UK TV host Caroline Flack who shot to fame with Love Island dies at 40
Caroline Flack enjoyed a meteoric career rise after co-hosting Saturday morning children’s TV shows. She fronted companion shows to the popular ITV programmes I’m A Celebrity...Get Me Out of Here! and The X-Factor. He career blossomed further after she won the BBC show Strictly Come Dancing in 2014.
Caroline Flack, a British television presenter who hosted the controversial reality TV show Love Island, has died at age 40, her family said on Saturday.
“We can confirm that our Caroline passed away today, the 15th of February,” the family said in a statement. A family lawyer said Flack had killed herself and was found in her London apartment.
Flack hosted Love Island from its launch in 2015, but stepped down last year after being charged with assaulting her boyfriend, Lewis Burton. She denied the charge and was scheduled to stand trial starting next month.
The management team of Caroline Flack has accused prosecutors of pursuing a “show trial” over domestic abuse claims against the “vulnerable” star. “In recent months Caroline had been under huge pressure because of an ongoing case and potential trial which has been well reported,” said Francis Ridley, of Money Talent Management, which looked after the 40-year-old host.
“The Crown Prosecution Service should look at themselves today and how they pursued a show trial that was not only without merit but not in the public interest. And ultimately resulted in significant distress to Caroline,” added the statement.
British commercial network ITV, which broadcasts the show, said in a statement that “everybody at Love Island and ITV is shocked and saddened by this desperately sad news”.
“Caroline was a muchloved member of the ‘Love Island’ team, and our sincere thoughts and condolences are with her family and friends,” the network statement said.
The sixth season of the show is currently airing. A Love Island highlights episode titled “Unseen Bits” that was set to air Saturday evening on ITV2 was pulled from the schedule after Flack’s death was announced.
Until her arrest, Flack enjoyed a meteoric career rise after co-hosting Saturday morning children’s television shows. She fronted companion shows to the popular ITV programmes I’m A Celebrity...Get Me Out of Here! and The X-Factor.
Flack’s career blossomed further after she won the BBC show Strictly Come Dancing in 2014, the British version of Dancing With The Stars. While hosting Love Island, Flack made her West End stage debut in 2018, playing Roxie Hart in the musical Chicago.
Fellow TV presenters expressed shock over her death Saturday.
Talk show most Piers Morgan tweeted that Flack “was a fun, bright & sparky person whose whole world collapsed recently, both professionally & personally. She told me it had been the worst time of her life, and was clearly struggling to cope with losing everything she held dear. This is such sad, awful news.”