I won’t be silenced
As she spends Christmas apart from her boyfriend after denying assault charge, Caroline Flack says she has a ‘story to tell’
SHE has been banned from seeing her boyfriend over Christmas after appearing in court on an assault charge.
But Caroline Flack insisted she ‘won’t be silenced’ and has a ‘story to tell’, hours after pleading not guilty to domestic abuse.
In a defiant message posted to her Instagram account on Christmas Eve, the former Love Island host, 40, said that she was in the process of learning ‘lessons from situations I’ve got myself into’.
She wrote: ‘Been advised not to go on social media... but I wanted to say happy Christmas to everyone who has been so incredibly kind to me this year. This kind of scrutiny and speculation is a lot to take on for one person to take on their own. I’m a human being at the end of the day and I’m not going to be silenced when I have a story to tell and a life to keep going with.
‘I’m taking some time out to get feeling better and learn some lessons from situations I’ve got myself into to. I have nothing but love to give and best wishes for everyone.’
Earlier on Tuesday, she seemed in a happy mood as, dressed in ripped jeans, a black coat and bobble hat, she did some last-minute Christmas shopping in London with friends.
On Monday a court heard claims that Flack had smashed a lamp over boyfriend Lewis Burton’s head while he slept after fearing he was cheating on her.
Police called to Flack’s flat in Islington, north London, shortly after 5am on December 12 after reports that a man had been assaulted were said to have found the TV presenter and Mr Burton covered in blood in scenes claimed to be like a horror movie.
Flack pleaded not guilty to assault and her boyfriend has since denied that she had hit him with a lamp.
Highbury Corner Magistrates’ Court was told that Mr Burton, 27, a former professional tennis player, had made a ‘ breathless’ 999 call in which, referring to Flack, he told the police operator: ‘She tried to kill me.’
When police arrived, Flack was alleged to have continued to hurl abuse at the 6ft 4in model while officers questioned her, and flipped a table over when told she was being arrested. On the night of the incident, the court heard, Mr Burton told police he believed Flack had taken his phone while he slept and found text messages that made her think he was cheating on her.
Photographs of Flack’s front door at the time showed what appeared to be bloodstains.
Flack has been remanded on bail with conditions that ban her from seeing or contacting Mr Burton as she awaits trial at the court on March 4. She and Mr Burton unfollowed each other on social media before Monday’s hearing, but the television presenter has now refollowed her boyfriend on Instagram.
Ahead of the hearing, Flack told her followers: ‘This is the worst time of my life. I don’t know where to go to. Where to look. Who to trust. Or who I even am.’
Immediately afterwards, Mr Burton posted a message of support for his girlfriend. ‘It’s heartbreaking I can’t see my girlfriend over Christmas. What I witnessed today was horrible,’ he wrote.
‘She did not hit me with a lamp. Arguments do happen every day in every relationship. Gutted I am not allowed to protect her right now.’
Mr Burton posted another message in support of his girlfriend yesterday, writing on Instagram: ‘Gutted I can’t spend Christmas with you, I want to repeat I never pressed charges and asked the other day for the bail conditions to be dropped, but no one listened to me. I want this all to be over.’
Flack had been due to fly to South Africa next month to host the first winter series of Love Island, but stepped down from the show and has been replaced by presenter Laura Whitmore, 34.
‘Taking time out to learn some lessons’