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15th February 2024
01:28pm GMT
It's hard to believe that four years have already passed since English presenter Caroline Flack died by suicide.
The presenter was found dead at her London apartment just hours after she found out she would be charged with assaulting her partner.
Hearing such a bubbly and strong woman ended her own life after enduring weeks of abuse, both online and in the media, was harrowing.
Many of us grew up watching Caroline on the Xtra Factor, Strictly Come Dancing, and I'm a Celeb. She quickly became one of the most popular presenters in the UK, but society turned on her in an instant.
Caroline was hounded by trolls online, by journalists like Dan Wootton until she felt like she had no way out. Taking your own life is one of the darkest decisions you'll ever come to. It isn't selfish or attention-seeking, it's a last resort. It's the only option you can see when your life feels so dark and heavy.
Caroline Flack's mental health deteriorated because of the immense scrutiny she was under.
In an inquest following her untimely death, Coroner Mary Hassell said Caroline's mental health deteriorated as she became more and more famous.
The public backlash, the online trolling, and the media's obsession with her slowly chipped away at the presenter until she couldn't go on any longer.
She was famous, she was well-known, but she also deserved to be treated like a human. Caroline was a woman with feelings, emotions, and struggles just like your best friend, your work wife, or your sister.
However, her personal issues were sprawled out in every tabloid newspaper, every news station, and on every social media feed.
Was she wrong for allegedly attacking her partner? Yes. But did she deserve the waves of unbearable abuse that followed after it? Certainly not.
Hassell said: "For some, it seems she had a charmed life - but the more famous she got the more mentally distressed she became."
"Her trauma was played out in the national press and that was incredibly distressing for her," she added.
Will we ever accept the fact that celebrities are just people with different livelihoods to us? The harmful dms, nasty remarks in newspapers, and harsh social commentary destroyed Caroline Flack's mental health, and we need to learn from the loss.
Four years on from her loss, these issues continue to linger in our online and offline worlds. Caroline Flack should still be here, and would be if people chose to be kind.
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