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Former Love Island Host Caroline Flack Has Died at 40

Caroline Flack, the former host of Love Island UK, has died at the age of 40.

According to multiple outlets, the TV presenter was found dead at her home in London, England on Saturday, February 15. The cause of her death has yet to be determined.

“We can confirm that our Caroline passed away today, the 15th February,” her family said in a statement, according to BBC News. “We would ask that the press respect the privacy of the family at this difficult time and we would ask they make no attempt to contact us and/or photograph us.”

Following news of her death, several former Love Island contestants started sharing touching tributes on social media.

“I’m utterly shocked and heartbroken. Caroline you were such a special woman. Your huge smile will stay with me forever… Rest in peace,” Molly-Mae Hague captioned a photo posted to Instagram.

“Caroline Flack you supported me always, you were so kind to me & my family, I will never forget that. I spoke to you, and gave my support during the recent media intrusion. The media & trolls are killing people. Please THINK before you speak,” Zara Holland tweeted.

“Words can’t sum this up,” Chris Hughes wrote. “So sad. Another amazing person taking from this cruel world. When will people and and press release celebrities are humans, with the same feelings everyone else has. Can’t believe to imagine the pain. God bless Caroline and her family. Rest tight.”

“So so shocked at this news, rest in perfect peace Caroline Flack,” Leanne Amaning added.

“This is horrendous,” Dom Lever tweeted.

Laura Whitmore, who recently replaced Flack as the host of Love Island, tweeted a photo with the caption, “I’m trying to find the words but I can’t.”

See more tributes and reactions, below:

In December, Flack was arrested over allegations that she assaulted her boyfriend, tennis player Lewis Burton, during an incident at her London home. She later stepped down from her role as Love Island host and was replaced by Whitmore. Flack pleaded not guilty and was due to appear in court on March 4.

“Been advised not to go on social media,” she wrote on Instagram that month. “But I wanted to say happy Christmas to everyone who has been so incredibly kind to me this year….. this kind of scrutiny and speculation is a lot to take on for one person to take on their own… I’m a human being at the end of the day and I’m not going to be silenced when I have a story to tell and a life to keep going with …. I’m taking some time out to get feeling better and learn some lessons from situations I’ve got myself into to. I have nothing but love to give and best wishes for everyone.”

She returned to social media on Friday, February 14 to post a series of photos with her dog, with she simply captioned, “❤️.”

Our thoughts are with Caroline Flack’s loved ones during this difficult time.

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For Caroline Hirsch, Running a Comedy Empire Requires a Lot of Coffee

Overnight, Carolines had national attention. Hirsch started booking more then-unknown talent, like Seinfeld, Sandra Bernhard, and Billy Crystal. She found other ways to bring people in, too, convincing editors at The Daily News and The New York Post to come write about this burgeoning comedy scene. Business was booming; within a few years, the club had outgrown its Chelsea space. They moved to a new venue in the South Street Seaport in 1987. But in 1992, after outgrowing even that space, Carolines moved into its current Times Square location.

Hirsch describes her role at the time as…”everything.”

“I’d be on the phone with the agencies, I’d be paying the bills, writing checks…I did everything,” she says. “It was the best way to learn. We didn’t even have Google then. [People say,] ‘Oh my God, how did you live without Google?’ You just had to figure it out.”

Hirsch with Jerry Seinfeld.Courtesy of Caroline Hirsch

When I ask Hirsch if there was anyone to guide her or offer advice, she gives an adamant no. “I had no mentor. I’ll tell you right now, there was never a mentor,” she says. “Never, OK? Never. No one helped. No one really helped. I had to figure it out on my own.”

She’s not so much resentful as proud. And forget not having a mentor to show her the ropes—Hirsch also was without female peers. She tells me she could count on one hand the women she worked with during that time, though she didn’t realize how unique she was in the moment. “We were just onto something so new,” she explains. “I never went through this industry thinking, ‘Oh, poor me—the woman.’ I just took it for granted that I could do whatever the guys did. And I’d do it better.”

Now, almost four decades later, Hirsch has tracked the ebbs and flows in the business, surviving each new trend and turn of tide. When Comedy Central launched in 1991, for example, it transformed the business. “[Channels like Comedy Central and Ha!] were just getting developed when they saw what was really happening at Carolines, because we had so many people come in,” Hirsch says. “They used to always be there looking at the talent.”

And in 2019, Carolines on Broadway continues to be an incubator for new talent, booking with a sixth sense for what will resonate outside the traditional stand-up act—YouTube stars, podcast hosts, influencers like Jonathan Van Ness and the like. Even in that diverse roster, Hirsch insists that the best talent has one thing in common.

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