Caroline Flack’s mum hits out at ‘irresponsible’ social media firms
Family open up about tragic star in documentary on her life and death
CAROLINE Flack’s mother has said social media companies “fail to protect” people from abuse and comments on the platforms had a big impact on her daughter.
The Love Island presenter took her own life at the age of 40 on February 15 last year.
A new Channel 4 documentary is to tell the story of her life and death, as well as her experience of having issues with her mental health.
Speaking ahead of its release, Christine Flack said social media companies “fail to protect anybody”.
She added: “When I was young, if you were bullied at school you could get away from it.
“You can’t get away from it now because it follows you home, it follows you on your phone.
“Carrie was the worst one, she would look at her phone all the time.
“It took her over, what was being said on there.
“There could be 30 nice things said, one bad thing said, and that was it.”
Christine said social media companies should take action over abuse online.
“They are making so much money, it is not that there’s a lack of money of profits will suffer,” she said.
“Someone’s got to take a responsibility somewhere for it.”
She said Charlie Russell, the director of the programme, was like a “therapist for a year”.
“He’s made this year bearable because it was someone we could talk to that wasn’t another member of the family,” Christine added.
“There was no other side, we could just say what we liked and we did find the making of this good.”
Christine said that, from a young age, Caroline had “found heartbreak impossible” and became distraught after her teenage relationship with a fairground worker known to the family as “Waltzer boy” broke down.
“She ran away from home as a teenager after falling for a man who worked at a fair. It broke her heart,” she said.
Jody also described the negative pattern of behaviour her sister would fall into following each break-up.
She said: “It feels so weird talking about it because I know it’s something she never wanted anybody to know about.
“Each serious boyfriend, she sort of took a lot of tablets, drank a lot, and ended up in an A&E situation a lot of times.”
Flack’s family are speaking in a bid to encourage viewers to be more open about their mental health struggles and seek help where necessary.
“The documentary made this year bearable. It was therapy for us,” said her mother.
Caroline Flack: Her Life And Death will see friends of Flack including singer Olly Murs and television presenter Dermot O’leary pay tribute.
It also features interviews with her twin sister Jody.
Jody said she “often” used to try to convince her sister to change her career in order to have an “easier life” away from the public eye.
“Carrie was never going to have an easy life,” she said. “She wasn’t built to do that.” Jody added: “It was completely the wrong advice because she absolutely thrived on what she did and she would have never stopped doing it because that’s what she wanted to do.”
Caroline Flack: Her Life And Death will be broadcast on Wednesday on Channel 4 at 9pm.
Anyone who needs support should call Samaritans for free on 116 123 (UK and Ireland).