Jacques O'Neill has spoken out for the first time since he decided to walk out of the Love Island villa last week.
Jacques was the focus point of the episodes leading to his exit as the producers played on the potential love triangle between Jacques himself, Paige Thorne and new arrival Adam Collard. The arrival of Adam arguably sent Jacques down a downward spiral as his interest in Paige threatened the relationship between himself and Paige which was already in a fragile state due to his shocking antics during the Casa Amor part of the TV programme.
Seeing the chances of reconciliation dwindling with every conversation Paige was having with Adam, Jacques began to visibly self-destruct in the villa, leading to his shock exit. Since then, the Islander has remained off social media before an exclusive interview with The Sun was released today, where Jacques goes into detail about how bad his mental state really became. Jacques said that one of the main reasons he decided to remove himself from the villa was because he was worried that he might "lose control" and perhaps get "physical" towards other Islanders, assumedly Adam.
He said that he was on the brink of a breakdown and was sobbing to friends and producers, insisting he wanted to leave but who all told him that he would be fine." It broke me and I was already broken. I was crying my eyes out. I couldn't cope.
I was literally feeling awful. It was the worst I'd ever felt in my life."He said he spoke to the man in charge, "Mike", and was adamant that he wanted to leave. Mike then allegedly calmed him down before convincing him to stay on the programme.Speaking on the situation with Paige, and how he handled their arguments in the villa, he said:"I know the way I spoke to Paige was wrong. I tried to apologise and she kept asking why I did it.
ADHD isn't just about not being able to concentrate. It's also about feeling anxious quite a lot, being on edge a lot."Many viewers heavily disliked Jacques on the show and disagreed with his way of handling situations. Despite this, considering there have been three suicides of celebrities involved with Love Island, it is important that Love Island are prioritising the mental health of their contestants.A spokesperson for Love Island said: "Islanders are welcome to leave should they choose to do so and we would never put pressure on someone to stay in the villa".