Kayla Itsines is in famously great shape. The 23-year-old is an international fitness star with millions of social media followers. But even her crazy conditioning couldn’t keep her from feeling a little crazed when her fanbase started to build as fast as her muscles. The ab-intensive Australian trainer, who began attracting attention by posting before and after photos of her clients, wasn’t ready for when millions just wanted to see more of her. And she certainly wasn’t ready when the emails first started piling in, along with the complaints that her website was crashing and that downloading her first ebook was problematic.
When her popularity started to really boom, Itsines told Business Insider, “It was just me, I was answering thousands and thousands of emails and crying and thinking ‘this is too hard’.” And even Itsines, who has about the most likeable personality online, has faced the dreaded online trolling and flaming that comes with the territory. People have said–and still say–terrible things about her. Awhile back she admits, “I said: ‘I give up… I’m sick of people bullying me’.” But she didn’t quit. She cried, but she didn’t quit. Her 1.7 million Instagram followers are glad about that.
