, I feel you must be lucky, because surely you don’t understand or can’t comprehend what it is like to have or know someone with an illness like this.
"Part 2: Depression is the second biggest killer in affluent Europe and America. One of the greatest reasons being, I believe, is because mental illness has so much stigma surrounding it.
"Part 3: If we can just all speak out about our experiences or our loved ones experiences we can help other people who suffer with mental illness not feel so alone. Let’s keep this dialogue going.
"Part 4: You are not alone, you can manage your illness, and people who make fun of it are the minority... not you. You are loved and supported."
But Piers carried on with their spat, retweeting the first part of Sophie's message and commenting: "Actually, I was mocking your foul-mouthed abuse of me, whilst simultaneously trying to lecture me about mental health.
"Do you think abusing people helps their mental health, Ms. Turner? Maybe consider that question for your next virtue-signalling Twitter thesis on the subject?"
He also retweeted one of Sophie's earlier tweets from New Year's Day, which read: "Ugh so sad. Just been diagnosed with Trump Derangement Syndrome. Please help."
Piers commented: "Ah, this explains it..."
He later added: "As I’ve always said, those suffering from genuine mental illness need proper help & support.
"Those just shirking responsibility for normal life challenges need to toughen up. We should teach mental strength & resilience in schools.
"This concept is only offensive to snowflakes."
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Beverley, 61, previously hit the headlines when she told magazine: "Real mental illness is very dark and it takes a great deal of strength to ask for help.
"I think we are now definitely chipping away at the stigma.
"But we have to be careful mental illness doesn’t become like a Gucci handbag.
"There is a danger it can become 'fashionable'."
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