LOVE Island star Zara Holland has struggled to watch the show after Sophie Gradon’s untimely death in 2018.
Sophie was battling depression when she ended her life with a lethal cocktail of alcohol and cocaine two years after she appeared on the ITV2 dating show.
The tragedy devastated the 32-year-old’s family and friends including her Love Island co-star Zara, who grew close to Sophie in the 2016 series.
Zara, 25, said: “Nothing against the show. But I was extremely close with Sophie Gradon. She was a big part of my time in the villa.
“I just wouldn’t watch it, even if I had loads of spare time on my hands.”
Following her death Sophie’s mum Deborah has fought for a crackdown on online trolls, having witnessed firsthand the horrific abuse Sophie suffered on social media before her death.
Reflecting on the trolling Sophie received, Zara added to The Mirror: “Life shouldn’t be about judging one another. For example, judging a young woman for enjoying herself.
“A young woman who hasn’t harmed anyone but a woman who has faced a torrent of judgemental and close minded opinions since leaving Love Island.”
An inquest into Sophie’s death in 2019 told how her boyfriend Aaron Armstrong performed CPR on her for 15 minutes but was unable to save her.
The reality star, who was crowned Miss Newcastle and Miss Great Britain in 2009, had been mourning the recent death of close friend Paul Burns at the time of her death.
Aaron, 25, went on to take his own life five days after her funeral having taken a similar cocktail of cocaine and booze, a separate inquest was told.
The couple exchanged texts the day before Sophie’s death that were “very general and loving in nature” while both were at home looking after their respective parents’ dogs.
But when he couldn’t contact Sophie the next day, Aaron became so worried he called his brother Ryan and the pair went together to her home.
They threw stones up to Sophie’s bedroom window to get her attention, before Aaron peered through the living room window and saw his girlfriend was unconscious.
