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Caroline Flack: Laura Whitmore pays tribute to ‘vivacious, loving’ friend

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Caroline Flack (L) and Laura Whitmore attend the GQ Men of the Year Awards 2018

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Laura Whitmore said Caroline Flack had “the most infectious chuckle”

Presenter Laura Whitmore has paid tribute to her “vivacious” and “loving” friend Caroline Flack, who was found dead in her London flat on Saturday.

Fighting back tears on her BBC Radio 5 Live show, she said the former Love Island host “loved to love”.

She also appealed to listeners to “be kind” to others and said she wanted to use her platform to “call people out”.

“To paparazzi and tabloids looking for a cheap sell, to trolls hiding behind a keyboard – enough,” she said.

A lawyer for Flack’s family said on Saturday that she had taken her own life.

The 40-year-old had been “under huge pressure” since she was accused of assaulting her boyfriend Lewis Burton in December, her management company said.


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Whitmore, who took over presenting Love Island following Flack’s arrest, said her friend “loved to laugh” and had the “most infectious chuckle”.

“I’m not going to pretend she was perfect, but is anyone? She lived every mistake publicly, under the scrutiny of the media.

“Caroline loved to love. That’s all she wanted. Which is why a show like Love Island was important to her, because the show is about finding love, friendship, having a laugh. The problem wasn’t the show. The show… is loving and caring and safe and protected.

“The problem is, the outside world is not. Anyone who has ever compared one woman against another on Twitter, knocked someone because of their appearance, invaded someone else’s privacy, who have made mean, unnecessary comments on an online forum – they need to look at themselves,” she said.

Flack had co-hosted The X Factor and won Strictly Come Dancing in 2014, as well as presenting ITV’s Love Island.

She stood down from the dating show after she was charged with assault in December.

Following her death, an ITV spokeswoman said she was a “much-loved member of the Love Island team”.

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