Kate Bottley: Sometimes trolls make me question my motives
Reverend Kate Bottley has divided opinion in the Church of England since a video clip of her dancing at a wedding in 2013 went viral.
But the Gogglebox and Celebrity Masterchef star said the trolls that really get to her are the ones that she worries may be speaking some truth by suggesting she's doing things 'for her own glory'.
Speaking on the White Wine Question Time podcast, Bottley told host Kate Thornton she had to ask herself when people were horrible to her — for attending things like Christians at Pride marches — if there was any truth in it.
She said: "So the ones that really hurt are not the ones that are against my theology. Because they've come to a different conclusion in their theology to me, that's fine.
"The ones that really hurt are: 'You're only doing this for your own glory. Or: 'You're just a big show off'.
WATCH: Kate Bottley on being stopped in the street, talking openly about death, and the viral wedding dance that started it all.
"Because what really hurts about those is you're going: 'Crikey that might be true. I'm gonna have to dig down into that comment, and go: 'Alright, are you just an egotistical maniac Bottley? An attention seeking nightmare? Is there any truth in that?'
"And you go, actually, there is. And perhaps I need to make sure that my spiritual life is still going, I'm still staying true to my vocation and my calling, but it's just got sequins on it at the moment or it's in front of a microphone or whatever."
The vicar, who appeared on Gogglebox from 2014 to 2016 after the famous wedding video, said she had not had any media training and was not prepared for the attention, when the flashmob went viral.
She was reassured by one older person at her church who told her she didn't see what all the fuss was about, and it 'wasn't the worst thing' the vicar had done.
Bottley said: "I tend to find that the older people have sort of seen it all. And they think: 'Oh that's alright, as long as you don't mess with eight o'clock communion, you can do what you want, you can get away whatever you like.'"
She added that most of the people who were unkind to her now did it on social media, though she does still get letters through the door and occasionally people might come up to her in the street, and explained how she dealt with it.
She said: "You just have to do that thing, where you remember that it's their issue and not yours. And you also have to look for the grain of truth amongst what they're saying.
"So sometimes I'll get a tirade when I'll march with Christians at Pride, and I try and be really inclusive in my theology. And a lot of people get quite upset about that.
"Because they don't believe that God loves everybody, they believe that God loves only straight people. And I don't believe that.
"I believe in a God that loves everyone. Equally, whatever your sexuality or gender, I believe in an inclusive God."
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