Olly Murs breaks down in tears over Caroline Flack’s passing

Olly Murs breaks down in tears as he talks about Caroline Flack‘s tragic passing – and says it’s ‘going to hurt for a long time’ in a new clip from the late TV star’s documentary.

The singer, 36, said his ‘heart breaks’ every time he thinks of Caroline, and he struggles to imagine the internal suffering she endured in the moments that led up to her suicide.

In a clip from Channel 4 documentary Caroline Flack: Her Life and Death – which airs on Wednesday, March 17 – Olly sobbed as he remembered the good times he shared with close friend and former co-presenter Caroline, who took her own life aged 40 last February.

‘We were great together’: Olly Murs breaks down in tears as he talks about Caroline Flack’s tragic passing – and says it’s ‘going to hurt for a long time’ in a new clip from the TV star’s doc

Olly said: ‘I just know that my heart breaks every time I think of Caz and think of what she would’ve had to have gone through to take her own life and that’s going to hurt for a long time because we got on so well – we were great together.’   

TV presenter Natalie Pinkham, 43, added: ‘All that talent, all that love, all the joy she brought, just gone. 

‘She has gone, it’s just horrible and you feel like saying ‘come on you’ve made your point now, come back, we’ve all listened, we’ve heard and I’m sorry.’ 

Later in the documentary, Olly spoke about the public’s negative reaction to him and Caroline presenting The X Factor in 2015 – and how they first knew they were losing their jobs when it became a news story. 

'That's going to hurt': Olly said his 'heart breaks' every time he thinks of Caroline, and he struggles to imagine the suffering she endured in the moments that led up to her suicide

‘That’s going to hurt’: Olly said his ‘heart breaks’ every time he thinks of Caroline, and he struggles to imagine the suffering she endured in the moments that led up to her suicide

'It was an awful experience': Later in the documentary, Olly spoke about the public's negative reaction to him and Caroline presenting The X Factor in 2015

‘It was an awful experience’: Later in the documentary, Olly spoke about the public’s negative reaction to him and Caroline presenting The X Factor in 2015 

'Everyone hated us': Dermot O'Leary returned to The X Factor a year later after co-hosts Caroline and Olly received a negative reaction from the public

‘Everyone hated us’: Dermot O’Leary returned to The X Factor a year later after co-hosts Caroline and Olly received a negative reaction from the public 

Olly said: ‘I remember the final of The X Factor there was a big story and basically we were getting sacked after the show.

‘It was an awful experience knowing that everyone hated us on the show. That X Factor experience for both of us was hard. But again Caroline, God, she got it so much more than me. I don’t know what it was.’

In another preview clip, Dermot O’Leary’s wife Dee, 42, who’s a TV producer and was close friends with Caroline, said the former Love Island presenter became entrapped in a game of ‘cat and mouse’ with social media as she became more famous.   

Dee said: ‘Her rise to fame coincided with the rise of social media and I think she was in a kind of weird cat and mouse game with social media, with press, with fame.’ 

Appearing alongside his wife, Dermot, 47, added: ‘She hated it but she couldn’t live without it.’ 

'She hated it but she couldn't live without it': Dermot and his wife Dee reflected on the impact the rise of social media had on Caroline's mental health

‘She hated it but she couldn’t live without it’: Dermot and his wife Dee reflected on the impact the rise of social media had on Caroline’s mental health 

The film shows some examples of the hateful tweets posted about Caroline, including one that said: ‘There is nobody on earth I hate more than Caroline Flack.’

Olly said: ‘The abuse that she was getting, it was awful, awful. Those comments did affect her, those comments did hurt.’ 

Polly Hill, who was Caroline’s agent between 2003 and 2015, explained: ‘We did try quite hard to try and wean her off social media but actually I don’t think we ever really got a handle on that, unfortunately.

‘It was slightly destroying her, I would say. She was suffering basically and then when you did see her face to face, nothing would get mentioned it would be a ‘yeah I’m fine’ whereas obviously she wasn’t fine… yeah.’ 

Christine Flack, Caroline’s mum, said: ‘I used to say to her ‘well just don’t read it, get rid of your phone’ but she’d be on it constantly, you’d try and talk to her but she’d be looking at her phone.’ 

'Those comments did hurt': Olly said the 'abuse' Caroline received on Twitter was 'awful' and the remarks would affect on her (Caroline pictured in 2019)

‘Those comments did hurt’: Olly said the ‘abuse’ Caroline received on Twitter was ‘awful’ and the remarks would affect on her (Caroline pictured in 2019) 

'All the times you miss with someone': In the Channel 4 film, Caroline's mum Christine shared her regret over not spending more time with her daughter when she had the chance

‘All the times you miss with someone’: In the Channel 4 film, Caroline’s mum Christine shared her regret over not spending more time with her daughter when she had the chance 

In the documentary, directed by Charlie Russell, This Morning presenter Dermot hinted at the importance of speaking out about mental health issues, as him and wife Dee said Caroline ‘hid’ her problems ‘so well’ but they never went away. 

Dermot said: ‘It’s very difficult to know the extent of someone’s problems if they tell you – if they sweep them under the carpet.

Dee added: ‘She just hid it too well, that’s the thing she just hid it so well and for me the only warning signs were the addiction to social media and you definitely saw that over the years progressing and obviously that then grew and grew and didn’t really stop and go away.’  

In the Channel 4 film, Caroline’s mum Christine shared her regret over not spending more time with her daughter when she had the chance.

Sad: Christine looked back at old Mother's Day cards from Caroline and her Showbiz memorabilia, including the Strictly Glitter Ball trophy and her Love Island pilot hat

Sad: Christine looked back at old Mother’s Day cards from Caroline and her Showbiz memorabilia, including the Strictly Glitter Ball trophy and her Love Island pilot hat

She looked back at old Mother’s Day cards from Caroline and her Showbiz memorabilia, including the Strictly Glitter Ball trophy she won in 2014.

Christine said: ‘She used to say to me ‘oh I’ve booked this mum, are you coming? Come with me. 

‘Or ‘we’ll go here and go there’ and I’d say ‘I’ve got to work and I did have to work and do you know Charlie… you shouldn’t, all the times you sort of miss with someone and you should just do it shouldn’t you?’  

  • Caroline Flack: Her Life and Death will be on Channel 4 on Wednesday 17 March at 9pm, and available on All4 
'She wasn't fine': Polly Hill, who was Caroline's agent between 2003-2015, said social media 'destroyed' the presenter and while she was suffering, she always put on a brave face in person

‘She wasn’t fine’: Polly Hill, who was Caroline’s agent between 2003-2015, said social media ‘destroyed’ the presenter and while she was suffering, she always put on a brave face in person