Friends of Caroline Flack have questioned Laura Whitmore’s decision to share the pair’s private messages five years on from her death
Friends of late star Caroline Flack have criticised Laura Whitmore’s decision to share their private messages.
Last week, the former Love Island presenter shared an exchange of messages between the two of them on what marked the fifth anniversary of Caroline’s passing. Laura had replaced Caroline as the host of the hit ITV2 dating series months before she died by suicide. And Laura’s decision to make their private conversation public is said to have stunned Caroline’s closest friends.
The Irish host shared a throwback photo of the pair together on her Instagram. She also posted a series of texts they exchanged in the five weeks between Laura being offered the Love Island job, and Caroline’s death.
The uploads showed Caroline saved as ‘Flacky’ in Laura’s phone. She had wished Laura all the best in the message. However, it’s thought that the message would have “stung” Caroline. In a lengthy caption uploaded with the post last week, Laura praised the support Caroline had offered her. She went on to admit it had ‘really hit me hard’ as she read back their final exchange.
She wrote: “I got a new phone this month and as I was trying to download WhatsApp messages from my cloud and loads of old messages came up. Ones I thought I lost a few years ago and no longer had. It really hit me hard. Looking at messages I’ve never publicly shared as they were private messages. I think they show a side to Caroline which is nice to remember. Hence I’m sharing now.”
But despite Laura’s apparent efforts to showcase a loving side of Caroline, friends of the late star have questioned the actions. One told Mail Online: “Why would Laura do that? They were private messages between them, Caroline’s nearest and dearest wouldn’t publicly share private correspondence so why would Laura?
They went on: “Caroline was kind and would not have wanted Laura to think she had ill feeling towards her, but Caroline was so upset at losing that job. She loved it so much, it seems in pretty poor taste that Laura has put them out there, nobody can really understand why. When you send a text to someone you don’t expect it to be shared into the public domain, even five years later. Laura even acknowledges that the messages are private yet she still shared them.”
The insider added they couldn’t see what the benefit of sharing the message on such a poignant day would have been. Caroline took her own life in February 15 2020. Her death came shortly after she learnt her criminal trial for allegedly assaulting then-boyfriend, Lewis Burton, was going ahead. She had initially being told she would only be given a caution.
Following her arrest, Caroline stepped down from her role as the host of Love Island and Laura took. her place.
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