Caroline Flack’s family release unpublished Instagram post as inquest opens

Caroline Flack’s family have released an unpublished Instagram post she wrote days before she took her own life, ahead of the opening of the inquest into her death.

In the statement, the 40-year-old wrote that her arrest for assaulting her boyfriend Lewis Burton, 27, last year, meant “within 24 hours my whole world and future was swept from under my feet”.

The former Love Island presenter was found dead at her east London flat on Saturday having taken her own life, her family said.

An inquest into her death was opened on Wednesday morning, with the court hearing Flack was found by residents and that police attended the property after being flagged down. Paramedics were unable to save her and she was identified by her twin sister, Jody.

Funeral arrangements are still to be decided, the court heard.

Ahead of the inquest opening, the TV star’s family released her unpublished social media post to their local paper, the Eastern Daily Press, and said she had been advised not to release it.

Her message 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.

I can’t say anymore than that.

It is unclear exactly when the post was written.

Her mum Chris Flack told the Norfolk newspaper: “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.

“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.”

Flack’s final published Instagram post, shared two days before she was found dead, included four photos alongside her French bulldog Ruby, captioned simply with a heart emoji.

Flack was due to stand trial in March for allegedly attacking Mr Burton with a lamp at her flat on 12 December, despite him saying he did not support the prosecution.

She had entered a not guilty plea at Highbury Corner Magistrates’ Court and was released on bail, with conditions that stopped her having any contact with Mr Burton before the trial.

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Hours after Flack’s body was discovered at the weekend, her management criticised prosecutors for pressing ahead with “a show trial”.

Flack’s inquest was opened at Poplar Coroner’s Court in east London and adjourned until 5 August.

Anyone feeling emotionally distressed or suicidal can call Samaritans for help on 116 123 or email jo@samaritans.org in the UK. In the US, call the Samaritans branch in your area or 1 (800) 273-TALK

(c) Sky News 2020: Caroline Flack’s family release unpublished Instagram post as inquest opens