RUSSELL BRAND’S GRIEF OVER FLACK:
Comic’s anger & sadness over pal Caroline Flack
CAROLINE Flack’s close friend Russell Brand has urged social media users to be kinder following the tragic death of the former Love Island presenter.
The comedian, 44, who had been encouraging Caroline to seek help in her final weeks, said he was “angry and sad” that she had ended up taking her own life. Describing her as “a real laugh, a dynamo, bright and playful”, he said: “The idea she had been so drained of hope by her circumstances chokes me. I am angry because I have watched this play out before with vulnerable people in the public eye.” He slammed the “trolling judgment that chased her to the grave... the way it did with Jade Goody, with Amy Winehouse”. He added: “If we want less people to die in pain and shame, then we should pause before we next vent a pleasurable stab of vindictive judgment or jeering condemnation. “Social media is a network of connections. We can use those connections to convey love and support and kindness.”
THERAPY
He had encouraged Caroline to take time out in Los Angeles, where she had somatic therapy, a treatment for PTSD, and he reportedly invited her to self-help seminars.
It came after she was charged with hitting her boyfriend, tennis player Lewis Burton, over the head with a lamp as he slept.
In court in December, she sobbed into her hands as she pleaded not guilty to assault, and had hoped the charges would be dropped.
She is understood to have felt deeply concerned that footage from arresting police officers’ bodycams showing her covered in her own blood would be broadcast. An ambulance treated her at her North London flat that evening, but did not take her to hospital.
She was found dead on Saturday, aged 40, the day after receiving confirmation her trial next month would go ahead.
Caroline’s management company has criticised the Crown Prosecution Service for pressing ahead with what it called a “show trial”. Russell said: “Caroline was surrounded by friends and families that loved her, that love her still through a shattered lens of anguish, and that love could not incubate her or protect her from the pain and shame that ended her life.”
The inquest into her death is to open today at Poplar coroners court, East London.
As Love Island returned to ITV2 on Monday night after being taken off air for two nights, narrator Iain Stirling spoke of Caroline’s “passion, warmth and infectious enthusiasm” in a tribute ahead of it airing.
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Trolling judgment chased her to her grave as it did with Amy Winehouse
RUSSELL BRAND ON HIS TRAGIC PAL CAROLINE FLACK