Sammy Root has shared new details about his split from Jess Harding.
The Love Island stars called it quits earlier this month, just weeks after winning the hit dating show.
A source confirmed the news to MailOnline, saying: “Jess and Sammy have called it quits. Things have changed since leaving the villa and Jess has realised they’re better off as friends.”
Sammy later claimed he was blindsided by the news of their split in the press.
Jess later cryptically told her Instagram followers: “I really don’t want to go into detail by doing a big statement, but we’re just very different and behave differently and that’s it.”
Now, Sammy has opened up more about their break-up during his appearance on the Staying Relevant podcast.
The Love Island star told co-hosts Sam Thompson and Pete Wicks: “Long story short, we spoke and for like a week or something things were all over the place.”
“There’s a lot of pressure when you come out, I think Jess was struggling more with it,” Sammy said.
“We kind of on the phone said – you know how you say in the heat of an argument ‘We’re done’ – we did that a couple of times and ended up sorting it out.”
“Then the third time, she was in Ibiza, so I thought ‘When she gets back, even if we talk and meet and say it is done, then fine, whatever.'”
“Then I just woke up a couple days later and it was just in the press. I was like ‘Alright… guess I’m on my own!'”
“We did end of nice terms, we’re still fine. I said hello to her at Pride of Britain.”
“[I told her] I was going to post [a statement] later, because obviously she had said we were done, but no one’s heard anything from me.”
Sammy’s original statement, shared to his Instagram Stories, read: “Hi guys, I thought I would come online to address today’s news about me and Jess.”
“Yes we had a private conversation regarding our relationship but this was left up in the air as Jess is still away and we haven’t had a chance to speak in person. For me to then see today via the media that we had officially broken up came as a total shock.”
“To be totally clear – I at least wanted a face to face conversation to see if our relationship could be saved and felt this would be the respectful way forward,” Sammy continued.
“We had the most incredible experience winning Love Island and I genuinely saw a future with Jess.”
“I was committed and respectful to our relationship. Unfortunately things don’t always work out the way you’d hoped. Despite how this has all played out today. I think Jess is an amazing woman and genuinely wish her all the best.”
