Love Island star Kaz Crossley opens up about her UAE arrest

Ellen Fitzpatrick

Love Island star Kaz Crossley has opened up about her recent arrest in the United Arab Emirates.

The reality star was arrested at an airport in Abu Dhabi in February after she was due to board a connecting flight to Thailand and was later held in a prison in Dubai for days.

It was reported at the time by The Sun that her name had been flagged over a two-year-old video of her inhaling a white substance at a party in Dubai.

Speaking about the incident on the Saving Grace podcast with GK Barry, Kaz got emotional as she recalled what had happened.

She said that she had been in an “emotionally manipulative” relationship with a “controlling” man when she found herself in trouble.

She said: “I didn’t know that he took [the video in question] at the start of our relationship. I didn’t know, and I was with him for a year after that. We were sleeping in the same bed together, he had that video and I had no idea.”

She went on to say the two had an argument during a holiday in Bali where he told her that he was planning on ruining her career.

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“It wasn’t that he sent it to the press, he made an Instagram account and it was called ‘Kaz sniffing’,” she said. “There was only one post and it was me in that dress that I wore, which wasn’t taken on the same night, and there was a swipe to that video.”

“As soon as I saw it, I didn’t even think it was him because it didn’t compute in my head that someone could be so evil, and so calculated, and so controlling to keep it and then release it.”

She then recalled asking her ex about the video and questioning if one of his friends had taken it, to which he denied knowing anything.

After asking all of her friends to report the page and having it taken down, Kaz said: “It was up for about 24 hours, and it had followed maybe one thousand people – and one of those people was The Sun, and as soon as I saw that I thought ‘I’m f**king f**ked’.

“I didn’t actually confirm that it was him until I screenshotted the video and zoomed into the corner of the picture, and there was a guy in the corner wearing jeans. I went back to that night and saw a picture [which confirmed her ex had taken the video].”

Speaking about her ordeal in Abu Dhabi, she had tried to move on from the harrowing experience and as she was traveling through the city, she noticed her name on a piece of paper before being asked to be spoken to by CID.

She was then taken to the police station where she was informed there was a case against her.

“They put me in a car and escorted me, and we turned up at a jail. They strip searched me and stuck all my stuff,” she said.

“Next thing you know I was behind bars with all these other women.”