Modern Family's Sarah Hyland 'broken' by Gofundme backlash

Sarah Hyland has told her followers she will be staying off social media for a while, after backlash for a fundraising campaign in the wake of her cousin’s death left her ‘broken’.

The Modern Family actress is grieving the sudden loss of her 14-year-old cousin Trevor Canaday, who was killed in an alleged drunk-driving accident over the weekend.

But while she was flooded with messages of support and condolences, she also received a barrage of negative comments about the fact she was pushing a GoFundme campaign to help Trevor’s family, despite being a highly paid actress.

“You guys finally did it. Your horrible negative ignorant words have broken me. Happy? Staying offline for a while,” she wrote on Twitter.

Sarah took to her Instagram stories on Sunday to reveal that Trevor was involved in a hit-and-run accident in Omaha, US, on the 1st of December, along with his dad and Sarah’s uncle, who was the driver.

“This is my 14 year old cousin Trevor. Yesterday, he was killed by a drunk driver. My Uncle is still in the hospital in need of more surgeries,” Sarah wrote on Instagram, sharing the link to the GoFundMe page to support Trevor’s funeral expenses and medical expenses for her uncle.

The page was set up by Tessa Canaday, Trevor’s sister, as their father (Sarah’s uncle) remains in hospital “physically recovering” from the crash.

Sarah’s co-stars Ariel Winter and Nolan Gould, as well as her boyfriend, Wells Adams, took to their own social media pages to encourage followers to donate what they can to help the Canaday family.

On Tuesday, Sarah hit back at those who had “negative thoughts” about the death of her cousin, and the resulting fundraising campaign, to which the star donated $1000USD, according to Bang.

“I’d like to ask those who have negative thoughts or opinions about the tragedy that happened to my family, to keep them to themselves,” Sarah, 28, tweeted and shared on Instagram.

“You don’t know all the details,” she continued. “And how dare you attack when a beautiful life has been lost.”

According to an additional Instagram story, she named the man allegedly responsible for the crash and said he even tried to flee the scene of the accident.

Sarah said the 36-year-old has had two prior DUIs, which local news outlet KMTV confirmed with court records. KMTV also reports that the driver ran a red light before hitting Canaday’s car. He was later arrested on suspicion of allegedly driving while intoxicated.

“May he rot in hell,” Sarah wrote.

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