Caroline Flack death: Friends of tragic TV star Flack condemn online trolls and tabloids
The 40-year-old former Love Island presenter died at her home in east London on Saturday.
Friends of Ms Flack have criticised the “keyboard warriors” who abused her on social media.
Fiona Fagan was a friend of Ms Flack for more than 20 years.
Speaking on RTÉ Radio’s Ryan Tubridy Show, she said: “You can’t say those nasty things. There’s going to be consequences; people are fragile.
Someone lost their life because of this; they’ve taken their life because of this.
Ms Fagan is a stylist on Dancing with the Stars. She and Ms Flack met when Ms Fagan moved from Ireland to London more than two decades ago.
She described her friend as “fun” and “sparky”.
“Her laugh would have you in stitches,” she said.
Ms Fagan had messaged Ms Flack on Friday, but did not receive a response.
“She had spoken to friends in the past about taking her own life; she was obviously in a bad, bad place. But no-one thought that it would happen or that she would do it.”
The stylist spoke of how Ms Flack’s mother would plead with her not to go on Twitter after she presented Love Island, because she knew her daughter would be slated.
But the presenter would look at comments about what she wore and how she looked and would be downcast for hours or days.
“Her mum was trying to protect her,” Ms Fagan said.
Ms Fagan had been concerned for her friend.
Ms Flack had stepped down from presenting Love Island after she was alleged to have assaulted her boyfriend, Lewis Burton, in December.
She entered a not-guilty plea to the assault charge at Highbury Corner Magistrates’ Court and was released on bail, with conditions that stopped her having contact with Burton, ahead of a trial in March.
“It was Valentine’s Day and she is a hopeless romantic. She couldn’t see her boyfriend. She was like a big heart of love, and she loved love stories, and movies. I just felt I needed to reach out,” Ms Fagan said.
“She couldn’t see him because of the court case. I know she was with a girlfriend; she had lots of friends around her, who care about her.
“London can be quite a lonely place without a partner to have your back, support you; it’s a really hard industry out there,” Ms Fagan said.
The criticism online really took her to the ground: she was very insecure, very fragile, concerned about her weight, her figure. I just can’t believe she thought there was no other option. I’m in shock that this is the way it ended for her.
“She’s someone’s daughter, she’s someone’s twin sister, she’s someone’s friend, she’s someone’s aunty. Just be kind. You cannot take people down in that manner.”
Laura Whitmore, a friend of Ms Flack’s for more than ten years, said: “I’m not going to pretend she’s perfect, but she lived every mistake publicly, under the scrutiny of the media. I want to use my platform to call people out, because it’s gone too far.
“Your words affect people. To paparazzi and tabloids looking for a cheap sell, to trolls hiding behind a keyboard: enough.”
Presenter ‘warned police she would kill herself’
Caroline Flack told police she would kill herself after she allegedly assaulted her boyfriend in December.
The presenter, described as “vulnerable” by her management, had pleaded not guilty to assaulting Lewis Burton at her former flat in London in a court hearing in December.
Highbury Corner Magistrates’ Court heard that, in the aftermath of the alleged incident, Ms Flack told police: “I did it”, and then warned she would kill herself.
She was arrested and charged with assault by beating after police were called to her flat in Islington on December 12.
The Metropolitan Police declined to comment, although further detail may emerge at an inquest.
Ms Flack stepped down from presenting the current winter series of Love Island after the alleged assault.
The programme did not air on Sunday night, but returned last night with a tribute to Ms Flack.
Ambulance crews were called to a property in Clapton, north east London on Friday night, where Ms Flack was thought to have recently moved, but a London Ambulance Service spokesman refused to confirm or deny reports that the paramedics attended her flat.
An LAS statement said: “We were called shortly after 10.30pm on February 14 to a residential property on Northwold Road, N16.
Crews attended and, following a clinical assessment, the person was not taken to hospital. Due to patient confidentiality, we cannot comment further.
The LAS also said crews were called to Northwold Road at 2.30pm on Saturday, adding that “a person was pronounced dead at the scene”, but would not comment on whether the two incidents were linked.
The shock news prompted a flood of tributes from celebrities. It also raised questions about the decision to persist with prosecuting Ms Flack for the alleged assault and about the pressures faced by TV celebrities from the press and social media.
Her management company criticised Britain’s Crown Prosecution Service for pressing ahead with what it called her “show trial” even after Mr Burton said he did not support it.
The tragedy has put the spotlight back on the pressures attached to celebrity.
Ms Flack is the fourth person linked to the ITV2 dating programme to have killed themselves.
Sophie Gradon, who was a contestant in 2016, was found dead at her home in 2018 at the age of 32. BHer boyfriend Aaron Armstrong, who had found her body, killed himself three weeks later. He was 25.
Mike Thalassitis, a 2017 contestant in the series, was 26 when he was found dead in a park in March last year.
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