In a candid revelation on Tuesday, actress Lili Reinhart opened up about a deeply disturbing case of online abuse that ultimately led her to abandon Elon Musk's social media platform, X. The 29-year-old Riverdale star shared the shocking details with her 24 million Instagram followers, describing how a former government worker sent her messages hoping she would be sexually assaulted due to her political views.
Political Stance Triggers Vile Threats
The Cleveland-born actress explained that the threatening communications arrived after she publicly declared her intention to vote for Kamala Harris in the 2024 presidential election, opposing Republican candidate Donald Trump. Reinhart told her followers she 'stopped using X in 2024 when men were sending me messages about how I deserved to be r*ped for voting for Kamala' Harris, specifically noting that 'one of them was a former government worker.'
Platform Exit Prompted by Feminist Post
The Hal & Harper star revisited this traumatic experience while sharing a post from the account Feminist about Musk's controversial AI chatbot Grok. The bus stop advertisement featured an image of Musk with provocative text questioning why anyone would use social media with what it described as a built-in child abuse tool, urging users to delete their X accounts.
This prompted Reinhart to recall the precise moment she decided to leave the platform for good. The actress, known for her roles in films including Hustlers and Chemical Hearts, had been particularly vocal in her opposition to Trump following his victory over Harris in November 2024, frequently citing the multiple sexual assault accusations Trump has faced over the past decade.
White House Advocacy and Mental Health Work
Reinhart's political engagement extended beyond social media commentary. In October 2024, during the crucial final stretch of the election season, she visited the White House under former President Joe Biden and Vice President Harris to commemorate World Mental Health Day. The White House released a statement praising her courage in helping to destigmatize mental health issues.
During her White House appearance, Reinhart emphasized the importance of removing shame from discussions about mental health. 'Destigmatizing mental health will help people share more and when you share you feel less alone,' she said in a clip from the event. 'I think it's very important to remove the idea of shame behind how we feel.'
Celebrity Exodus from Musk's Platform
Reinhart joins a growing list of celebrities who have departed the popular social media platform since Musk took control more than three years ago. Supermodel Gigi Hadid was among the first high-profile exits in November 2022, describing the platform as becoming 'more and more of a cesspool of hate & bigotry' under its new leadership.
The actress reflected on the normalization of various mental health conditions during her White House appearance, stating that feelings of anxiety, ADD, OCD, intrusive thoughts and depression are 'so normal' and that 'we're just human, so let's just be human.' Her advocacy work continues to focus on increasing mental health resources and removing stigma from psychological struggles.
