Jacques O’Neill has said his ADHD is “no excuse” for his behaviour on Love Island.
The rugby star’s family defended his treatment of Paige Thorne while he was on the show, revealing he was diagnosed with ADHD as a child which causes him to “struggle with his emotions”.
The 23-year-old took to Instagram on Sunday afternoon to explain his shock decision to leave the show, and address the “hate” he has been receiving.
He wrote: “Where do I start.. What a rollercoaster of emotions that was from start to finish! Since leaving the villa I’ve had time to reflect on my time being in there and if I’m going to be completely honest I wasn’t mentally prepared for how it was going to be at all – underestimated it massively!”
“The first 2 weeks of my experience was probably the happiest I’ve been in a very long time. On the other hand the last 2 weeks was definitely the worst I’ve ever felt in my life. I was finding myself feeling worse and worse every day and if I didn’t leave when I did I was scared I would never have got back to my normal self!”
“I’ve watched back the episodes that I got the most hate for and listen I understand why I did. I’ve got a lot of work to do for myself to become a better person. I know my family come out and said about my ADHD while I was in the villa but that is no excuse for me.”
“Yes, I might find certain things a lot more difficult than others but at the end of the day I need to take responsibility for my own actions and I’ll hold my hands up.”
Jacques continued: “I sometimes couldn’t watch how I was speaking and acting in certain situations but I’m actually glad I’ve watched it because now it’s really opened my eyes up and it’s time to work on myself for myself..”
“I want to finish off and just say how overwhelming it is to see how much support Im getting from you people. If it wasn’t for yous I would be in such a worse head space than I am right now so thank you so much for that.”
“You people that have had my back and messaging I have been reading them every night laid in bed overthinking everything and thinking the worst about everything but you people got me through it. I do really appreciate the love, honestly thank you so much ❤️”
It comes after Jacques said joining Love Island was “the worst decision of my life”.
