Sam Frost has spoken out after receiving widespread criticism in October for her refusal to receive the Covid-19 vaccine.
In an interview with The Sunday Telegraph’s Stellar magazine, the actress, who left Home and Away in December but is now believed to be fully vaccinated, spoke about the ‘disgusting bullying’ that the unvaccinated have faced.
The 32-year-old reflected on being ‘torn to f***ing pieces’ when she compared restrictions on the unvaccinated to ‘segregation’ in her tearful Instagram video in October, and stated that she’s ‘in no way an anti-vaxxer’.
‘It was awful to see unvaccinated people being bullied. Friends I’d known for years stopped communicating with me,’ Sam explained to Stellar.
‘I never said I didn’t want to get it. I’m not an anti-vaxxer – are you kidding me? But I feel it’s quite unreasonable to assume that everyone’s going to think exactly the same way and that people are going to come to the exact same conclusion in the same time frame.’
In addition, the former Bachelorette stated that she merely had ‘positive intentions.’
‘I got torn to f***ing pieces. That was someone in a very vulnerable position talking about their struggles with mental health,’ she said.
Sam, who debuted as Jasmine Delaney on Channel Seven’s Home and Away in 2017, left the show in December, two months after disclosing she hadn’t received the vaccine.
Seven Productions has a policy requiring all actors and crew to be Covid-vaccinated; nevertheless, sources claim Sam’s departure last year had nothing to do with the mandate.
In December, Sam shot her final scenes for the soap at Eveleigh Studios in Sydney.
In October, the actress provoked outrage by revealing she had not had the Covid vaccine and comparing limitations on the unvaccinated to “segregation.”
She said in a tearful Instagram video: ‘I was really hesitant about doing a video or even speaking up about this sort of thing, but I feel like it’s getting to a point now in the world where there’s a lot of segregation.
‘There’s a lot of harsh judgement and opinions being thrown around a lot and it’s taking its toll on my mental health for sure, and I know people around me are struggling – particularly if they’re on the side of they don’t want to get vaccinated, for whatever reason.
‘There are lots of different reasons why people are not getting vaccinated and it might be because of their medical history, their concerns, they might have family history, it could be religious reasons.’
Sam then claimed she hadn’t been vaccinated, but that she had discussed her option with both her medical doctor and a psychologist.
She added tearfully: ‘It’s a really hard time to be in society right now and you feel like you are less of a human and you feel like people judge you.
‘And you’re too scared to talk about your opinion or your feelings and part of you wants to go, “Well it’s none of your damn business why I’m not! And there’s good reasons why I’m not and I don’t want you to judge me.”‘
Sam disabled her primary Instagram account and blocked all comments on the account for her mental health organization Believe after receiving backlash for her video. Her accounts have since been reactivated.
In December, Channel Seven announced Sam’s departure from Home and Away.
While the actors and staff of Home and Away are required to get vaccinations, a network insider said her departure had nothing to do with the policy.
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