‘There were dark days’: Faye reveals how Love Island hate impacted her mental health

TW: Mention of weight loss and suicide

Love Island 2021 runner up Faye Winter has revealed on a podcast that she was in a really “dark place” after she left the Love Island villa and how difficult it was on her family while she was on the show. Speaking with Sharon Gaffka, Faye Winter has spoken about her mental health struggles since being on Love Island and how all the hate messages she received impacted her own sister’s mental health.

When Faye’s sister took part in the parent’s day episode, Faye shared how shocked she was to see how much weight her sister had lost and initially put it down to a breakup. It wasn’t until after the show and she saw her sister again she realised the toll managing Faye’s social media had on her. She said: “The thing that shocked me the most was when I left to go onto Love Island I was close to my sister and she was a healthy size 12 girl. When she walked into that villa on the friends and family day she had cut her hair and she was like a size six and I was like ‘what has happened?’

“I knew she was going through a tough time anyway and I was like ‘okay she’s just been through a breakup and she’s obviously done a breakup diet.’ And then I came out and I realised what had happened. I had caused that stress on my sister, I had done that and that is so hard.”

While Faye was in the villa, her sister had to block specific words on her Instagram from all the hate she began to receive and looking back on all the words, she revealed how it put her in a dark place after Love Island. Faye said: “When I go on the words that my sister had to block on my Instagram and you look. When you get told enough that your life isn’t worth it and that you shouldn’t be here, that takes its toll and I was in such a dark place and I’ve only recently been able to talk about it.”

She now feels a “sense of responsibility” to share with people how their words can damage someone’s mental health. She said: “I’m still here so I can say that story but there were some really dark days.”

It has been one year since Faye Winter was on Love Island and she shared that she still has mental health struggles and “dark days” she feels she’s “never going to get away from”. Faye said: “I feel so lonely. I feel so alone because my friends and family are two and a half hours away, I’ve moved my whole life to be with Teddy because it’s what I wanted to do. He nips out to see his family and I sit at home completely on my own. And that’s in your own thoughts and it’s so hard. When you’re having a down day it’s so hard to see the positives.”

Love Island 2022 is available on demand on the ITVHub. For all the latest Love Island news and gossip and for the best memes and quizzes, like The Holy Church of Love Island on Facebook. 

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Featured image credit via Instagram @faye__winter.