Laura Whitmore thought Caroline Flack’s death was "fake news" when she first read it on social media.
The 34-year-old television presenter initially "ignored" Twitter posts about the 40-year-old presenter’s death last month as she believed it was a hoax.
Speaking on on Kate Thornton’s ‘White Wine Question Time’ podcast, Laura explained: "I found out about Caroline on the Saturday and I found out in a way I wish I didn’t.
"It was something on Twitter that someone had tweeted initially that I disregarded because there’s always so much stuff. There are so many things that would be said about Caroline that you wouldn’t take everything as truth, so I kind of ignored it."
Laura then received a phone call from a friend asking her to come home from as soon as she could before she broke the news of Caroline’s passing, but Laura decided to scroll through the posts again to re-read the details.
The ‘Love Island’ host – who took over from Caroline when she stepped down last year after she was charged by police for allegedly assaulting her boyfriend Lewis Burton – continued: "Then I did that thing – which I wish I didn’t – I went on Twitter and you see different things, different people posting things. We live in a world where we find out our news on social media and we don’t know what is right and what is wrong – there is fake news.
"It wasn’t the way that you think you would find out a friend had passed away, so I just got home as quick as I could and that’s when I came in to my friend and she said it was true."
However, Laura held back her tears as her first thought was of her boyfriend Iain Stirling – who has worked alongside Caroline on the ITV2 dating show as the narrator for many years – who was enjoying a day off from filming in South Africa at the time.
She added: "I just wanted him to get to a safe space, if that makes sense? Not to be exposed. Because everyone wants to see what your reaction is."
Laura Whitmore thought Caroline Flack’s death was ‘fake news’
