Amber Gill has admitted that she “pretends to be happy” on social media, as she opened up about her mental health struggles.
The 23-year-old rose to fame after winning last year’s Love Island, and has since gained a massive following of 2.7million people on Instagram.
Amber opened up about the importance of being honest online, but revealed she herself has struggled to do so in the past.
“During lockdown I kind of wanted to be positive for other people when really I was feeling stressed, but I was probably doing that for other people’s sake to boost morale. That’s kind of what I like to do on Instagram,” she told OK! Magazine.
“Subconsciously, I’m posting something and pretending to be happy when I’m not really happy myself, so yeah I’ve definitely done that a couple of times.
“I think it’s important [to be honest] because for me I’ve got millions of followers and they will listen to me, they think that I’m authentic and that everything I’m saying is the truth and they follow me to see me.
“So I think it’s really important to be honest with them because even I judge people’s lives from Instagram so I can’t imagine how they feel seeing me living my best life.
“So, I think it’s good to be honest at the same time, so they can be like ‘oh wait Amber sometimes feels like that,’ or ‘Amber doesn’t feel good today,’ so they feel like it’s ok if they feel like that too.”
Amber added: “I think mental health is important to me in so far as it affects your every day life really and how you think and how you feel and how you act and how you react to things and how you manage stress.
“It’s always been quite an important thing in my life and I think it’s something that everyone should be aware of and feel comfortable to talk about as well.”
On this week’s episode of #GossChats, Goss.ie Founder Alexandra Ryan chats to Jackie Fox – who lost her daughter Nicole to suicide after being cyber bullied.
Jackie talks about her fight to get Coco’s Law brought into legislation in Ireland – a new law that will make online bullying a criminal offence.
WARNING – episode contains discussion about self-harming and suicide. If this interview affects you in any way please contact Pieta House.
Please free call the Pieta House 24-hour helpline on 1800 247 247. You can also contact the helpline by text – text HELP to 51444.
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