Love Island tragedies and ITV2 show stars sadly no longer with us
Share:
Over the last decade, Love Island has captured the attention of the UK - but despite the dating show's huge popularity, major tragedies have cast a shadow over the franchise. Three stars of the show have committed suicide since it came on the air in its current format in 2015, and concerns about the pressure the show puts on the mental health of the islanders led to new strategies being implemented by ITV to support contestants.
The new series of Love Island: All Stars, hosted by Maya Jama, will begin on 11 January, and see stars from previous seasons come together as they try and find love. However, the controversial history of the show still lingers in the public imagination, despite the dating contest's success.
Sophie Gradon, who made history as part of Love Island's first same-sex couples in 2016, and left the villa on the 39th day, died in 2018. An inquest found that she had expressed suicidal thoughts just before she was found dead on 20 June, at her parent's home in Medburn, Ponteland.
Sophie - a model and winner of Miss Great Britain - was tragically just 32 years old when she died, and was two and half times above the legal driving limit at the time, having consumed alcohol and cocaine. She was found by boyfriend Aaron Armstrong and his brother hanging in the living room of her parent's home - with her partner coming over because he had become concerned about her.
Despite attempts to resuscitate her, Sophie tragically passed away - only a short while after she had taken part in a talk about the damaging aspect of social media on children, and given an interview in which she reportedly discussed the massive impact trolling and "negative comments" had made on her, saying the "harsh reality" was that this could lead to someone taking their own life.
