TV presenter Caroline Flack has died aged 40 (Picture: Getty; Instagram; Rex)

TV presenter Caroline Flack has been found dead at her flat in east London.

News the Love Island host had died surfaced on Saturday afternoon, with a family lawyer confirming she took her own life.

A family spokesperson said: ‘We can confirm that our Caroline passed away today on the 15th February.

‘We would ask that the press both respect the privacy of the family at this difficult time.’


Flack was best known for hosting the dating show on ITV2 since 2015, however she had stepped down from the current winter series.

The TV presenter was 40-years-old (Picture: REX)

Fans have been leaving floral tributes outside the flat Flack owned in north London over the weekend.



One well-wisher left a single red rose, while another lay a bouquet of white and purple flowers by the corner of the front door.

The last public pictures of her were taken last month, and she was smiling as she strolled around the streets where she lived, wearing an Adidas tracksuit and Ray Ban sunglasses with her hair in a bun.

Flowers were placed outside the north London flat the presenter owned (Picture: PA)

A single red rose was put into the letterbox (Picture: Getty)

Bouquets were placed outside (Picture: Getty)

Laura Whitmore, who replaced her on this year’s Love Island, was in tears as she paid tribute to her friend on her radio programme.

‘Caroline loved music, she loved to dance. We shared many a dancefloor; gigs, festivals. I met her just shy of 10 years ago at V Festival and then we became friends. She was bubbly and for such a small stature, commanded a room. She loved to laugh and had the most infectious chuckle,’ the presenter said.

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Laura added that she wanted to use her voice to ‘call people out because it’s gone too far’ and urged people not to ‘tear someone down to feel good about yourself’.

‘So to listeners, be kind, only you are responsible for how you treat others and what you put out to the world. I’ve had messages, I’ve been harassed for just doing my job and this is where the problem is,’ she continued.

Former stars of Love Island and celebrities including Holly Willoughby, Paddy McGuinness and Olly Murs, paid tribute to her on social media.

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Holly shared on Instagram: ‘Utterly heartbreaking…life is so precious and yet so fragile…huge love to Caroline’s family.’

Meanwhile the Take Me Out host posted that he had only recently messaged Flack.

‘Such a shame. We’re all fragile and we all need an arm around the shoulder and some reassurance from time to time,’ he wrote.

‘Check in on your friends and family. Rest peacefully Caroline.’

Chris Hughes and Amber Davies, both from Love Island series four, shared their thoughts on Twitter.

‘Words can’t sum this up,’ Chris wrote. ‘So sad. Another amazing person taken from this cruel world.’ Amber added: ‘My heart is actually broken.’

She recently stepped down from presenting the first ever winter series of Love Island after she was charged with assault following a row with boyfriend Lewis Burton, 27.

She recently broke her social media silence with pictures of her dog (Picture: Instagram/@carolineflack)

Caroline has hosted the rebooted series of Love Island since 2015 (Picture: ITV)

Flack was last in court in December where she pleaded not guilty to assault. She was on bail and awaiting trial to begin on 4 March.

The TV star has also fronted The X Factor and I’m A Celebrity: Extra Camp.

Burton shared a happy photo with his girlfriend on Valentine’s Day, while Caroline’s final Instagram post was a series of pictures of her with her dog.



The former X Factor star last appeared in court in December, where it was heard that Lewis is not supporting the prosecution.

Earlier this month the 27-year-old defended her on social media and denied they had split, saying: ‘Caroline is my girlfriend. Anything else you read is untrue.’

Ahead of her hearing, Flack shared a heartbreaking message about going through the ‘worst time of [her] life’ following her arrest.

Opening up about her turmoil, Caroline wrote in an Instagram story: ‘This is the worst time of my life. I don’t kno where to go to. Where to look. Who to trust. Or who I even am [sic].’

She won Strictly Come Dancing in 2014 with professional dancer Pasha Kovalev (Picture: PA)

The TV star was preparing to speak out about her personal life (Picture: ITV)

She was replaced on Love Island by Laura Whitmore, with Flack’s blessing.

When the 40-year-old stepped down from the ITV2 dating show, the presenter said in a statement: ‘Love Island has been my world for the last five years, it’s the best show on telly. In order to not detract attention from the upcoming series I feel the best thing I can do is to stand down for series six.

‘I want to wish the incredible team working on the show a fantastic series in Cape Town.’

The TMi star had been the face of the show since the rebooted series began in 2015.

Love Island and ITV shared a statement paying tribute, saying: ‘Everybody at Love Island and ITV are shocked and saddened by this desperately sad news.

‘Caroline was a much-loved member of the Love Island team and our sincere thoughts and condolences are with her family and friends.’

Her boyfriend Lewis Burton was sticking by her (Picture: Instagram/mrlewisburton)

Recently Flack had broken her social media silence to declare her life is ‘no longer up for gossip’ and said she would be speaking out.


Writing on her Instagram story, she said: ‘I’m going to speak today… mine and my families life is no longer up for entertainment and gossip [sic].’

The Strictly Come Dancing star has spoken in the past about her mental health, sharing a poignant message on Instagram after World Mental Health Day 2019.

She explained that she had been finding it hard to speak about her mental health and put it down to ‘anxiety and pressure of life’.

Flack shared her thoughts following World Mental Health Day (Picture: Instagram)

‘Some days it’s hard to write your feelings of your (sic) not in the right place. The last few weeks I’ve been in a really weird place…I find it hard to talk about it…I guess it’s anxiety and pressure fo life…and when I actually reached out to someone they said I was draining.

‘I feel like this is why some people keep their emotions to themselves. I certainly hate talking about my feelings. And being a burden is my biggest fear…I’m lucky to be able to pick myself up when things feel s**t.

‘But what happens if someone can’t. Be nice to people. You never know what’s going on. Ever.’

Flack was one of the biggest and most popular TV presenters in the UK, ever since she burst onto the scene in 2002.

The star got her big break in Leigh Francis’s sketch series Bo Selecta, before moving on to present on Channel 4 – hosting The Games: Live at Trackside on E4 with Justin Lee Collins.


In children’s TV, she co-presented the Saturday morning show TMi with Sam and Mark, as well as the CBBC series Escape from Scorpion Island with Reggie Yates. She then worked on Big Brother’s Big Mouth, before she replaced Kirsty Gallacher as the co-host as Gladiators in 2009.

However, it was her hosting gig on I’m A Celebrity… Get Me Out Of Here! NOW! that brought Caroline to brand new audiences.

Caroline hosted the I’m A Celebrity spin-off show (Picture: ITV/REX )

Caroline replaced Konnie Huq on The Xtra Factor (Picture: Jonathan Hordle/Thames/REX)

She hosted alongside Joe Swash in 2009 and 2010 before she left, being replaced by her eventual Love Island successor Laura Whitmore.

In 2011, she stayed in the ITV family when she landed the hosting job of The Xtra Factor on ITV2, alongside Olly Murs and replacing Konnie Huq.

She stayed on in the job until 2014, when she was replaced by Sarah Jane Crawford. However it was also the year she took part in Strictly Come Dancing, winning the glitterball trophy with professional dancer Pasha Kovalev. Together they saw off stiff competition from Frankie Bridge and Simon Webbe.

The next year, it was announced that following Dermot O’Leary’s shock departure from The X Factor, she and Olly would become hosts of the main show.

However, the position was ill-fated, with the pair’s hosting skills criticised heavily, and Dermot returned the following year.

Caroline first gained attention on Bo Selecta! (Picture: Channel 4)

Olly and Caroline hosted the X Factor for one series (Picture: Ken McKay/Talkback Thames/REX)

But Flack had already landed the job of her career.

In 2015, she began hosting the ITV2 series Love Island, which saw her arriving at the villa to monitor recouplings and announce bombshells to the islanders.

A sleeper hit, the show didn’t set ratings alight in series one or two – but by series three, it had become a national phenomenon, achieving an average of 2.2 million viewers as fans tuned in to watch Amber Davies and Kem Cetinay win over the nation.

The fifth series, Caroline’s last, achieved an average of 5.6 million viewers, and in 2018, the show won a Bafta for best reality and constructed factual.

Her love life was highly-publicised, particularly when she began dating former The Apprentice contestant Andrew Brady.

The TV star was previously engaged to The Apprentice contestant Andrew Brady (Picture: Instagram)

The pair got together at the beginning of 2018 before getting engaged in April, however they split up in July.

In August they reconnected and appeared to be giving their relationship another try, and in October they looked closer than ever.

But at the end of 2018 they broke up once more.

At the time Flack told The Sun they were over for good, saying: ‘Yeah, you know I like him. But I think we’re both doing what we need to do at the minute.

‘We’re both looking after our own heads and doing our own thing. That’s really important.’

In 2019, it was announced that Caroline would be hosting a Channel 4 series called The Surjury, where people would put forward their arguments for getting cosmetic procedures to a jury.

However the broadcaster has since confirmed they will not be going ahead with the show.

She was set to front a Channel 4 programme called The Surjury (Picture: WireImage)

A spokesperson for Channel 4 said: ‘We are shocked and saddened to hear the tragic news about Caroline Flack.

‘Our deepest sympathies go out to Caroline’s family and friends. Under the circumstances, we have decided not to broadcast The Surjury.’

Previously the presenter was linked to the likes of Harry Styles, Olly Murs and Prince Harry.

The X Factor host addressed the latter in her 2015 autobiography Storm In A C Cup, writing that they ‘spent the evening chatting and laughing’ when they met on a night out in 2009.

Flack went on that ‘once the story got out, that was it. We had to stop seeing each other.

‘I was no longer Caroline Flack, TV presenter, I was Caroline Flack, Prince Harry’s bit of rough.’

She leaves behind parents Ian and Christine, her brother Paul and her sisters Jody and Elizabeth.

Jody, who was her twin, occasionally appeared on Flack’s Instagram page either in sweet family photos or pictures of them when they were children.

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