It's heartbreaking to see Sheridan Smith continually apologising to Twitter abusers for 'not being strong enough'

The best of Voices delivered to your inbox every week - from controversial columns to expert analysis Sign up for our free weekly Voices newsletter for expert opinion and columns Sign up to our free weekly Voices newsletter SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Her father, Colin, is gravely ill with cancer and lives four hours away, and she tweeted that she is simply “not strong enough” to do the show. She has also spoken of her struggles in the past; in an interview with the Telegraph in 2014, she spoke of a deep insecurity and “panic attacks before going on stage, because once the bigger, leading-lady roles started coming in I did feel like I would be letting people down in some way.” Public reaction, especially on Twitter, has been incredibly obnoxious, with people calling her a “loose cannon nutcase” who should “just get over it” because she’s not “starving, homeless or disabled”. Smith’s reaction to the online abuse was to retaliate against these “vultures”, tweeting: “Come say your s*** to my face and see what happens”. They tweeted on Tuesday that Smith would be replaced by Natasha J Barnes due to “the indisposition of Sheridan Smith.” It was unsympathetic wording to say the least.