Did we learn anything from Caroline Flack?

By Flora Irvine-Hall

TRIGGER WARNING: This article will discuss suicide and self-harm. If you are affected by any of the issues in this article and would like support, text SHOUT to the Samaritans on 85258.

Love island is popular across the world.

We all remember the tragic death of Caroline Flack in 2020. The 40-year-old presenter took her own life after facing lots of scrutiny from both the British public and the media. The nation was devastated and made a vow to steer away from vicious slander and to be kind. However, if the online hate that Ekin-Su Culculoglu is getting is anything to go by, it appears that we haven’t learned our lesson at all.

Ekin-Su first rose to fame after c winning the 2022 series of Love Island. Through the show, she gained a large online following. But of course, fame comes with a price. Over the last two years, Ekin-Su has been at the receiving end of gossip, with some even speculating that her relationship with her then boyfriend Davide Sanclimenti (whom she won the show with) was a PR stunt.

The young couple broke up earlier this year which is part of what led Ekin-Su to sign up for this year’s Celebrity Big Brother. Sadly, the British public have taken and strong dislike to Ekin-Su. While a lot of Ekin-Su’s behaviour on celebrity big brother might have been a little jarring and should be called out, the media dogpile is incredibly upsetting.

From online trolls to other famous faces, it seems like Ekin-Su has hardly anyone fighting in her corner. After being evicted on Fridays episode, Ekin-Su came out to a lot of boos and was then faced with a very awkward interview on the shows follow up series Late and Live. It’s also worth reminding everyone that Ekin-Su is probably still hurting from the breakup.

And when people are hurting, they’re often not the best versions of themselves and can make bad decisions. It would be fair to say that there is a lot of parallels between the treatment of Ekin-Su and Caroline Flack.

After Caroline Flack was arrested for an alleged assault on her partner Lewis Burton, she was forced to step down as the presenter of Love Island and was eaten alive by the media. Caroline had assaulted Lewis after fears he was cheating her, which ended up with him having a head wound from either a lamp or fan which Caroline would claim was an accident. Despite Lewis himself not wanting to press charges, Caroline was still charged with assault and the news spread like wildfire, with everyone turning against her. It’s also worth noting that when Caroline was arrested, the press published pictures of blood on bedsheets, making it look like it was Lewis’s blood. However, it was later found to be Caroline’s blood was from self-harming.

A couple of months later, Caroline very tragically took her own life. The immense pressure of the court hearing and the venomous hate was all just too much. After her passing, the hashtag “Be Kind” started to trend and is still very popular to this day. But it seems like there these are just empty words. Every other month the public has a new target. A lot of the time this seems to be reality tv stars, with many forgetting that the people they are verbally attacking are real human beings with feelings and not fictional characters.

Seeing the public turn on Ekin-Su and even take pleasure in her downfall has been very disturbing. It’s as if the nation has learned absolutely nothing from Caroline Flack or similar cases of public figures taking their own lives.

Luckily, Ekin-Su seems to have a very supporting family who will help her get through this difficult time. Hopefully though, as a nation we can truly learn to be kind.