Love Island star Sophie Gradon tragically committed suicide – and now her heartbroken mum believes the stress of her death has left her battling a brain tumour.
Grieving mum Deborah, 62, was left devastated when model Sophie took her own life in June 2018 after vile trolls slated her on social media.
And now Deborah has revealed she is enduring a living nightmare and is in agony every day.
She has an endocrine tumour in her pituitary gland and, although it is thankfully not cancerous, it is very dangerous.
Deborah suffers from chronic fatigue and worries she will one day wake up with a brain bleed or even blindness.
And if that wasn’t hard enough to cope with, the heartbreak of losing her loving daughter has shattered the family.
Former Miss Great Britain Sophie was bombarded with online abuse after appearing on the hit ITV2 reality show.
But despite her own health problems, mum Deborah is determined to campaign against trolling on her daughter’s behalf, in a tribute to Sophie.
“We’re looking here at the next destructive force within society and the Government needs to do more,” stressed Deobrah, in an exclusive interview with The Sunday Mirror.
“If a beautiful, clever girl can be destroyed by public humiliation, then anyone can. I don’t want Sophie’s death to be in vain.
“All social media companies should ask for proof of identity when people sign up, so they are easily traceable. After a first warning, anyone who continues to abuse should be named and shamed on a trolls register.”
Former Love Island host Caroline Flack took her own life, aged just 40, in February last year and another former contestant, Mike Thalassitis, 26, also sadly ended his own life in March 2019.
The trio of alarming deaths all came within the space of 18 months with widespread calls for contestants’ mental health to be assessed due to the pressures of social media.
And Deborah, who lost Sophie aged only 32, admits she was left horrified by the level of abuse her daughter received as soon as she went on Love Island.
She managed Sophie’s Twitter account when she entered the villa and revealed one horrible troll posted “I hope you get cancer” and another branded her daughter “pathetic”.
The heartache has been compounded by the family’s dog, Minnie, recently dying and Deborah felt so low about everything she sought help from a health specialist.
However, she was told the crushing news that she had a brain tumour that “could well have been due to the stress of everything”.
Deborah is due to have more scans to see the extent of her tumour, but it is not yet known whether she will require surgery or medication in her bid to get better.
“We rarely mention Sophie’s name [now], admitted Deborah. “Every day feels like we’re living a nightmare.”
For emotional support you can call the Samaritans 24-hour helpline on 116 123, email jo@samaritans.org, visit a Samaritans branch in person or go to the Samaritans website.
Source: Celebrities - dailystar.co.uk
