The Walking Dead’s Alanna Masterson leaves social media

HOLLYWOOD, CA - OCTOBER 23: Actress Alanna Masterson attends the live, 90-minute special edition of 'Talking Dead' at Hollywood Forever on October 23, 2016 in Hollywood, California. (Photo by Jason LaVeris/FilmMagic)
HOLLYWOOD, CA - OCTOBER 23: Actress Alanna Masterson attends the live, 90-minute special edition of 'Talking Dead' at Hollywood Forever on October 23, 2016 in Hollywood, California. (Photo by Jason LaVeris/FilmMagic) /
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It now appears that The Walking Dead’s Alanna Masterson has deleted her social media accounts, possibly as a response to the recent wave of cyber bullying.

Alanna Masterson, the actress who brings Tara to life on The Walking Dead, has quit social media, deleting all but her Twitter account. We’re not going to make wild speculations as to the reason because she hasn’t made any official statements as to why she did it. But given the timing and the current climate on social media, we can offer an educated guess.

Masterson experienced the dark side of social media upon her return to the show in season 7’s “Swear.” Masterson had been away from the show after giving birth in the first half of the season and internet trolls tried to body shame her, but what they didn’t expect was that Masterson would fight back, putting them in their places after pointing out that she was still nursing on set while she was doing her own stunts.

Next: The Walking Dead's Josh McDermitt fights back against cyber bullies

It’s quite possible Masterson deleted her social media accounts in response to the wave of negativity on social media that led Josh McDermitt to leave social media altogether in April. McDermitt had been receiving death threats because of his character’s current story arc on The Walking Dead. McDermitt’s Eugene was taken prisoner by Negan in the season 7 midseason finale after Rosita tried to shoot Negan with a bullet Eugene made. When Negan offered Eugene a choice to live or die, Eugene chose life and he became a member of Negan’s inner circle. While some fans viewed this as a natural step in Eugene’s quest for self-preservation, other fans were furious that he betrayed Rick and his friends, prompting death threats and vicious attacks on social media.

Interestingly, Josh McDermitt came to Masterson’s defense after the body shaming incidents, and now it looks like Masterson might be standing in solidarity with him when it comes to cyberbullying.

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Once again it’s important to note that we don’t know definitively the reason that Masterson deleted her accounts. We’ll keep an eye on this story and bring you updates as they become available.