Montana Brown fears Caroline Flack won’t be the last star of Love Island to take their own life

Montana Brown is terrified more Love Island stars will take their own lives as she admits that all her friends from the show suffer with anxiety or depression.

Reality star Montana, 24, was heartbroken when TV presenter Caroline Flack tragically passed away this month – less than a year after they attended the funeral of Mike Thalassitis together.

But Montana, who rose to fame on Love Island in 2017, says she fears Caroline’s death won’t be the last and she feels ‘helpless’ knowing that ‘people are suffering’ when all she wants are for her friends to be happy.

In an emotional interview with MailOnline, stunned Montana said: ‘Caroline was at Mike’s funeral literally not even a year ago. She was so shocked by that and now look what’s happened. It’s heart-breaking. 

‘I just hope it doesn’t happen to anyone else. But I don’t think Caroline will be the last person to do this if I’m honest and that is what’s really sad. 

‘For me, and I think I can speak for a lot of Love Islanders, you feel like “Oh my God, who else is unhappy?” I need to speak to everyone. You feel this pressure because you don’t want your friends to be unhappy, what can I do? 

‘It’s helplessness because you know people are suffering and that’s a categorical fact. Every single person that I’m friends with from Love Island suffers from anxiety or depression or something to do with mental health. It’s actually terrifying.’ 

Montana does not blame ITV2 show Love Island for the sad loss of her friend Mike and former contestant Sophie Gradon, who took her life in 2018. 

She believes stars of the series struggle to cope with the onslaught of destructive social media trolls that message in their thousands to ‘kill yourself’ and ‘throw acid in your face,’ resulting in ‘insane paranoia’ for the person on the receiving end. 

‘I think it’s not necessarily to do with the show – there are really amazing positives that come out of the show – it’s more the social media side of things,’ she said. 

‘People are so judgmental. You have to live your mistakes publicly every time you make a mistake.

‘It’s not just you and your friends and your parents but you’re dealing with a barrage of trolls telling you to kill yourself and telling you you’re worthless and no one likes you, that they’re going to throw acid in your face and you’re like what? 

‘You get insanely paranoid about things. It’s heart-breaking.’

Montana has previously urged those battling with depression to remember they’re not a ‘burden’ after saying she would ‘do anything’ to have former co-star Mike back in her life. 

But the brave star has revealed that in recent weeks she’s been suffering with her own ‘crippling anxiety’ – and Mike’s sudden death last March left her unable to go to the gym after she was overcome with emotions when she first tried to work out.

She said: ‘When Mike had just passed away I did not want to the gym. 

‘The first time I went to the gym after he died for some reason I just burst into tears. It made me really upset, it bought out all my emotions. 

‘It can work differently for every person, I prefer being outside or going for a dog walk rather than going to the gym when I’m stressed and anxious.’

Montana continued: ‘Two or three weeks ago my anxiety was so bad. It was crippling. I couldn’t even pinpoint what I was anxious about. I’ve never had it that bad before. 

‘It was really upsetting because I didn’t want to do anything, I didn’t want to meet people or see my friends and then I went for a walk in the countryside with my best friend for two and a half hours with my neighbour’s dog and it made such a difference. 

‘Putting your phone away, taking a break off social media, even for just two hours is so important. It is so important to get outside and keep active.’