Laura Whitmore has opened up about Caroline Flack’s death, over two months after the presenter sadly took her own life.
The Bray native has graced the latest issue of Cosmopolitan UK, and during her cover interview, Laura admitted Caroline’s death ‘scared’ her.
“It’ll never be OK and it’ll never be right. It did scare me,” Laura confessed.
“She was so strong-willed and feisty and I remember thinking, ‘God, I wish I could be as strong as her.’ I felt like if people said things, it wouldn’t bother her. But obviously it did because everyone is human.”
“I don’t want to speculate reasons because nobody will ever know. (But) it did frighten me,” Laura continued.
The 34-year-old took over Caroline’s hosting role on Love Island earlier this year, after the presenter was forced to step down in December following her assault arrest.
Speaking about taking on the role, Laura said: “I love doing live TV. I’d worked with most of the crew doing I’m A Celebrity… and MTV, so it just felt very comfortable. The show was the easiest thing.”
“It was everything around it that I couldn’t cope with. When I got the call I was like, ‘I need to talk to Iain, I need to talk to Caroline…’ It’s a weird one because you think you should just jump at it.”
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“Obviously you’re delighted that ITV trust you to do such a big show, but a friend of yours is also going through hell… Caroline had messaged me first to say, ‘I hope you get it,’ which was really nice.”
“You’re like, ‘Oh yay, I get to do this but, no, this isn’t how I want to get to do it.’ It was a really weird way to get a job.”
Caroline was sadly found dead at her flat in London on February 15, months after she was arrested for allegedly assaulting her boyfriend Lewis Burton.
It’s believed Caroline took her own life just hours after she was told she would face trial for the alleged assault – despite the fact that Lewis didn’t want to press charges.
Following her death, the presenter’s management slammed the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) for pursuing the ‘show trial’, knowing how vulnerable she was.
After Caroline sadly took her own life, her family released an unpublished Instagram post the presenter wanted to share before the died.
In the heartfelt statement, the TV star denied being a “domestic abuser”, and said the incident between her and Lewis was simply an “accident”.
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