Malin Andersson has opened up about being a victim of domestic violence in a powerful open letter. The reality star shared a photo of her bruised face to help women in similar situations.
She wrote, “The external isn’t as bad as the internal. Damage not to my physical body but my mental health also. PTSD. Constant thoughts of ‘am I crazy, did any of this happen?’ Questioning myself.”
Malin explained that she kept quiet for such a long time because she felt trapped. She struggled to tell anyone about her situation, “I lost myself completely. I wasn’t Malin, I was someone else. I was trapped. I thought I was ok. I thought that it was my fault. I kept going back because I thought I was in love. I thought this was all love. It’s not.”
She revealed the moment she knew she had to escape her abuser, “I woke up one day and decided to break the cycle. I knew enough was enough. I didn’t know if I would ever see this day, the constant head f***, but I promise you the day I set free came to me, it will come to you.”
To say that the former Love Island star is brave for sharing her story just isn’t enough. The courage and strength it takes to walk away from an abusive relationship is unbelievable, but Malin is right, women must seek help before it is too late.
Six Love Island stars have slammed the show, claiming it left them feeling "suicidal" after they were treated like "performing monkeys".
Malin Andersson, Josh Denzel, Paul Knops, Adam Collard, Callum MacLeod and Alex Miller have banded together to write a scathing letter accusing ITV producers of pulling strings behind the scenes.
The former reality show contestants claim they felt depressed and worried following their stints on the show, and they've decided to speak out following the suicides of Sophie Gradon and Mike Thalassitis.
The deaths have sparked a huge debate regarding how Islanders were treated during their few weeks in the Spanish villa and the aftercare they received when they left.
Changes were made this year to the way the contestants were looked after once they were dumped from the show. ITV released a statement following Mike's suicide this year.
"Our duty of care is a continuous and ongoing process for each Islander. This follows three key stages; pre-filming, filming, and aftercare," they insisted.
"We work with both an independent GP and a psychological consultant to provide an assessment of the physical and mental health of each of the shortlisted cast members and their suitability for inclusion on the programme."
"We have a medical team on location which includes a psychological consultant. They not only look after Islanders’ healthcare needs, but also monitor them to check that there are no emerging signs of any problems developing whilst they are in the villa.
"Additionally, several of our senior team, who monitor the cast around the clock, have been trained in mental health first aid." Six former Love Island stars have now spilled their true feelings on the series.
Alex Miller says he struggled to adjust to real life after his romance with Megan Barton-Hanson in the villa last year, tellingThe Ringerthat he had suicidal thoughts after fame went cold and he had to return to his job in construction.
Image: ITV/REX
"I never thought I would get into that mind frame. But I would be driving to work, contemplating ending things." Love Island bosses contacted a psychologist on his behalf after he opened up about these thoughts.
"From a Love Island perspective probably about five months after I was out of the villa and it had all died down and I was in a bit of a dark place and partying too much, I did have a rant on here and one of the Love Island producers got in touch and put me back in touch with a psychiatrist."
"They interviewed me, they knew my personality, and then they put me in the villa and said, ‘You’ve got 48 hours to steal someone’s girl, otherwise you’re gone’."
Adam was told that his career "a world of good" if he could "cope with this mentally" with the bad press that would come his way.
Callum MacLeod, who was the first of 2019's Islanders to be voted out of the show, spoke out to confirm that Islanders do get aftercare when they leave.
Callum said they were shown a video about trolling, which was created by former Islanders and detailed life on the outside.
Josh Denzel, from last year's series, said receiving cruel comments online was difficult to deal with. Friends who ran his account stopped posting online due to the hateful comments they read.
Paul Knops, from 2018's round-up, opened up about his anxiety;
He said: "You go through anxiety. It can be pretty stressful. And then you go back to your own home, and there’s no one really to talk to about what you’ve been through. It all comes down to dealing with stuff on your own, and not everyone’s great at that."
Other Islanders have defended Love Island and the aftercare;
Olivia Buckland spoke to the Daily Mail about her time on season two: "I was in constant contact with the producers for a very long time. I got offered psychological tests when I got out.
"I got offered counselling when I got out. I got a list of agencies. Honestly, they really did look after me, and Alex. They always checked in with us, and I’m still good friends with them now. Love Island is there for you if you need them."
"When I came out of the villa ITV sat down with me and went through everything that had happened to make sure I was prepared. I don’t blame ITV for any of this – they’ve been amazing," she emphasised.
"They are in regular contact and whenever anything difficult happens they make an extra special effort to check in on you to see if you’re OK. I’ve got the number of the show’s psychologist in my phone and I know I can call her whenever I need to.”
Alex George, who appeared in series four, told ITV News: "I can only talk about my own personal experience of course, and I’ve felt that when I’ve asked for help, I’ve received it."
Olivia Attwood (season three) wrote in her New! magazine column: "I think when you put yourself in a situation like this, it’s always a risk and you need to decide whether you’re strong enough to do it.
"I’ve been subject to a lot of negative comments from trolls in the past year, but the only point it really got to me was when I first came out," she added, referencing her thick skin developing.
Chris was elevated so much in the press, whereas I was a bit hated. It was a lot to deal with because I knew a side to Chris that no one else had seen. But even then ITV were so supportive to me."
"My advice to Islanders coming out is to brace yourself and keep as much normality as you possibly can because I always say to myself that this isn’t your real world. You’ve got to keep things in perspective.
"You were happy and existed before you went on TV, so you should be happy and exist after it all goes away."
Tom Powell, who took part in series two, told The Sun: "The show was crazy. But they took care of us. Anyone who says otherwise is talking bulls**t."
"This morning Love Island called me and said I could call the psychologist who works for the show. They gave her new number. He was one of the first person to speak to us.
"After you leave the show you speak to the psychologist and you were always checking in with her. We had a lot of care after the show. They took great care of us," he assured.
Chris Hughes, who appeared on series three, spoke out on Victoria Derbyshire: "Before the show you see a psychologist, and after the show before you head back to the show you see a psychologist.
"In the series that I was in you spoke to somebody before, and they make sure you're fine, and during your time in the show, you can also speak to somebody," he said, defending reality television.
"And then afterwards before we flew home to the UK, still when we're within a duty of care from ITV, we have an opportunity to speak to somebody.
"We speak to them regardless, that's set in stone. So they can prepare you for what to expect when you land back in England.
"One thing I will say is when I filmed another show with ITV, another reality show, mine and Olivia's, we were given support by a psychologist there for whenever we wanted it and me and Olivia spent hours separately and together speaking to her because they were worried about that side of things with us. It's obviously a massive help."
It sounds like mixed messages from former Love Island stars. On the one hand, if you're built with a thick skin or develop one, it seems the aftercare is sufficient.
On the other hand, certain contestants receive far more trolling than others, and work dries up for many, which can be majorly anxiety-inducing.
Fans of the show are currently worried about Amy Hart, who has just voluntarily left this year's series after her brutal break-up with her first love; Curtis Pritchard.
ITV bosses are about to get some SERIOUS hate mail after the latest comments on body diversity. Brace yourselves for this one, people, it's an absolute corker.
Richard Cowles, creative director of ITV Studios Entertainment, are claiming that the reason Love Island is lacking body diversity is because they want the contestants "to be attracted to one another".
The reality show has been garnering huge criticism in previous years over failing to cast contestants with a range of body types.
The 2019 islanders for season five were unveiled last Monday, and fans of the show quickly took to Twitter to vent their frustrations.
The contestants are typically toned, slim and bronzed with gleaming white teeth; zero change from the last four seasons. Former stars of the show also expressed concerns at the lack of physical representation.
Cowles suggested the reason Love Island usually shows only one physique is because other body types might be deemed LESS attractive by other contestants, which is something only a massive d*ckhead would say.
“I think we try to be as representative and diverse as possible,” Cowles saisd “It has to come back first and foremost- it's an entertainment show and it's about people wanting to watch people we've got on screen and then reacting and falling in love with one another.
“Yes we want to be as representative as possible but we also we want them to be attracted to one another.” *Sharpens knife*
The Love Island boss continued to dig a bigger hole by saying the show isn’t encouraging people to aspire to a certain body image, it just chooses participants based on who they think the public want to watch for eight weeks.
So basically, only this one narrow body type can appear on television, because the public refuse to watch any other varieties of physiques. Wow.
“We're saying here's a group of people that we want to watch for eight weeks, and we want to watch them fall in love,” Cowles added. “That's not at the front of our mind, but we do want to be as diverse as possible.”
Former islanders Alexandra Cane and Malin Andersson both spoke out about their disappointment over the 2019 line-up.
Cane tweeted: “Where the curvy girls at?” while Love Island 2016 star Andersson, wrote: “And I thought they would have some diversity. Meh.”
“When casting for Love Island, we always strive to reflect the age, experiences and diversity of our audience and this year is no exception with a cross section of different personalities and backgrounds in the villa." Maybe strive a tad harder, eh?
The reality show has also received complaints about the lack of care for the mental health of contestants, following the suicides of Mike Thalassitis and Sophie Gradon.
While the series came under scrutiny for reasons of mental health and compassion on social media, it seems the public are still commenting on the bodies of those involved in the new season
I see the same people who were tweeting about mental health issues just a few short months ago when Mike died are now tweeting about how ugly and shit the new group going into Love Island are. The hypocrisy is absolutely astounding.
Love Island has yet to return for its fifth season, but drama has already begun brewing online over body sizes and weight diversity.
Jameela Jamil has expressed her distaste about the lack of plus-size people on the hit ITV2 show, and tweeted an image of one of the contestants who she presumed was the producers choice for a larger type of body.
Unfortunately, her tweet has slightly backfired after Katy McDermott pointed out that, by posting an image and singling out one woman and assuming she is the 'token plus-size contestant', she is now the one labelling women's bodies:
The producers of Love Island think this slim woman counts as their new token “plus size” contestant? Are they drunk? pic.twitter.com/sam4AqzzQw
The Good Place actress and activist wrote: "The producers of Love Island think this slim woman counts as their new token “plus size” contestant? Are they drunk?"
The woman, Anna Vakili, is slightly curvier than the other contestants, but is still by no means a 'plus-size' model.
Former Love Island star Kady McDermott called out Jameela for using a 2019 hopeful's body image to try and prove a point:
Who even said she was the plus size contestant? Maybe we shouldn’t be labelling women as anything and just letting them be who they are. Skinny/slim/curvy/obese who cares. https://t.co/joYYZxisB3
The 23-year-old slammed the British actress's supposed double standards after she labelled Anna's body 'slim' and assumed she was the body diversity choice this year.
She rebutted: "Who even said she was the plus size contestant? Maybe we shouldn’t be labelling women as anything and just letting them be who they are. Skinny/slim/curvy/obese who cares."
Other Twitter users agreed with Kady, saying how disappointed they were when Anna was singled out for her body compared to other contestants when it's perfectly healthy.
Kady continued to argue against Jameela's call-out, writing: "Couldn’t agree more. She is FAR from a “plus size” but even if she was she shouldn’t be pointed out likes she’s different. People are people."
Couldn’t agree more. She is FAR from a “plus size” but even if she was she shouldn’t be pointed out likes she’s different. People are people https://t.co/CCv6vCDXi9
Former contestants Alexandra Cane and Malin Andersson called on the show's bosses last week to cast a more diverse range of Islanders.
Fans have been quick to compare 28-year-old pharmacist Anna to queen of curses, Kim Kardashian. Love Island producers have not confirmed that Anna was added to the line-up to represent a different body type.
Many were disappointed by the absence of Jada Sezer, who was rumoured to join the show. Sezer is a mental health campaigner and plus-size model, and would have brought something new to the villa.
The countdown to Love Island 2019 has been ticking over for months now, and we're damn tired of waiting. We want sun, pretty people to watch/judge and hilarious memes and we want it now.
Thank the Gods, the start date has finally been 'revealed' ahead of the show's fifth series.
Fans of the hugely popular ITV show are eagerly anticipating the return ever since Dani and Jack took home the trophy last year. Rumour has it we'll be seeing a host of new singletons on Monday, June 3.
The Love Island UK Twitter account spilled the saucy secret, after presenter Caroline Flack revealed earlier in the month that she had begun filming for the ITV show and would soon be meeting the new stars.
"What’s really exciting about this week is that we start filming for Love Island 2019," she divulged to her followers on Instagram.
"And by the end of the week I’m going to have potentially seen the cast for this year, which is really exciting and mad that it’s come around this quick."
ITS OFFICIAL LOVE ISLAND STARTS 3RD OF JUNE ON ITV2
She continued, "So I’ll let you know what happens, it’s going to be a long, hot summer and all that." There's only about three weeks to go until the show prep begins.
During a workout, she added, "I’ve just trained with Bradley Simmons, he put me through utter hell. Making me do weights I should not be lifting, but he says we’ve only got three weeks before Love Island starts, so we’ve got to work hard."
We'll have to work hard to wait another 26 days for the next season's debut. Fingers crossed the producers reveal who the cast are soon enough, we're DYING to see them.
Malin Andersson has announced the devastating news that her beautiful baby girl Consy has tragically passed away.
The 25-year-old Love Island star shared the heartbreaking news to her Instagram followers, uploading a picture of her newborn baby in a hospital bed with tubes and a pink blanket surrounding her.
Little Consy was born seven weeks premature on December 23, and was having complications ever since.
In a statement, Malin wrote a tribute to her beloved little girl;
"Completely in love with you.. and my Mum just wanted you to be with her," she wrote..
"Your time wasn’t ready yet. Mummy loves you. I stayed with you each day.. you opened your eyes one last time for me and I saw those beautiful big brown eyes."
"I’m so sorry I couldn’t do anymore. Go be with grandma Consy." Malin said in her statement.
"My angel. Rest in peace CONSY GLORIA EMMA ANDERSSON-KEMP" she concluded.
When Consy was born, the reality star wrote at the time;
"Happy New Year..Tom and I are so happy to let you all know that our baby girl CONSY arrived in this world 23rd December 2018, seven weeks early.
"She is so beautiful, we are totally in love with her and feel so blessed that she is here but unfortunately due to complications, she is currently being cared for at Great Ormond Street."
"We have received a number of messages over the past week and there has been a lot of speculation and so we wanted to share our news with you so you could hear from us first hand" the heartbroken couple stated.
Love Island’s Malin Andersson has updated fans on her baby girl Consy, who was born seven weeks early on December 23.
The new mum confirmed her daughter’s arrival on Instagram by sharing a photo of her little girl covered in wires in the hospital’s intensive care unit.
The 25-year-old explained that her daughter will have to be cared for at Great Ormond Street hospital due to complications.
Taking to Instagram, Malin shared that they are still at the hospital with their daughter. She thanked fans for their waves of support during such a harrowing time.
“Both my niece & nephew were 2 months premature and they are fine. Amazing how far medical science has come for prem babies. Stay strong and keep touching and stroking her. She can still feel her mummy and helps calm and soothe her,” another woman reassured the Love Island star.
She captioned the snap, ''Happy New Year…Tom and I are so happy to let you all know that our baby girl CONSY arrived in this world 23rd December 2018, seven weeks early. She is so beautiful, we are totally in love with her and feel so blessed that she is here but unfortunately due to complications, she is currently being cared for at Great Ormond Street – we have received a number of messages over the past week and there has been a lot of speculation and so we wanted to share our news with you so you could hear from us first hand.''
She continued, ''We are so thankful for the amazing care she is receiving here and promise to update you on her progress but for the time being we hope you can all respect our privacy. We can’t wait to share her with you all soon. Love, Ma & Tom x.''
Malin’s followers were quick to comment their well wishes.
