Love Island’s Jacques O’Neill has sparked concern by returning to social media with a cryptic post.
The reality star has been noticeably absent from Instagram in recent weeks, and has since admitted he’s “had a lot going on”.
Breaking his silence on Thursday night, Jacques shared a glum selfie on his Instagram Story alongside a worrying caption.
He wrote: “A lot of people been asking if I’m okay lately… Sorry for not posting much I’ve just had a lot going on right now.”
The 23-year-old shot to fame on Love Island last year, when he coupled up with Paige Thorne.
However, their romance came to an end when Jacques suddenly decided to quit the show – after admitting to his fellow Islanders that he was “struggling”.
The 23-year-old promised to wait for Paige outside the villa, but she then grew close to bombshell Adam Collard, and the pair made it through to the semi-finals.
Adam and Paige have since called it quits, and Paige recently admitted she was back “in contact” with Jacques.
After leaving the show last year, the rugby player received a lot of backlash over his behaviour in and outside the villa.
Appearing on Scott Thomas’ podcast Learning As I Go in September, the 23-year-old broke down in tears as he confessed he “couldn’t even leave the house” once he returned to the UK.
Jacques said: “The hardest thing was… sorry, mate. Just seeing my mum, how she was. Seeing her in a state.”
Later in the interview, Scott asked what his mum had been struggling with, and Jacques clarified: “The death threats, man.”
Speaking about his shock decision to leave the show, Jacques said: “When I got out the villa, I had to go into a holding villa. My mum was like, ‘Get out, Jacques. Just get out right now, get home. Just leave.'”
“I was kicking off and was saying, ‘Get me a flight right now, I just want to be with my mum’. I knew she was in a bad place, she was breaking down on the phone.”
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The 23-year-old continued: “When I got home, she went, ‘Jacques, we can’t go out. We can’t go out. Like, everyone hates you.'”
“It killed me to see the way my mum was,” he explained. “I couldn’t speak to her about deep stuff because I’d just break down. It took me two weeks to give her a cuddle.”
During the interview, Jacques also said he was working on being a “better person”, after he was accused of “bullying” two other Islanders.
Last year, fans slammed Jacques for “mocking” Tasha Ghouri in a video that emerged online.
This y’all’s Jacques? #LoveIsland #jacques #TashaGhouri #Andrew #ekinsu #davide #Indiyah #dami #Damiyah #EKINDE pic.twitter.com/FlCgLADda8
— 🍒 (@aygfhdbli) August 4, 2022
The clip was allegedly posted on his private Instagram Story the night of the 2022 Love Island final.
In the video, Jacques was seen watching the show’s final episode with a friend when he appeared to mock Tasha during her love declaration to Andrew Le Page.
As the dancer read out her speech, Jacques impersonated Davide Sanclimenti by shouting at the TV: “You are a liar, an actress, go the f**k out.”
The video went viral on Twitter and Reddit, as fans called out the rugby player for “belittling” Tasha.
Fuelling rumours of a feud between them, Tasha and Andrew noticeably unfollowed Jacques on Instagram.
That same week, Jacques was also accused of “bullying” fellow Islander Remi Lambert.
Remi called out Jacques’ behaviour in a post shared on Instagram, after he appeared to mock his rapping skills during an Instagram Live with Luca Bish.
In the lengthy post, Remi claimed Jacques picked on him in the villa, and said he and Luca should have been kicked off the show for their alleged behaviour.
