Laura Whitmore has shared the last text messages between her and Caroline Flack on the five-year anniversary of her death. Flack, who was best known for presenting ITV’s Love Island, took her own life on 15 February 2020, aged 40.
The Irish TV presenter shared a photo of the pair together, along with a series of screenshots of their WhatsApp conversation, in which she told Flack she had been offered the Love Island presenting role.
In the messages, Flack said it was «perfect» that Whitmore would be doing the show alongside her husband Iain Stirling, who narrates the series, and followed up the message with a series of love hearts. Flack hosted the reality dating show between 2015 and 2019. Whitmore took over in 2020. Maya Jama stepped into the role in 2023.
In her Instagram post, Whitmore, 39, said: «I got a new phone this month and as I was trying to download WhatsApp messages from my cloud loads of old messages came up. Ones I thought I lost a few years ago and no longer had. It really hit me hard. Looking at messages I’ve never publicly shared as they were private messages. Media outlets wrote a lot far from the actual truth. I think they show a side to Caroline which is nice to remember. Hence I’m sharing now.»
Flack’s family previously released an unpublished Instagram post she had written describing the stress of her arrest for common assault, while her former boyfriend Danny Cipriani also shared their final messages. A friend also shared her «final photo» taken just hours before her death. After Flack’s death, a coroner ruled she took her own life after learning prosecutors were going to press ahead with an assault charge over an incident involving her boyfriend, Lewis Burton.
Born in Enfield, Flack got her first TV break playing Bubbles on comedy sketch show Bo Selecta alongside Leigh Francis, before fronting the International Pepsi Chart Show and moving on to Channel 4’s E4 Music. She later hosted Big Brother’s Little Brother, I’m A Celebrity… Get Me Out Of Here, and X Factor, going on to win Strictly Come Dancing in 2014.
An upcoming Disney+ documentary follows Flack’s mother as she tries to understand events in the final months of her daughter’s life, while also celebrating her career. Christine Flack unveiled a suicide prevention bench in north London last September in honor of her daughter.
Anyone feeling emotionally distressed or suicidal can call Samaritans for help on 116 123 or email jo@samaritans.org in the UK. In the US, call the Samaritans branch in your area or 1 (800) 273-TALK.
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