Love Island's Malin opens up about suicidal thoughts following daughter's death
Note: The following article contains discussion of themes including suicide that some readers may find upsetting.
Former Love Island star Malin Andersson has revealed that she experienced suicidal thoughts following the death of her newborn daughter.
The reality star's daughter Consy was born seven weeks prematurely and sadly passed away earlier this year.
Malin has now revealed how the tragedy affected her mental health, explaining on the White Wine Question Time podcast: "When she passed away, I locked myself away for about three weeks. I just drank wine every night, I didn't want to speak to anybody.
A post shared by MALIN ANDERSSON (@missmalinsara) on Jan 23, 2019 at 12:28am PST
"[When Consy was in ICU] I was too scared to touch her, because of the wires and everything. And I was slowly collecting tablets by the way, because I was thinking, 'If she's going to go, f**k, I'm going too.'
"Because what else have I got to live for here? I haven’t got a family to go back to."
However, Big Brother winner Josie Gibson then reached out to Malin, the former saying on the same podcast episode: "I cried so much for you. Because we were sharing our stories the whole way through, and then... I didn't sleep for two nights. I was so upset for you."
Josie then began gathering supportive messages, Malin recalling: "And so there were just video messages from random people, celebrities, just offering words of courage, support.
"And they actually made such a difference. She was just giving me support that was very much needed at the time. And no one else really knew what to say to me. But she just put herself out there.
"I was sitting there one day and thought, right: get up, wake up. And let’s do something. Don't try and hide your emotions. Don't try and just run away and numb your pain with other things.
"Ride out the pain. Because then you'll heal yourself. When you learn to actually feel your emotion, you'll start to heal."
We would encourage anyone who identifies with the topics raised in this article to reach out. Organisations who can offer support include Samaritans on 116 123 (www.samaritans.org), and Mind on 0300 123 3393 (www.mind.org.uk). Readers in the US are encouraged to contact the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline on 1-800-273-8255 or visit the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention.
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