Caroline Flack’s family have released her unseen Instagram message
She was advised not to share the message on social media
Lucy WoodhamCaroline Flack’s family have released a message Caroline was due to post on Instagram, but was told not to by advisers.
The message details her suffering with mental health, describing how her whole life was “swept away” after her arrest. She also wrote how she took responsibility for her actions on the night of her arrest, but added “I am not a domestic abuser”.
Advisers told Caroline not to post the message to social media, however Caroline’s mother, Chris, said she wanted to release the message through the Eastern Daily Press. “It was describing how she was feeling and what she had gone through”, she said. “No more than that. It was not blaming anyone or pointing any fingers.”
Credit: @carolineflack
Caroline Flack’s Instagram message said:
“For a lot of people, being arrested for common assault is an extreme way to have some sort of spiritual awakening but for me it’s become the normal.
“I’ve been pressing the snooze button on many stresses in my life – for my whole life. I’ve accepted shame and toxic opinions on my life for over 10 years and yet told myself it’s all part of my job. No complaining.
“The problem with brushing things under the carpet is …. they are still there and one day someone is going to lift that carpet up and all you are going to feel is shame and embarrassment.
“On December the 12th 2019 I was arrested for common assault on my boyfriend …Within 24 hours my whole world and future was swept from under my feet and all the walls that I had taken so long to build around me, collapsed. I am suddenly on a different kind of stage and everyone is watching it happen.
“I have always taken responsibility for what happened that night. Even on the night. But the truth is …. It was an accident.
“I’ve been having some sort of emotional breakdown for a very long time.
“But I am NOT a domestic abuser. We had an argument and an accident happened. An accident. The blood that someone SOLD to a newspaper was MY blood and that was something very sad and very personal.
“The reason I am talking today is because my family can’t take anymore. I’ve lost my job. My home. My ability to speak. And the truth has been taken out of my hands and used as entertainment.
“I can’t spend every day hidden away being told not to say or speak to anyone.
“I’m so sorry to my family for what I have brought upon them and for what my friends have had to go through.
“I’m not thinking about ‘how I’m going to get my career back.’ I’m thinking about how I’m going to get mine and my family’s life back.
“I can’t say anymore than that.”
Caroline Flack was arrested and charged with assault in December after a fight with her boyfriend Lewis Burton. Caroline Flack and Lewis Burton appeared in court days before Christmas, where the judge ruled the couple could not have any contact with one another before her trial, which was due to start in March.
Caroline was found dead in her Stoke Newington apartment the day after Valentine’s Day. Her prosecutors have accused the Crown Prosecution Service of a ‘show trial’, whilst friends have accused the tabloids and social media for contributing towards her death.
Tributes have continued since her death on Saturday. Love Island was cancelled for two nights, with Iain Stirling paying tribute to Caroline at the start of Monday’s show, remembering her for her “passion, warmth and infectious enthusiasm”.
A petition with over 700,000 signatures called Caroline’s Law has been set up. The petition aims to make it a criminal offence for the British media to “knowingly and relentlessly bully a person, whether they be in the public eye or not, up to the point that they take their own life.”
The message shown in the Love Island ad breaks
Caroline Flack’s mum, Chris, said: “Carrie sent me this message at the end of January but was told not to post it by advisers but she so wanted to have her little voice heard.
“So many untruths were out there but this is how she felt and my family and I would like people to read her own words.
“Carrie was surrounded by love and friends but this was just too much for her.
“Her friends Molly, Lou, Sam, Liam and Simon need a very special mention and lots of thanks for trying so hard to keep her safe.
“Jody her twin sister was there her whole life for her but this time nothing could take away the hurt of such injustice
“As Carrie would say: ‘In a nasty world just be kind.'”
If you are struggling to cope, please call Samaritans on 116 123 (UK and Ireland), email [email protected], or visit the Samaritans website to find details of the nearest branch. Samaritans is available round the clock, every single day of the year, providing a safe place for anyone struggling to cope, whoever they are, however they feel, whatever life has done to them.
Related stories recommended by this writer:
• What is Caroline’s Law? The viral petition with nearly 500,000 signatures
• Caroline Flack’s boyfriend Lewis Burton speaks out for first time since her death