Cork comedian shares experience of being followed home while in Barcelona

Comedian Kyla Cobbler, who currently lives in Barcelona. Spoke of her experience of being followed home by a man in the Catalonian city. 

A Cork comedian living in Barcelona has shared her experience of being followed home by a stranger in a bid to raise awareness about how common such incidents are for women.

Ballincollig native, Kyla Cobbler took to her Instagram on Tuesday to share her recent experience of being followed by a man while she was walking home in Barcelona on Monday night.

While on the 10-minute walk home, she was recording videos for Instagram and spotted a man on a bike in the background who was following.

Kyla stopped and confronted the man while she had her phone out and asked him what he was doing.

“But he didn’t leave. It wasn’t like I said I’m uncomfortable and he listened and left me alone, he stayed there,” she explained.

The man eventually left but once she put away her phone, he began to follow her again and thankfully, a homeless man she knows came to her aid.

After confronting the man on the bike, she shared the video on social media which has sparked a conversation among women.

Comedian Kyla Cobbler, who currently lives in Barcelona, related her experience of being followed home by a man on her Instagram account. She said the response has been “amazing” with many others sharing similar stories.

Speaking to the Irish Examiner, Kyla said the response has been “amazing” with many others sharing similar stories and noted the importance of doing so, even when the woman thankfully escapes the situation unharmed. 

“I was wicked nervous about putting it out. And everyone has been so amazing, so sound and all of these women have come forward as well.

“I’ve touched on it before on my Instagram but because I do comedy, I try to keep it as fun as possible and as light as possible and I must say all of these women have come forward and been like ‘this happened to me’ because the problem is we’re not validated when things happen that aren’t drastic.”

Battlefield

In the moment, she said she was “shaking” and described the situation as "scary".

She has since reported the incident to police but said that leaving the house as a woman, is like “going onto the battlefield."

“We can’t give people the benefit of the doubt anymore because every time we leave our house, we’re going onto the battlefield," she said.

Kyla added that such incidents are "constant" for women but believes that addressing is important.

“By us sharing and talking about it and communicating with each other and putting ourselves in the vulnerable position of being honest and saying I was afraid, we’ve created a movement and that could help someone.

“This happens all the time to people, it doesn’t matter if you walk with your bag on your front or your keys in your hand. In that moment, it’s scary and this is how it starts.”