By Lucy Caulkett-
Late television star, Caroline Flack, suffered a never ending pattern of depression, her mother told a Channel 4 documentary, titled Caroline Flack: Her Life and Death.
The documentary to be aired in the Uk this week, features the views from her mum Christine and sister Jody, who talk about her a pattern of depression followed her sister right from her teenage years. It features never-before-seen footage and childhood home videos.
The late star’s mother also slams Lorraine Kelly and Graham Norton for joking about her losing jobs.
Background reference is made to one of Caroline’s first relationships- a gypsy boyfriend
That was, I guess, the first time she got super, super, super upset,’ reveals Jody.
‘He was a bit older and it was dramatic and secret and so exciting. When it didn’t work out, she was heartbroken. She ran away. We didn’t know where she was.
‘And she’d gone to this house, was banging on his door. And she really, really, really, really struggled emotionally. She was very, very depressed. And then that pattern carried on for ever. She really, really did find heartbreak impossible.’
Each failed relationship was a precursor to destruction ahead. ‘She took a lot of tablets, drank a lot, ended up in A&E situations. She didn’t really think she could cope with that feeling.’
Christine says that Caroline first ended up going to hospital after an overdose when she was studying drama in Cambridge.
A serious relationship ended, ‘and then we got a call that she’d taken some pills and she spent time in hospital, and then you could tell, you know, that her reaction wasn’t right. She didn’t handle heartbreak well.’
“She ran away from home,” Jody said about Caroline’s first heartbreak. “She ran away and we didn’t know where she was and, I think, she’d gone to his house and was banging on his door.
“She really, really, really, really struggled emotionally. She was very, very depressed and that pattern carried on forever. She really did find heartbreak impossible.”
Her mother Christine continued: “She had a long relationship when she was in Cambridge but that ended. And then we got a call, that she’d taken some pills and she spent time in hospital and then you could tell, you know, it wasn’t right, her reaction wasn’t right.”
One sad and depressing short episode of the film by Caroline herself shows her looking tearful, and muffled up in a big coat and scarf. It was filmed just after she had emerged from discussions about her job (her world, really) on Love Island, when her world was in the process of tumbling down around her.
‘It’s three days after I’ve been arrested after having a fight with my boyfriend,’ she says, crying, the mascara smearing even more as she wipes her eyes. ‘Since then, I lost my job, the job I’ve worked all my life on.’
The pain is palpable. ‘I’ve never hurt anyone in my life. The only person I’ve ever hurt was myself.’
Mental Health
The family are truly hoping that the new documentary will encourage viewers to be more open about their mental health and to seek help for depression.
Christine added: “She didn’t want anyone to know she got down and I know they say everyone’s talking about it now but I think a lot of people that really suffer with depression still don’t talk about it, they don’t. I think people are still frightened to say it.”
Caroline took her own life on February 15, 2020 at the age of 40, with her death being ruled as suicide by a coroner at an inquest. The documentary will also feature interviews with Olly Murs and Dermot O’Leary, among others.