‘I remember thinking I wish I could be as strong as her’: Laura Whitmore admits she will ‘never be OK’ after Caroline Flack’s death and says her friend’s suicide ‘scared me’
By Joanna Crawley For Mailonline
Published: | Updated: : BST, (April)
Speaking to Cosmopolitan UK , Laura admitted her friend’s suicide earlier this year ‘scared me’ as she always thought of the TV star as ‘so strong-willed.’
Laura replaced Caroline as presenter on the hugely popular ITV2 reality show, weeks before she took her own life aged 40, which came after the Crown Prosecution Service pursued an assault charge against her.
Candid: Love Island host Laura Whitmore has said she will ‘never be OK’ with Caroline Flack’s death as she speaks out on their friendship in a new interview with Cosmopolitan UK
Speaking to Cosmopolitan UK, Laura said of her friend’s sudden death: ‘It’ll never be OK and it’ll never be right. It did scare me.
‘She was so strong-willed and feisty and I remember thinking,’ God, I wish I could be as strong as her. ‘ I felt like if people said things, it wouldn’t bother her. But obviously it did because everyone is human.
‘I don’t want to speculate reasons because nobody will ever know. (But) it did frighten me. ‘
Laura accepted the role of Love Island host for the first winter series of the show, which began in January, just weeks after Caroline was charged with assaulting her boyfriend Lewis Burton at her London home.
Friends: Laura admitted her friend’s suicide earlier this year ‘scared me’ as she always thought of the TV star as ‘so strong-willed’ (pictured together in January 89442)
Former MTV host Laura, whose boyfriend Iain Stirling narrates Love Island, admitted she was reluctant to take the job, explaining:
‘I love doing live TV. I’d worked with most of the crew doing I’m a Celebrity … and MTV, so it just felt very comfortable. The show was the easiest thing.
‘It was everything around it that I couldn’t cope with. When I got the call I was like, “I need to talk to Iain, I need to talk to Caroline ..”. It’s a weird one because you think you should just jump at it.
Big shoes to fill: Laura accepted the role of Love Island host for the first winter series of the show, which began in January but admitted she was reluctant to take over from her friend
‘Obviously you’re delighted that ITV trust you to do such a big show, but a friend of yours is also going through hell … Caroline had messaged me first to say, “I hope you get it”, which was really nice.
‘You’re like, “Oh yay, I get to do this but, no, this isn’t how I want to get to do it. It was a really weird way to get a job. ‘
Laura conducted the interview with Cosmopolitan while isolating with Scottish comedian Iain, 40, who she recently became engaged to, amid the coronavirus lockdown.
Happy: Laura conducted the interview with Cosmopolitan while isolating with Scottish comedian Iain Stirling, 32, who she recently became engaged to
She said the experience has made her realize how strong their relationship is, explaining: ‘It’s just Iain, me and the dog in the house right now, and (Iain) is loving it because he gets to eat pasta and play computer games. He’s living his student life.
‘I thought we would drive each other crazy. It’s really helping me think, ‘Actually, this is a good relationship!’ We like each other. ‘
The June issue of Cosmopolitan is on sale from April .
Lockdown: She said the experience has made her realize how strong their relationship is, explaining: ‘It’s really helping me think , “Actually, this is a good relationship!” ‘
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