The life of a longtime U.K. television host has taken a horribly tragic turn. It has been confirmed today (Saturday, February 15) that the former host of the U.K.’s Love Island, Caroline Flack, has died at the age of 40. The sad news comes as Flack was about to face off in court over charges that had been brought last year. Flack’s trial date had been set to begin shortly.
Caroline Flack’s family confirmed that the former Love Island U.K. star had been found unresponsive in her London apartment on February 15, per ET. A lawyer for the Flack family confirmed to Sky News that the star committed suicide. Her family asked for privacy following the tragic news.
In December, Caroline Flack exited the U.K. version of Love Island after she was charged with assault by beating. According to TMZ, her tennis star boyfriend Lewis Burton had accused her of attacking him with a lamp at their home. She pleaded not guilty. Her trial was set to begin on March 4.
After being charged with assault, Caroline Flack bowed out of hosting the winter installment of Love Island. While announcing her exit, Flack maintained that “matters were not as have been reported."
Despite that, Caroline Flack said she did not want to “detract” from Love Island’s sixth season and opted to step away after hosting it for 4 years. Following Flack’s exit, television presenter Laura Whitmore replaced her as the show's host, per Glamour. Since the confirmation of Flack’s death, Whitmore has taken to Twitter to pay an emotional tribute to Flack. You can read Whitmore’s tweet below:
Twitter has been home to many reactions as the news of Caroline Flack’s death continues to be absorbed. As people processed Flack’s passing, along with the recent developments in her life, one user took to the social media site to post this:
One of the hosts of the popular U.K. talk show, BBC Breakfast, spoke out following Caroline Flack’s death. Dan Walker shared his thoughts on the former Love Island host, in which he reflected on several nuances surrounding the presenter. Check out Walker’s tweet below:
As mentioned earlier, her trial date was a few weeks away at the time of her passing. Caroline Flack had not been active on Instagram since a post on December 24, 2019, wherein she had addressed her situation at the time. Flack noted “the scrutiny and speculation” was a lot for “one person to take on their own.”
Based on what is currently on her Instagram, Caroline Flack had not been active on the social media site again, until a day ago. At the time, she posted a set of pictures of her and a dog on Instagram. She captioned the photo without any words, opting for a red heart emoji. The image has so far garnered over 350,000 likes. It has turned out to be her last.
While a controversial series, Love Island was brought to the U.S. via a stateside version that ran in summer 2019. Ratings for it did not manage to outperform the summer’s other reality offerings, including CBS’s Big Brother and ABC’s The Bachelorette. Love Island will be back for a second season after this winter and spring’s premieres on CBS this summer.
