Thought of trial terrified her
CAROLINE Flack felt she “had to plead guilty” to assaulting her boyfriend, her tearful ex Danny Cipriani claimed yesterday.
The England rugby union star, 32, shared an emotional 18-minute Instagram video in which he revealed his own battle with depression.
Danny said former Love Island host Caroline, 40, tried to call and text him hours before she was found dead at her home in east London on February 15.
He said: “She text me on Friday [saying] she had to plead guilty.”
But Gloucester fly-half Danny, who briefly dated Caroline last year, said he was not able to respond because he was playing in a match.
The sports star told his 211,000 followers he would be sharing voice messages Caroline left him a week before her death because “people need to hear it”.
The sports star said: “I have written her messages she is not going to read...But I have had to voice things to her.
“And I am going to play the message at some point, the voice note she left about 15 days ago, because people need to hear it.
“But right now this is me.You can make jokes. I don’t care because it is not going to affect me. She has given me that.
“Because she has given me that I am sharing it with you.”
Danny said opening up to Caroline made him feel safe and her death prompted him to share his struggle with “severe depression”.
He revealed that aged 22 he tried to buy a gun to end his life and “it was ultimately embarrassment and shame” that killed Caroline.
Urging fans to be kind and gentle to one another, Danny said: “Embarrassment and shame is not something that should make you do this.
“It’s how we treat people and look after everyone because everyone has embarrassment and shame to some sort of degree.”
TV presenter Chloe Madeley, 32, later tweeted in praise of Danny’s “brave” video.
Caroline, accused of assaulting her boyfriend, tennis player Lewis Burton, in December, pleaded not guilty at a court hearing. She was on bail pending a trial in March.
A FRIEND of Caroline Flack has said the former Love Island host was terrified of the trial she was facing.
Nicola McLean, 38, appeared on Channel 5’s JeremyVine show yesterday to discuss Flack’s death the day after finding out the trial for allegedly assaulting her boyfriend would go ahead.
The former Celebrity Big Brother contestant said: “She was terrified of the trial and who wouldn’t have been? It was so wrong. Caroline went far too quickly.
“We don’t want anyone else to [suffer] the same.”
Nicola said Flack’s decision to leave the ITV show last year meant she was “tried by the public”.
She added: “Everyone who was her friend was definitely worried about her. I was worried about her. I did what we all did and reached out to her.”