Caroline:
“Sex is nervewracking with someone new”
It’s hard to understand why Caroline Flack hasn’t had more luck in love – she’s beautiful and bubbly with a career that’s seen her win Strictly in 2014 and host The X Factor in 2015. And Caroline, 37, tells Closer she’s back on the dating scene again with a new approach, revealing she went on a 12-month “relationship detox” last year after being in back-to-back relationships for years.
GETTING OUT THERE
In 2009, her rumoured romance with Prince Harry hit the headlines, and in 2011 she was widely criticised for her fling with the then 17-year-old Harry Styles, 14 years her junior. She was reportedly left heartbroken in 2014 when she split with music manager Jack Street amid claims he’d got close to Glee star Dianna Agron. Then, she thought she’d found love again last October with artist Blue Logan, but they split at the start of this year.
Speaking to Closer in Majorca as she prepares to host the new series of Love Island, Caroline says: “I jumped from relationship to relationship in my 20s, but the detox reset my brain. It helped me work out what I wanted in a person and to reconnect with myself.”
Though she’s tight-lipped about claims she is seeing a new boyfriend, she adds: “I want chemistry and a connection, but that’s really hard to find. When it happens, it’s like ‘yes!’ They’ve got to be fun though, I don’t really go out with boring people!”
For now, her focus is Love Island as it returns to ITV2, but while the contestants are famed for having sex on camera, Caroline won’t be joining them.
She laughs: “I don’t think I could, I get nervous enough – it’s [sex with someone new] a nerve-wracking moment anyway when you see someone for the first time. Those moments are best off behind closed doors!”
Last year, she came under fire for flirting with contestant Alex Bowen – something she laughs off – but says she won’t be lusting after the islanders again.
DEALING WITH TROLLS
She says: “I can acknowledge their physiques – all the contestants are very good-looking – but when you’re working, something kicks in. There’s a fine line between friendly and flirting.”
During her time co-presenting The X Factor, Caroline’s presenting skills and her body were brutally bashed by trolls online. Last year she underwent a sugar detox and lost a stone, but this time round Caroline is prepared for the negativity.
She says: “It [trolling] comes with the territory. You just have to realise what it is – angry people going on Twitter. I feel all right and I feel good. I’ve found a happy balance of exercise and going out and having fun.’”
With her new approach to life, Caroline is optimistic about finding her prince. “Everyone naturally has an interest in relationships,” she says. “I think it boils down to everyone wanting to be in love.”