Love Island star's mother begs trolls to stop sending her 'nasty' messages about her son

The mother of a Love Island star has begged trolls to stop sending her "nasty" messages on Instagram.

Jacques O'Neill is currently a contestant on the latest series of the hit ITV2 dating show.

His mother Janet revealed that the comments "hurt" as she posted a throwback picture of the pair to her account.

She wrote: "People sending nasty messages to me please can you stop it does hurt thank you."

O'Neill was introduced to viewers as a 'bombshell' contestant and the real life ex-boyfriend of fellow contestant Gemma Owen, the daughter of footballer Michael Owen.

During his time on the show so far he had been enjoying a blossoming romance with Paige Thorne, but is currently in a 'friendship couple' with Danica Taylor.

It is unclear exactly what the contents of the messages are that his mother has been receiving – however social media users rushed to offer her support.

One commented: "Everyone can see what a kind hearted lad he is. Hope you're okay."

Another shared: "He is amazing and you have raised an incredible young man."

A third encouraged her to: "Ignore the trolls!"

It comes after former contestant Remi Lambert told the Reality with Will Njobyu podcast that he had got into "quite a lot of arguments" with O'Neill that weren't aired and that it "ruined" his experience.

Last year, Love Island made a statement about the “wholly unacceptable” trolling the family of then-contestant Chloe Burrows were receiving, and urged “all of our viewers to think before posting”.

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