Caroline Flack's friend explains late star's heartbreak over Love Island replacement

The late Caroline Flack's closest friends have disclosed how heartbroken the former Love Island presenter was upon losing her role on the programme.

The beloved television personality took the helm of the show in summer 2015 when it returned to ITV2, succeeding the less successful celebrity version that preceded it.

Caroline stepped down from her position in December 2019 following assault charges relating to her then-partner Lewis Burton.

The allegations had generated a storm of negative press, which effectively forced Caroline to withdraw from the programme.

"In order to not detract attention from the upcoming series I feel the best thing I can do is to stand down for series 6," she wrote in an Instagram statement.

Television presenter Laura Whitmore assumed the hosting duties, and it appears Caroline was deeply distressed by the substitution, reports the Mirror.

In the new Disney Plus documentary, Caroline Flack: Search for the Truth, the presenter's close friend Mollie Grosberg gives insight into her emotional state during that period.

Mollie said: "Love Island was a massive thing for Caroline. Laura taking over brought up every single insecurity."

She continued by disclosing that the former presenter did actually watch the show.

"We weren't allowed to watch it. Then she wanted to watch it so we'd sit and watch it together. And then every day she'd ask me for the numbers 'How many viewers? How many viewers?," Mollie explained.

Understandably, Laura's takeover triggered considerable "turmoil" for the former Strictly Come Dancing champion. "That constant turmoil killed Caroline," confessed her close friend.

"She felt like she was being airbrushed out of the show. She said 'I know that I'm gone. I know that I'm done this is it.'"

Caroline's agent, Louisa Booth, also witnessed the devastating impact of her losing her job. Louisa revealed: "She [Caroline] just saw the crumbling of everything she'd built."

Caroline took her own life at the age of 40 in February 2020.

Caroline Flack: Search For The Truth is streaming on Disney+.

In the UK and Ireland, Samaritans can be contacted on freephone 116 123, or email jo@samaritans.orgor jo@samaritans.ie.Refuge is the largest domestic abuse organisation in the UK and can be Contacted free 24/7 on 0808 2000 247.