Caroline Flack put on a brave face in the days and weeks before her death but was on anti-depressants and spent her time fretting over her impending court case, friends said today.
After Flack, 40, was charged with the assault of her boyfriend Lewis Burton, 27, in late December, the former Love Island presenter was only seen rarely in public and gave only a slight glimpse into her life.
Flack, who denied the assault and was scheduled to stand trial next month, shut down her Twitter account and posted to Instagram very rarely.
But recently, a string of Instagram posts, where the 40-year-old was pictured laughing and smiling, appeared to show her gradually moving back into the limelight.
According to friends, the presenter ‘couldn’t bear the thought of going through the court case’, the Mirror reported.
Caroline Flack returned to Instagram with a picture on Thursday, after Lewis Burton publicly reached out to her
On Thursday, two days before the presenter was found dead in her East London home, Flack returned to Instagram with a picture, the first posted to her page in two months, which showed her appearing happy with her pet dog, Ruby.
The collage of photographs, captioned simply with a love heart emoji, were posted hours after her Burton contacted her via the photo sharing platform.
As part of her bail conditions for the December incident, Caroline was ordered to sever all contact with Burton.
Just a day earlier, the ex-Love Island host was pictured laughing as she and a friend were filmed at a climbing wall in London.
Relaxed: Caroline had looked relaxed and care-free as she enjoyed wall climbing with a friend at The Castle Climbing Centre in London on Wednesday
In a now-deleted comment, her boyfriend Lewis Burton said: ‘You’re both useless’ alongside a love heart emoji, even though Caroline had been ordered by a judge not to have any communication with him.
Despite a court order ruling against their contact, it appears that the relationship was still on.
On February 8, Daily Mail columnist Richard Eden, reported that one of Caroline’s friends told him the 40-year-old was using her time out of the limelight to pen a self-help book.
‘She hopes to be able to help others who may be going through similar difficulties. Part self-help, part memoir is the style that Caroline is looking for,’ Eden reported the friend saying.
On January 30 Caroline’s boyfriend told reporters the pair are still together outside his London flat, insisting ‘I haven’t broken up with Caroline’.
Sources close to Caroline, 40, also told Mailonline the couple were still together.
The Love Island host took to Instagram the same day to announce she will soon be giving her side of the tale in an Instagram story.
Sources later confirmed that she had changed her mind, and had decided to wait ‘until the time was right’.
In an Instagram Story, Caroline stated: ‘I’m going to speak today …mine and my families life is no longer up for entertainment or gossip . [sic]’.
Caroline Flack’s boyfriend Lewis Burton insisted at the end of January the pair were still together in the wake of her assault charge
Sad: Caroline posted the same day Lewis denied their split saying: ‘I’m going to speak today… mine and my family’s life is no longer up for entertainment or gossip’ but she decided against it
Two days earlier, Flack reportedly took her £1.1 million London flat off the market so she can rent it out as a source of income.
The presenter, 41, recently returned to the UK from a break in Los Angeles, and is reportedly keeping the flat as she plots her TV comeback ahead of her assault trial in March.
It comes after Caroline lost her £1.2 million salary as the host of Love Island by stepping down following her arrest last month.
A source told: ‘It’s been on the market for a while – but she’s taken it off and will now rent it out as it makes more business sense.’
The Love Island presenter’s property, located in Islington, north London, is thought to have been on the market since September
It comes after Caroline put her flat on the market in September, though it only came to light last month that it was for sale following her arrest for assault.
Police were seen outside Flack’s two-bedroom home in December, where she lived with her partner Lewis at the time, after reports emerged that a man had been attacked.
The key features of the property described it as period conversion with double height ceilings and original windows.
Caroline had spoken about battling depression and being on anti-depressants after she won Strictly Come Dancing.
At the time, she told The Sun: ‘People see the celebrity lifestyle and assume everything is perfect, but we’re just like everyone else.
‘ Everyone is battling something emotional behind closed doors — that’s life.’