Caroline Flack’s Family Have Shared An Unpublished Instagram Post She Wrote Before Her Death

The family of Caroline Flack have shared an unpublished Instagram post she wrote before her death in which she spoke about experiencing an “emotional breakdown”.

The former Love Island presenter, who was found dead at her London flat on Saturday, was due to appear in court next month on the charge of assaulting her boyfriend, Lewis Burton.

In the message, which her family shared with the Eastern Daily Press, Caroline wrote how “shame and toxic opinions” had followed her over the past decade.

“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,” she said. “I’ve been pressing the snooze buttons on many stresses in my life – for my whole life.”

I’ve accepted shame and toxic opinions on my life for over ten 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.

Caroline said that upon her arrest, her “whole world and future was swept from under my feet and the walls that I had taken so long to build around me, collapsed”.

“I have always taken responsibility for what happened that night. Even on the night. But the truth is… it was an accident,” she continued. “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. 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 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. I can’t say any more than that.

It’s unclear when exactly the caption was written, but Caroline’s mother Chris Flack told the Easter Daily Press that her daughter had sent it to her at the end of January.

“[She] was told not to post it by advisers, but she so wanted to have her little voice heard,” said Chris. “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 too much for her.”

An inquest into the presenter’s death was opened in London today, and has been adjourned until August.

• Caroline Flack