Politics
Caroline Flack’s family say she was ‘fascinated’ by suicide & had a history of taking overdoses when relationships ended
THE family of tragic TV star Caroline Flack have revealed she was “fascinated” by suicide and had a long history of taking overdoses when relationships collapsed.
Her twin sister Jody says the presenter, who took her own life last year, “found heartbreak impossible” and couldn’t cope with the intense pressure of fame.
Caroline Flack’s twin sister Jody says she was ‘fascinated’ by suicide[/caption]
Jody, speaking in Channel 4 documentary Caroline Flack: Her Life and Death, said: “With each serious boyfriend she sort of took a lot of tablets, drank alot and ended up in an A&E situation a lot of times.
“She really didn’t think she could cope with that feeling – it was her trying to control it.
“She was quite fascinated by the subject of suicide.
“I knew that about her so it was a worry for a long time. It was something I tried to get my head around for a long time.”
Caroline pictured with her twin sister Jody in 2014[/caption]
She had a history of taking overdoses from a young age[/caption]
Her sister also remembered one of her first loves when she was a teenager – an older boy who worked on the waltzers at a fair – which established a vicious cycle in the life of Caroline.
Jody said: “That was I guess the first time she got super upset when that didn’t work out.
“She was heartbroken, she ran away from home and we didn’t know where she was and she’d gone to his house and we were banging on his door and she really struggled emotionally, she was very depressed and then that pattern carried on forever. She really did find heartbreak impossible.”
Caroline’s mum, Christine, recalled a later relationship after she left home at 16 to attend drama school in Cambridge. When it ended Caroline, who died last February, took her first overdose.
She said: “It ended and then we got a call that she had taken some pills and she spent time in hospital and then you could tell that it wasn’t right, her reaction wasn’t right. She didn’t handle heartbreak well.
“We went through all the doctors and they said, ‘We think it was a one off’ but there was always that fear after then. You’re always worried about in case anything happened.”
In the heartbreaking doc, which airs on March 17, Caroline’s family, friends and the celebrities who worked with her try to understand what led up to the tragedy.
They all point towards the toxic effect of social media on her mental health.
Her rise to fame coincided with the growth of Twitter and other sites, and she endured constant criticism throughout her career.
That intensified when she was facing trial for assaulting her boyfriend Lewis Burton and had to stand down as presenter of Love Island.
But her loved ones said she was addicted to social media.
Her mum, Christine, said: “I used to say, ‘Well just don’t read it, just get rid of your phone’. But she’d be on it constantly. You’d try and talk to her but she’d be looking on her phone.”
Caroline struggled to cope with the pressures of fame[/caption]
Singer Olly Murs recalls the abuse she received online during their spell hosting X Factor together in 2015.
Olly said: “The abuse that she was getting, it was awful. Those comments did affect her every day, those comments did hurt her.
“To think she took her own life the way she did, I just can’t fathom it. I can’t process that.”
Olly Murs says Caroline suffered from online abuse during her spell hosting The X Factor[/caption]
The doc also looked at how her later relationships were particularly bad for her.
In 2018 she started dating Andrew Brady, former contestant on The Apprentice and Celebrity Big Brother, and within months they were engaged.
YOU’RE NOT ALONE
EVERY 90 minutes in the UK a life is lost to suicide.
It doesn’t discriminate, touching the lives of people in every corner of society – from the homeless and unemployed to builders and doctors, reality stars and footballers.
It’s the biggest killer of people under the age of 35, more deadly than cancer and car crashes.
And men are three times more likely to take their own life than women.
Yet it’s rarely spoken of, a taboo that threatens to continue its deadly rampage unless we all stop and take notice, now.
That is why The Sun launched the You’re Not Alone campaign.
The aim is that by sharing practical advice, raising awareness and breaking down the barriers people face when talking about their mental health, we can all do our bit to help save lives.
Let’s all vow to ask for help when we need it, and listen out for others… You’re Not Alone.
If you, or anyone you know, needs help dealing with mental health problems, the following organisations provide support:
- CALM, www.thecalmzone.net, 0800 585 858
- Heads Together, www.headstogether.org.uk
- Mind, www.mind.org.uk, 0300 123 3393
- Papyrus, www.papyrus-uk.org, 0800 068 41 41
- Samaritans, www.samaritans.org, 116 123
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Sister Jody said: “That was quite a turbulent relationship. She was really happy to get engaged, and there was something about that she felt would be ok and it would work, and it didn’t.”
Mum Christine added: “Every time she got a boyfriend she really liked, we’d say, ‘It’s lovely, maybe this time it will all be alright’.
“She’d meet someone and she’d be really happy, but you were always worried that if it ended – or when it ended – she would get…she couldn’t handle heartbreak. She couldn’t. Ever.”
