Ariana Madix Reflects on Receiving Social Media Hate While Addressing Cyberbullying During 'Love Island USA' Reunion

If anyone knows what it's like to get put through the wringer on social media it's Ariana Madix.

The Vanderpump Rules star opened up about the difficult topic of online bullying, hate and negativity while hosting the Love Island USA Season 6 reunion, which aired on Peacock on Monday night, August 19.

"I want to address the social media of it all," Madix admitted after some of the stars from the most recent season of the hit reality dating series expressed upset feelings about various criticisms and negativity they've received online. "I know you guys have gotten both a lot of love and a lot of negativity as well."

The Bravo star confessed: "I’ve been through it, I’ve gotten it plenty. And when you are in a position like this, sometimes people can see you as a character on a TV show and they forget that you are a real person, with a real life and real friends and family."

"And I think that it’s really important to be kind to our Islanders," the 39-year-old concluded.

In case you missed it, Madix's whole world was turned upside down right in front of the public eye after she discovered in March 2023 that her boyfriend of nearly nine years, Tom Sandoval, had been cheating on her with her best friend Rachel "Raquel" Leviss.

While many fans sided with Madix during this scandal, it still created a heightened amount of social media attention — and inevitably a bit of hate from online trolls.

Leah Kateb also spoke out during the reunion, asking her fans to put an end to the incessant negativity, as many of the 25-year-old's supporters had been flooding Season 6 bombshell Andrea Carmona's social media pages with loads of criticism due to drama that unfolded throughout the show.

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"At least for me and [the] people who support me and love me and everything, I don’t want you to say anything negative to anyone on my behalf. I love all these people very dearly," Kateb declared. "I don’t want you guys to send [Andrea] anything [negative]. I love Liv [Walker]. We are very close. Sierra [Mills], I don’t want people to think I hate anyone sitting here. Even Rob [Rausch], like, please, let’s spare the man."

The reunion then headed into a commercial break, though cameras showed some of the Islanders in tears trying to collect themselves backstage.

Carmona, who has been receiving the brunt of social media hate, started venting to fellow castmates while inside the green room, stating: "It’s not easy doing this at all. I have highs and lows where I’m feeling really good and then days where I’m feeling really down."

"Some days the hate is less than other days. But, I’m genuinely happy that we all came to an agreement. It's water under the bridge," she added. "We all spoke out of emotion. We are all are human. We all make mistakes and it’s not that deep. It's a show. We’re real people. We all have feelings and emotions and I feel like – I hope that the audience sees that."