Eyal Booker, Jess Glynne and Stacey Solomon pay tribute to Caroline Flack
Jewish celebrities remember former Love Island and I’m A Celebrity host who took her own life in her flat in Stoke Newington on Saturday
Francine Wolfisz is the Features Editor for Jewish News.
Jewish celebrities have lead tributes to television presenter Caroline Flack, who was found dead at the weekend.
The 40-year-old, best known for hosting Love Island and I’m A Celebrity…Get Me Out Of Here, took her own life at her flat in Stoke Newington, north London, on Saturday.
According to close friends, Flack had been tormented by press scrutiny and comments on social media while awaiting trial for assaulting her 27-year-old boyfriend, Lewis Burton, last December.
She had denied the charge, but learned the day before her death that the Crown Prosecution Service was set to proceed with the trial, despite Lewis not supporting the prosecution.
Taking to social media, former Love Island contestant Eyal Booker posted a photo of himself with Flack and said he was “beyond devastated and shocked”.
He added: “You lit up every room I ever saw you in. May you rest in peace and your spirit live on. You touched the lives of so many people.”
Meanwhile singer Jess Glynne posted a request to journalists to “know your power and respect it, because whoever attacked this woman had not one ounce of it.”
She added: “Please remember we are all human beings who hurt, who feel, who break and not one of us is indestructible.”
Presenter Gaby Roslin posted a picture of a rose, with the caption, “Please be kind. Hold the ones you love close and don’t judge.”
Loose Women host Stacey Solomon also showed support to her actor boyfriend Joe Swash, who was a close friend of the late presenter.
She wrote: “In this moment in time, all we can do is be kind. And remember that there is a human in every picture, behind every story, every post, every headline, and every tv screen, a real person, taking it all in, the good and the bad. There is no such thing as the perfect human. Having Empathy and kindness is all we can truely strive towards.
“We are so sorry, It should never have been this way.”
Elsewhere, close friend and TV producer Mollie Grosberg posted a series of photographs on Instagram, captioned with a statement about “this massive and painful and heartbreaking loss”.
She said: “Carrie always had a smile on her face, a naughty laugh and her heart open wide. When she let you in, you were the luckiest and she taught me to love everyone and forgive everyone.
“She forgave so easily and loved so hard and I’ll never ever, ever stop loving her. Today feels like it’s not real and I wish it wasn’t.
“I love you forever and always my baby girl. I kissed your head yesterday and it was the last time and it was the most precious feeling.” World Jewish Relief Paul Anticoni also tweeted that he was “sad and shocked to hear the news” and posted a photo of Flack spending time at a WJR programme in Rwanda, as part of her role as an ambassador for Sport Relief in 2014.
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