Love Island’s Jacques O’Neill breaks down in tears as he recalls heartbreaking moment after show
LOVE Island’s Jacques O’Neill has cried while talking about his mum’s reaction to vile death threats from trolls.
The reality star’s voice cracked and he wiped away tears as he recalled a heartbreaking conversation he had with his mother once he had left the villa.
Talking to his close friend, former Love Island star Scott Thomas, for his Learning About Judgement podcast, Jacques said: “The hardest thing was… sorry, mate.
“Just seeing my mum, how she was. Seeing her in a state.
“I couldn’t even leave the house…”
When asked exactly what his mum Janet was struggling with, Jacques replied: “The death threats, man.”
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Jacques, a professional rugby player, dramatically quit Love Island following the Casa Amor week. It also happened after love rival Adam Collard entered the villa.
Recalling the moments after he walked, he said he spoke to his mum and she begged him to return home.
“When I got out the villa, I had to go into a holding villa,” Jacques, 23, said.
“My mum was like, ‘Get out, Jacques. Just get out right now, get home. Just leave’.
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“I was kicking off and was saying, ‘Get me a flight right now, I just want to be with my mum’. I knew she was in a bad place, she was breaking down on the phone.”
He continued: “When I got home, she went, ‘Jacques, we can’t go out. We can’t go out. Like, everyone hates you’.
“I just wanted me and my mum to be okay.”
Jacques says he moved home for a week but struggled to get out of bed before 3pm every day. He said he was “comfort eating”.
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“I was so numb after the villa. It killed me to see the way my mum was,” he said. “I couldn’t speak to her about deep stuff because I’d just break down. It took me two weeks to give her a cuddle.”
Jacques, who suffers from ADHD, said he wants to use his newfound fame to raise awareness of the condition and help young sufferers.