There was a time when, as a showbusiness journalist, an angry – or occasionally threatening – phone call from a celebrity’s publicist following a story they didn’t like was the ultimate reproach.

I’ve been on the receiving end of many of those, some relations never mended – Geri Halliwell-Horner really didn’t like it when, in 2019, I told the full story of her historic fling with fellow Spice Girl Mel B, for example.

But, nowadays, with social media being at the heart of celebrity culture, there is a new way for stars to hit back at journalists… by blocking us on Instagram or X.

Here, I reveal those whom I irritated so much that they angrily pressed the ‘block’ button, and what I did to find myself on the receiving end of such a public slight from some of the UK’s best known stars.

Jonathan Ross

Jonathan Ross’s career took a hit in 2008 after he and Russell Brand made a shameful prank call to actor Andrew Sachs

He was the first to make his feelings about me clear when, back in 2010, as social media was in its infancy, he blocked me on Twitter.

The television host lambasted me for quotes that appeared in my newspaper gossip column in the tabloid I used to work for, insisting we hadn’t actually spoken. Indeed, we hadn’t. I was on holiday in Dorset at the time the article appeared, but he did speak to my deputy who was stepping in for me.

Despite, in the end, admitting I was not at fault, his ego was so damaged – it was a delicate time in the aftermath of his, and Russell Brand’s, shameful prank phone call to actor Andrew Sachs in 2008 which led to him losing his job at the BBC – that he blocked me anyway.

Gary Lineker

Gary Lineker faced scrutiny after appearing in a controversial advert for Walkers crisps

He has been one of Britain’s most famous footballers for more than 40 years but Gary Lineker appeared to run out of patience with my long-running scrutiny over how he behaved as a BBC employee while hosting Match Of The Day.

He was furious when I revealed a race row over a Walkers crisps advert, in which he starred, and which promoted the brand’s tie-in with KFC. The advert was deemed racist for perpetuating a negative stereotype of black people liking fried chicken.

He also failed to see the funny side when I wrote a story headlined ‘Nine jobs Lineker’ which detailed his side hustles, including a lucrative glasses range with Vision Express and a clothing range with suit retailer, TM Lewin.

‘Gary doesn’t like to see himself as a figure of fun,’ a friend of the former England striker once told me.

Unlike my rival showbiz journalists, I’m still not on Gary’s ‘schmooze’ dining list. Oh no, Gaz made his feelings clear about me by ensuring I was no longer allowed to view his tweets on X.

John Terry

John Terry, with his wife Toni Poole, allegedly had an affair with his teammate’s fiancee, Vanessa Perroncel

Talking of footballers, another ex-England star who made his feelings clear about me is John Terry.

Only he wasn’t always so shy about communicating with me. Some years back, after meeting him in the now-defunct Mayfair celebrity nightspot Embassy, JT asked me for my phone number – only to spend weeks bombarding me with X-rated text messages while he was touring the US with his former football team Chelsea.

When claims emerged of him having an alleged affair with teammate and friend Wayne Bridge’s fiancee Vanessa Perroncel (she denies it), I shared a handful of these messages – heavily asterisked so as not to offend my readers, in a story in 2010.

‘Have you got any idea how much trouble you have caused?’ yelled his seemingly overworked PR following their publication.

Well, yes I do now. Because as John attempts to reinvent himself as a saint with his charity foundation, for which he recently ran the London marathon, or presenting himself as husband of the year by posting pictures with long-suffering wife Toni Poole, I’m blocked from following him on Instagram.

Brooklyn Beckham and Nicola Peltz

Brooklyn Beckham and Nicola Peltz accused Katie Hind of being biased in her reporting of the Beckhams’ family fallout

The Beckham-Peltzes have been no fans of my coverage of their family feud. In fact, I’m told Brooklyn and Nicola hit the roof when they spotted that my Instagram profile picture was me with the 26-year-old’s father, David – taken at the premiere of his Netflix documentary in 2023.

I’ve reported extensively on the Beckhams’ family fallout, which saw both Brooklyn and Nicola snubbing all of David’s 50th birthday celebrations earlier this year.

Describing me as being ‘cheek-to-cheek’ with the handsome footballing legend (something which is totally normal for a showbusiness journalist) they accuse me of being biased in my reporting of the Beckham clan.

So engrossed in their own self-pity, they must have missed the time I revealed Victoria B was using the furlough scheme, for her fashion business, during Covid, or when I told of David’s misjudged multi-million pound deal to be the face of the Qatar World Cup in 2022 – not the smartest move considering the country’s human rights record and stance on same-sex relationships.

No, they conveniently forgot all that, and blocked me anyway.

Still, why let the facts get in the way of a nepo baby tantrum?

Lily Allen

Lily Allen got into a row with Katie Hind in 2013

I incurred the wrath of Lily Allen back in 2013 when I bumped into her, and her friend Sadie Frost, at the Groucho Club in London. At the time, Lily had recently given birth to her second daughter, Marnie, with ex-husband Sam Cooper – and was still several years away from going sober, a feat she heroically achieved in 2019.

So when she mentioned to me that she’d recently been working out at trendy gym Barry’s Bootcamp, she was obviously so drunk, she couldn’t remember saying it.

I, however, remembered it clearly: ‘I’ve lost three quarters of a stone of my baby weight,’ she told me. ‘The weight is coming off but it’s hard work. I have been going to Barry’s Bootcamp for a while with a couple of friends. Hopefully I can lose more.’

Despite it being one of the more positive anecdotes at a time when she was struggling with alcohol and drug addictions, she decided to call me out on X – then Twitter – saying I’d made up the story.

There was no way I was going to take that lying down so I explained the truth. The row continued for months – not helped when she found out my political leanings (I’m a Tory, she most definitely leans to the Left). Today, 12 years later, I’m still blocked on X.

Professor Green

Professor Green launched a foul-mouthed tirade against Katie Hind before blocking her

When I revealed that self-styled woke, goody two-shoes ‘rap’ star Professor Green had bought a house in Peckham with his posh now-ex-wife, Made In Chelsea star Millie Mackintosh, he lost his rag.

Despite the south east London enclave being a rather large one, he thought I had made the location of his new home public.

Professor Green took to X to call me a ‘fat pig-faced c**t of a news whore.’

After setting his even fouler mouthed fans on me, he blocked ME.

Ever the wimp, he did write to me in private to apologise – a ‘sorry’ I never, ever accepted. He also made a plea to his disgusting supporters to stop their abuse of me. But I checked yesterday and I’m still blocked.

Laura Whitmore

Laura Whitmore stepped into Caroline Flack’s shoes to present Love Island in 2020

Laura Whitmore, the Irish media personality, is another one who can’t see her own hypocrisy – and got so cross when I called her out that she blocked me, this time on Instagram.

She began her career as a showbiz reporter for MTV where, among other stories, she reported on Amy Winehouse’s tragic death. Only she seems to have forgotten that and has become so sneering of journalists that she lambasted Dublin-based colleagues on X after she emailed her agent to check a tip she had received about her baby daughter’s name.

Her comment prompted days of hate for the reporter – the Irish Mail on Sunday’s showbiz supremo – and after I stuck up for her in an article, Laura obviously didn’t like it much.

Likewise, when I called Laura out for talking about her friendship with Love Island host Caroline Flack, who committed suicide in 2020, when I know how devastated Caroline was about Laura stepping into her shoes on the show when she was forced to stand down.

There was no phone call, just the Insta block button. Interestingly though, when I saw her in real life at Glastonbury, she wasn’t quite brave enough to confront me. Yep, easier to hide behind a keyboard, Laura.

Rebekah Vardy

Rebekah Vardy arrives at court in 2022 during her legal battle with Coleen Rooney

Shamed Wag Rebekah Vardy wasn’t content with only banning me from following her on Instagram, but on X too.

It’s fair to say we’ve never seen eye-to-eye. It all began in 2017 when she was preaching about her right to privacy, while inviting journalists to her Lincolnshire mansion to talk about her unlikely foray into gardening.

A Wag on the ascent, she was keen to promote herself as a wholesome, humble wife and mother, but I found her frosty and imperious. Barbara Good from the 1970s TV show The Good Life she most definitely was not. The whole thing was ridiculous.

She eventually blocked me in 2019 at the height of the ‘Wagatha Christie’ story. For anyone who needs reminding, this centred around a humiliating feud with fellow Wag Coleen Rooney, after the latter set an Instagram trap to out Rebekah as the ‘mole’ leaking private stories about Coleen to the tabloids.

Yet, our mutual antipathy was taken to a different level last year after I wrote a story about her apparently befriending Lauryn Goodman – the former mistress of footballer Kyle Walker.

‘Oh Katie Hind you really picked the wrong person today,’ she wrote in a post which she added to her Instagram stories back in November.

‘I’m sick of your needy clickbait, nonsensical attempt at journalism and pure lies,’ she wrote.

Nice.