Earlier this week, Sarah Hyland was struck with a family tragedy. Her uncle, Bryan, and 14-year-old cousin, Trevor, were hit by a drunk driver while on their way to Trevor's choir recital. Sadly, Trevor did not survive the crash.
Hyland was clearly upset, posting about the driver who hit her family, calling him out for having prior DUIs.
"JEFFERY EGGERLING had two prior DUI's and tried to RUN from the scene of the crime after hitting my Uncle's car SO fast that my 14 yr old cousin, who was wearing a seatbelt, was ejected from the vehicle. JEFFERY EGGERLING is a murderer. May he rot in hell," she wrote.
However, something else Hyland tweeted about the tragedy made her the target of cyber-bullying, and it got so bad that she had to leave the social media site. The Modern Family star announced her cousin's death by saying "Yesterday my 14 year old cousin was killed by a drunk driver named Jeffrey Eggerling. My Uncle is in the hospital awaiting more surgeries. PLEASE keep your prayers with my family during this horrific time. And please DONATE." She attached a link to the GoFundMe page for her family, as well.
It was the GoFundMe page that really ticked off some fans, who began questioning why Hyland was asking for money from the people who follow her when she's been a regular on an Emmy-nominated TV show since 2009.
"Your net worth is $9 million ..... and ur asking ur lower/middle income fans to donate to your own cousin and uncle? Wow," one person wrote.
"You make enough money to cover the expenses I'm just curious why your asking," another asked.
"[Sarah Hyland] makes more money per episode than a lot of people make per year but she puts out a request for donations to help bury HER family member!" one pointed out. "Oh come on Sara[h], you can probably do without some new shoes or some new Mac without asking people less fortunate to help."
The other issue people had was with how much Hyland donated. On GoFundMe, you can see the highest donations from each person, and Hyland's $1,000 was second to her co-star Ariel Winter's $2,500.
"She only donated a grand, Ariel donated $2500, the go fund me [sic] was asking for 10k," someone pointed out. "Sarah makes 100k or more per episode .. yet Ariel who's not even a family member donated more than Sarah who was just flaunting her vacation , she has the $"
Hyland responded to the haters, wondering why they'd turn a tragedy into a rude bullying session.
"I'd like to ask those who have negative thoughts or opinions about the tragedy that happened to my family, to keep them to themselves," she wrote. "You don't know all the details. And how dare you attack when a beautiful life has been lost."
That didn't go over well, either.
"Well in all fairness you didn't keep your negative thoughts or opinions on the tragedy to yourself," Twitter user wilocreek wrote. "Instead you puked your opinion all over Twitter and got upset because people called you out. They are not attacking the tragedy they are attacking you."
"You the one who brought up money, when you beg, be prepared for ridicule and nastiness," Twitter user Texx Smith replied. "And btw, the only thing worse than a beggar is a rich beggar. BTW, poor people don't get to bury their loved ones, we have to cremate."
Enough was enough for Hyland, who posted her final response.
"You guys finally did it," she wrote. "Your horrible negative ignorant words have broken me. Happy? Staying offline for a while. I have a special announcement and video releasing on Wednesday I believe. So. There's that."
It's sickening to think that people would attack someone over how they choose to mourn. Just because Hyland only publicly donated $1,000 doesn't mean she hasn't done more to help the family. Plus, it's not her responsibility to pay for their expenses. She has her own health issues that she pays for.
It all boils down to "if you don't have something nice to say, don't say anything at all," but I guess some people never learned that.
[H/T: SomeECards]
