Brian Dowling and his husband, Arthur Gourounlian, have long been subjected to verbal abuse at the hands of online trolls.

The couple tied the knot in July 2015 and went on to welcome two beautiful and healthy little girls, Blake and Blu, to the world.

Brian, 48, has revealed that the online abuse ramped up when he and Arthur were expecting Blu, thanks to his sister, Aoife, who acted as a surrogate.

Brian and Arthur never publicly disclosed that Brian was infertile, but they laughed about the fact that the ‘jig was up’ when Blake and Blu arrived into the world the spitting image of Arthur.

That’s of course not a problem, but to the keyboard warriors on the internet, Brian explained that his infertility and the fact that he doesn’t ‘share DNA’ with his girls has somehow instilled in trolls the licence to throw it back in his face.

In his new Virgin Media documentary Toxic Threads, Brian opens up about navigating and dealing with this online abuse, and he’s been awarded heaps of praise from viewers.

In his documentary, Brian says: ‘I have never really faced this online trolling, online harassment, face on before. I suppose I’m quite nervous. You know, I’ve got a really good support system and I’m very, very lucky, but I think there’s just so much shame attached.

‘I think it stemmed from being that kid in Rathangan, back in, you know, in the 90s, that was a gay kid. I don’t think that shame and that level of not being accepted really ever leaves you.

‘But I know I’m a good person. I’m very, very strong. But if I wasn’t strong, and I was having a really, really bad day or a bad week, just in life in general, and I was to read some of those messages about myself, how it would affect me, how it would affect my children.’

‘Because foremost in anything in life, I’m a dad,’ Brian said, proudly. ‘You know, I never thought I’d be a dad, and also in a way, I want to make my kids proud of me.

‘I never said that before, but I do, they’re so young. And I want them to be like proud of me, but also I want to be the best version of myself for them because I love them so much,’ he said, overcome with emotion.

Elsewhere, during an appearance on Ireland AM, Brian opened up about a time when he and Arthur were ‘disgustingly’ accused of paedophilia.

‘In ’22, we were shooting a documentary about the arrival of Blake, our first little baby, and it was then we discovered messages online about us that we read out in the nursery that were so disgusting and vile, and they were alleging that we were only having a child for one reason, and that was to pass her around to other people,’ he said.

Host Muireann O’Connell shared that she had trawled through the comments on Brian’s social media, and they’re ‘not only defamatory, but it was disgusting’.

Speaking about his infertility, Brian said: ‘When we were trying to have a family, I found out that I was infertile. I probably never really dealt with that to an extent. I think there’s a lot of shame around that, still a lot of embarrassment. So I was dealing with that and then, you know, Arthur and I never disclosed any of that.

‘For anyone to say that I don’t share my children’s DNA, and for that to be used against me in a bullying manner is horrific. It’s disgusting.’

‘And people online seem to want to define what a father is, and heaven forbid if you don’t conform to what people think. And heaven forbid as an openly gay man, who’s married, who’d want to have children. “Stay in your lane, we allowed you to get married, enough is enough”,’ Brian continued.

In the comments section, one viewer wrote: ‘Oh Brian this is so very sad to see you are an amazing Dad and you are enough you have always been enough. You are a good person look at how you have become the most amazing, incredible supportive husband and Dad your kids are proud of you look at how they look at you.

‘You will always get hate it will never go away; jealousy is like an illness in people and hate will never leave them they live with hate and they will die with hate it’s so sad to see how upset you have been,’ they continued. ‘The love and support you have from the true people around you will keep you strong xxx.’

Another Instagram user penned: ‘You are the most fabulous Dad and a very kind person and I’m sure your beautiful daughters are so so proud.’

Meanwhile, Arthur sweetly commented: ‘WE LOVE YOU! 💚 You don’t have to justify who you are or prove your worth to anyone. You are an INCREDIBLE person, and those who know and love you see that every single day.

‘Blake and Blu are already so proud of you. As they grow older, they’ll understand everything you’ve done for them, the courage it took and the love behind every decision. Above everything, they will know how deeply they have always been loved.

‘We know how hard it was to make this documentary and speak about things that hurt. We hope your honesty helps someone else feel less alone and find the strength to stop letting other people’s cruelty steal their happiness. Nobody deserves to live their life weighed down by someone else’s hate.’

Brian Dowling’s Toxic Threads is available to watch on Virgin Media Play.