The Guardian

Instagram brought us so close to Caroline Flack that her death seems personal | Leah Green

As the line between celebrity and reality continues to blur, the grief we feel is changing too
Caroline Flack last year at the Love Island villa in Mallorca. Photograph: ITV/Rex/Shutterstock

Caroline Flack has become a familiar figure in the lives of fans of Love Island, like me, over the past five years. She was in our living rooms every summer and, for those of us who use social media, on our phones almost every day.

Through Instagram stories, we watched her on nights out, playing with her dog, singing at a piano and celebrating her 40th birthday. I had private thoughts about her boyfriends,

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