Caroline Flack’s unpublished Instagram post released by family
In a post released ahead of her inquest, the TV host said her “future was swept from under my feet”. …
Image copyright Getty Images Caroline Flack’s family have released an unpublished Instagram post that they say she wrote shortly before she died.
It came ahead of the inquest into the death of the former Love Island host, which opened on Wednesday.
The inquest heard that the 40-year-old presenter was apparently found hanged in her London flat on Saturday.
The unpublished post said her “whole world and future was swept from under my feet” when she had been arrested for assaulting her boyfriend in December.
Her mother said Flack had been advised not to publish the message, which has now been shared through the Eastern Daily Press.
The TV presenter was found dead in her home weeks before she was due to stand trial on charges of assaulting her boyfriend Lewis Burton.
Flack pleaded not guilty to the alleged assault at a court hearing in December and was released on bail.
She was ordered to stop any contact with Mr Burton ahead of the trial, which was due to begin in March.
Flack’s mother Chris told the Norfolk newspaper that her daughter showed her the wording of the post in January, but was told not to post it by advisers.
She added that the family wanted people to read it. “Carrie sent me this message at the end of January but was told not to post it by advisers but she so wanted to have her little voice heard,” she said, according to the paper.
“So many untruths were out there but this is how she felt and my family and I would like people to read her own words.
“Carrie was surrounded by love and friends but this was just too much for her.”
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Caroline Flack’s unpublished post in full
“For a lot of people, being arrested for common assault is an extreme way to have some sort of spiritual awakening but for me it’s become the normal.
“I’ve been pressing the snooze button on many stresses in my life – for my whole life. I’ve accepted shame and toxic opinions on my life for over 10 years and yet told myself it’s all part of my job. No complaining.
“The problem with brushing things under the carpet is they are still there and one day someone is going to lift that carpet up and all you are going to feel is shame and embarrassment.
“On December the 12th 2019 I was arrested for common assault on my boyfriend. Within 24 hours my whole world and future was swept from under my feet and all the walls that I had taken so long to build around me collapsed. I am suddenly on a different kind of stage and everyone is watching it happen.
“I have always taken responsibility for what happened that night. Even on the night. But the truth is… It was an accident.
“I’ve been having some sort of emotional breakdown for a very long time.
“But I am NOT a domestic abuser. We had an argument and an accident happened. An accident. The blood that someone SOLD to a newspaper was MY blood and that was something very sad and very personal.
“The reason I am talking today is because my family can’t take anymore. I’ve lost my job. My home. My ability to speak. And the truth has been taken out of my hands and used as entertainment.
“I can’t spend every day hidden away being told not to say or speak to anyone.
“I’m so sorry to my family for what I have brought upon them and for what my friends have had to go through.
“I’m not thinking about ‘how I’m going to get my career back.’ I’m thinking about how I’m going to get mine and my family’s life back.”
After her death, Flack’s management company said she had been “under huge pressure” since her arrest and criticised the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) for refusing to drop the charge, even though Mr Burton said he did not want the case to go ahead.
The CPS said it would not comment on the specifics of the case, but it outlined how it reached decisions over whether or not to charge someone.
Guidelines say domestic abuse prosecutions do not automatically stop if the complainant withdraws their support.
The guidance also says police officers must draw evidence of the suspect’s mental health issues to the attention of the prosecutor.
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