‘Vibrant and vivacious, Carolinewasone of a ki Closer’s news editor Rebecca Twomey looks back on working with Caroline Flack and shares how she will remember her
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once she’d cried in a hotel lobby watching Camilla Thurlow break down on the third series. When Michael Griffiths chose someone else on last year’s series, Caroline had her arm around Amber Gill the entire time. She’d joke about the perils of having big boobs, how her hair would take ages to style, or how she once fancied her personal trainer – she worked out with full make-up, before giving up. Reflecting on the highs and lows of her life last summer, she told me, “Sometimes, you can be at the highest point and suddenly lose it all. You just get back up and try again.” And I always thought she would.
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‘Shemadesureevery Love Islandcontestant felt okay’ He was a late entry into Love Island in 2018, but during Sam Bird’s short time in the villa, the show’s host Caroline Flack had a lasting impact on him. Speaking to Closer at the Warner Music and Ciroc BRIT awards afterparty, Sam, 33, says, “It’s a desperately sad and tragic situation. It just makes you think about the world and the industry. She was an amazing person and I’ve got nothing but great things to say about her. “She was such a big part
of my journey into the showbiz world. She made sure every single Love Island contestant felt they were OK before they went in, and even during [the show]. “There was a time when I was really down in the villa, and I was sitting on my own off camera. And Caroline came and sat with me. She knows where I’m from quite well, as she has family in Norwich. And she said, ‘I know your hometown well’, and we got chatting. She just made me feel so comfortable.”
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n the showbiz world, most celebrities prefer to clock on and off while dealing with press, never exchanging more than a few pleasantries with reporters once the interview is over. But Caroline – who I met several times throughout my career – was one of a kind. She wanted you to feel happy in her company. She’d welcome you as if she recognised you, and she laughed loudly at a rubbish joke I made once, just to make me feel comfortable. When she saw you, she’d jump up and hug you as if you were a long-lost friend, squeezing you tightly. She was never late or rude, and would even hang around after interviews to have dinner with everyone. On one occasion, the group of journalists I was with were drinking Champagne, about to interview Caroline. Before anything else, she yelled, “Where’s my bubbles?” She was vibrant and vivacious – you wanted to be around her. For a “pocket rocket”, as she
once dubbed herself as a joke, her laugh more than made up for what she lacked in inches. You wanted to be a member of her gang when she was at festivals with Laura Whitmore and the like. She was always giggling at events and looking like she was having the time of her life. It had become something of an annual tradition to meet up with Caroline in Majorca for the launch of each series of Love Island. It was her baby – she’d nurtured the show from the start. When I’d rock up to the villa, she would pose in the doorway as if it was her home, excited as any fan. That enthusiasm was infectious. “I’m happy,” was the last thing Caroline said to me last year. She seemed to have her spark back, coyly saying she was dating, but that she couldn’t tell me “any more than that.” Two months later, she went official with tennis player Lewis Burton. That was Caroline, though. She teased us with a few details, while managing to balance just the right amount of privacy. She was clever like that. It’s why it surprised me when, last minute, she cancelled an interview before Christmas – it was so out of character. Shortly after came the news of her arrest. So many women in their thirties had an affinity with her – myself included – especially when it came to dating and relationships. And she had so much empathy. She told me
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