‘TROLLS MADE MY LIFE PURE MISERY’

LOVE Island star Zara McDermott has warned contestants about entering the villa and claimed the show left her insecure with selfesteem issues.

The pretty brunette told how a constant barrage of online abuse had her in tears.

Zara, who is dating arguably the villa’s fittest hunk Adam Collard, told me: “I went on to Love Island happy, confident in my own skin and thought I would be fine.

“But you get so much online abuse where people constantly pick on your weight, your looks, your boobs, everything about you.

“If enough people say you’re fat or need surgery, you can’t help but believe them.

“I now look at myself and think I should lose weight or get something changed.

“It really gets me down. I posted a picture of me and Adam on a beach and the level of abuse about my body was insane. I just broke down crying.”

The ITV2 series has already been criticised over mental health issues following the tragic death of 2016 contestant Sophie Gradon. And Zara warned wannabe love seekers to think before entering the villa.

The government policy advisor from Essex, said: “You need unbelievably thick skin.

“People say and post the most vile things about you. They make up complete lies, which you can’t control.

“You may think you can handle it but it’s a lot harder when it happens.”

Earlier this month, Zara revealed she was the victim of a revenge porn attack when she was only 14. A boy pupil sent naked pictures of her all around the school.

She said: “Being bullied by trolls after Love Island has brought back a lot of painful memories and insecurities.

“I was a little 14-year-old girl and everyone was calling me a slut.

“No-one wanted to be my friend, I was constantly in tears and depressed.

“I shut my family out and just wrote a diary, which I still can’t read today because it’s heartbreaking.

“That’s why I can’t help but answer back to trolls now, because back then I was too scared to fight back.

“Now I don’t want to let someone have that power over me.”