Montana Brown apologises for making life seem 'perfect' on Instagram as she reflects on Mike Thalassitis' death

Love Island contestant Montana Brown has apologised for making her life look “perfect” on Instagram, as she opened up about coming to terms with the death of her friend and former co-star Mike Thalassitis.

In an emotional post, the 23-year-old revealed that Thalassitis’ passing had forced her to have “a long hard think about life / what’s important to [her,]” and said that “from the outside,” the reality star had appeared to have it all.

“From the outside & from my viewpoint Mike had it all,” she wrote, adding: “Literally everyone female and male recognised what a catch he was.

She went on to suggest that positive posts on Instagram can warp social media users’ perception of what is going on in someone’s life, writing: “The reason that everybody thinks he has it all [is] because that’s the part of his life that he chooses to share & really he is so much more.

“He is such an amazing human and I’m going to miss him a lot.

“I wanted to say, Instagram is a place where we all like to show off, what luxury hotels we stay at, our glowing Dom Perignon bottles, our designer shoes & clothes.”

Brown then revealed that “looking at everyone else’s posts” while she was “cooped up, eating cakes” made her feel much worse about herself.

“I felt all I was looking at is people’s perfect lives & that’s the point, life is not as peachy as everyone makes out,” she said.

“People have depression, people have anxiety & people are hurting and I want people to feel like they can talk about it openly to parents, siblings or friends. But the point is, nobody is perfect & life is definitely not perfect so I apologise to you if I make out like my life is perfect because it’s not.”

She went on to implore followers to “be nice to your loved ones, build them up, ask them if they’re ok” and “be sure to tell them their best qualities and what you love about them.”

Thalassitis, who found fame on Love Island in 2017 alongside Brown, was found dead in a park in Edmonton, north London earlier this month at the age of 26. Police said they were not treating the death as suspicious.

His death prompted many former contestants to speak out about the need for better aftercare, and ITV has since confirmed that future participants will receive therapy, social media training and financial advice.

“The key focus will be for us to no longer be reliant on the islanders asking us for support but for us to proactively check in with them on a regular basis,” a statement from the show said.

Brown previously broke down in tears on This Morning as she opened up about the last message she received from Thalassitis, telling hosts Holly Willoughby and Phillip Schofield: “I’m kicking myself because he texted me and I didn’t reply because I’m bad at my phone and I just wish I’d replied.”