A Love Island star has been left heartbroken as their dad has died.
Brett Staniland, who shot to fame on Love Island in 2021, took to Instagram on Thursday (March 13) to announce that his dad had passed away following a “short battle with cancer”. The model shared a sweet photo showing him and twin Scott with his dad and their loved ones.
He wrote a touching tribute to his dad, who he said was “loved by everyone and always did all he could for other people”. He also admitted he fought hard for six months and it was “unexpected to lose him so soon”.
Brett wrote: “I’m sorry for those seeing this now and this is something I haven’t shared much of on here. Sadly we lost our dad Mike yesterday after a short battle with cancer, which he was diagnosed with stage 4 in September.”
(Image: Twinbrett/Instagram)
Brett continued: “He fought as hard as he could for the last 6 months and it was unexpected to lose him so soon. He gave us an amazing life and loved out his dream of moving to Turkey and living a happy life there. We will be honouring his wish to be buried in the place he called home and we will lay him to rest here in Turkey tomorrow.
“He was loved by everyone and always did everything he could for other people. He leaves an irreplaceable hole in our lives but we will cherish our memories forever.
(Image: Jed Cullen/Dave Benett/Getty Ima)
Finishing the post, he added: “Thank you to everyone who shared a friendship with him and loved him through it all. Love you always Dad.”
Before stepping into the Love Island villa in 2021, the year Liam Reardon and Millie Court were crowned champs, Brett revealed he was a PHD student and model from Derbyshire who was a “mirror twin”.
He said: “We’re mirror twins. Our hair naturally parts the other way, I’m left handed, he’s right handed, I’m he’s left footed and I’m right footed. There’s some blemishes on our skin which are perfectly opposite. I’m older by two minutes. There’s some very peculiar questions I get asked, like if I hit you, will he feel it?”
Speaking about the show after his exit, Brett told Vogue: “I did the show for genuine reasons, and that was to actually find love! I hoped I would offer something different to the usual archetypal males that go on the show – in terms of masculinity as well as a slightly more educated person on the show.
“I was really excited to be selected. There was still a lots of uncertainty about the circumstances around actually entering the villa, and you’re never fully confirmed until you step foot inside, so it was definitely a nerve-wracking process. The recoupling on my first full day was very intense. Priya helped calm my nerves that night, for sure!”
Brett coupled up with Priya Gopaldas during his time in the villa. Five days later, they were dumped from the island after receiving the fewest votes from the public.
Brett’s brother Scott hit out at trolls for their “relentless” comments about Brett during the show. “I’m his identical twin so anything I see about appearance, or what he’s like, I take it so personally,” he said.
“It’s relentless as well, and it’s a really weird space online, this lack of consequence for saying something out in the open online when you’re at home with your piece of plastic in your hand.”
“Honestly after a day, I’ve not told many people this, I handed the login over to a friend who’s used to managing online communities. So I was really grateful for that, because I was up until four o’clock on the first night reading every quoted tweet, every reply, every comment, DM, all of that stuff.
“They are talking about really bad people, and people that have committed serious crimes that he looks like apparently. There’s just no boundaries. I had people sending voice notes and trying to call me on Instagram and FaceTime me.”
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Source: Celebrities - dailystar.co.uk
