Ekin-Su Cülcüloğlu and Davide Sanclimenti have revealed what’s really going on between them.
The Love Island 2022 winners left fans heartbroken when they announced their split at the end of June.
But just a few weeks later, the pair were spotted leaving ITV’s Summer Party together, sparking rumours of a reunion.
Picture: Brian McEvoy
Following weeks of speculation, Davide appeared to confirm their romance was back on last month as he paid tribute to Ekin-Su on her 29th birthday.
On Tuesday, the Love Island stars stepped out at the National Television Awards for their first red carpet appearance after rekindling their romance.
During an interview, the couple were asked: “What’s happening? Are you together, are you not together?”
Davide cryptically said: “We’re just enjoying each other’s company.”
The interviewer prompted: “So we’re… platonic, but we’re not in a relationship?”
Davide replied: “We leave the mysteries,” before Ekin-Su chimed in: “Leave it to the imagination. You can label it whatever you want to label it. But we are enjoying each other’s company and we’re very happy.”
The Italian Stallion then said: “We say in Italy ‘If there are roses, they will bloom.'”
After being prompted for a definitive answer once again, the Turkish actress said: “The thing is – a relationship is like a roller coaster, right? A real relationship has ups and downs.”
Ekin-Su and Davide later insisted that they’re happy with their current relationship.
The Italian Stallion said: “We’re enjoying the roller coaster.”
The couple’s reunion came after Davide announced their split in a statement shared via his Instagram Stories on June 29.
At the time, he wrote: “Ekin-Su and I are no longer together. I am grateful for the memories and opportunities we shared together and I wish her nothing but the best.”
@abbybox4 #ekinsu #davide #loveisland #nta #ntas ♬ original sound – MLB
“I would like for everybody to respect this decision during this difficult time. I will continue to support Ekin-Su in anyway possible.”
The UK Sun later reported that Ekin was “blindsided” by their split, but Davide slammed the story – claiming their relationship had been on the rocks “for months”.
At the time, he wrote on Instagram: “Posting publicly about the breakup was extremely difficult yet necessary, despite the urge to keep it private, and contrary to what chinese whispers are saying, I didn’t blindside her as she was fully aware about my intention to post and at first she even agreed to post at the same time, she did change her mind last minute though.”
“I respected her decision not to post it at the same time as me, but since the relationship has been on the rocks for months and parting ways has been a long time coming, I ultimately decided to go ahead with it rather than keep on dragging a situation that became unhealthy for us both.”
Davide continued: “This has been one of the hardest things I ever did in my life and there’s no perfect way to navigate a breakup.”
“Sadly, there’s been a stream of toxic criticism circulating around me, and it’s disheartening. The constant creation of fake narratives on a person who was nothing but a genuine, caring and loving boyfriend for her and all he wanted was to enjoy and nurture the beautiful relationship they had.”
“And instead we had to deal with ridiculous accusations and fake stories. This over time had a massive impact on my mental health and our relationship. Of course no on is perfect yet there’s been a lot of pressure for us to be the perfect couple.”
“I’d accept the constructive criticism, but it’s the daily fake and toxic accusations that are going around that I cannot deal with.”
“It saddens me that some people keep judging a relationship and a person based solely on social media snippers, news and rumours, lacking the full context of what happens in real life and what has been said between me and Ekin.”
“Some people even keep on judging my English. I’m proud of myself. I arrived in England 4 years ago without knowing a word of English, and in such a short period of time I graduated in MSc Banking and Finance with a first class honours, worked in an asset management company, opened a small business, won a reality tv show reaching the hearts of a whole country, keeping them entertained and making them laugh.”
“All this and more done in a language that is not my native one. Fortunately most of the people have good sense of judgement and see how things really are. Sadly some people are creating even more stories just for some clicks on their names or pages when the reality is that I’ve been always by her side supporting her and wanting her to succeed.”
Davide concluded his post by writing: “I felt I had to say something to give voice to the majority of people that know I’m not what some twisted and nasty individuals have been trying to portray me for months.”
“Thank you for the many supportive and kind messages I’ve received and keep on receiving. I will keep on being the genuine, loving and fun person I’ve always been and people have loved.”
Breaking her silence on their split, Ekin-Su wrote on her Instagram Stories: “Hi everyone, I thought it was time to come back online to thank you so much for all of your messages over the past 2 weeks.”
“It has shown me what a kind, supportive, strong community I have behind me. I took some much needed time away with my family which has been really special but now it’s time to realign & get back to work.”
“I have such an exciting year ahead & I want to fully focus on that. I really appreciate your ongoing support. Thank you for cheering me on.”
Ekin-Su and Davide shot to fame when they appeared on the 2022 series of Love Island.
The pair were a fan-favourite couple, and went on to win the series – beating runners up Gemma Owen and Luca Bish.
Shortly after leaving the villa, the fan-favourite contestants landed their own two-part show, Ekin-Su & Davide: Homecomings, which saw them travel to their native Turkey and Italy to meet each other’s families and experience each other’s cultures.
