Yahoo News Montana Brown breaks down over Mike Thalassitis' death while opening up about last text
Love Island star Montana Brown has paid tribute to Mike Thalassitis, and was in tears as she recalled the last time they were in touch with each other.
Thalassitis passed away on Saturday (March 16). Police confirmed that he was found in a park and that his death is not being treated as suspicious.
Appearing on This Morning with the blessing of Thalassitis' family, Brown shared that she regrets not responding to his last text message.
"Two days before," she said, when asked about the last time she heard from him. "But I'm kicking myself because he texted me and I didn't actually reply, because I'm really bad on my phone.
"And you overthink everything, like what you do, and I just wish I'd replied."
"What did he say in the text?" Schofield asked.
"He just said, 'How's it going, girl? How are you?' And I didn't reply," Brown said as she cried.
Schofield tried to reassure her, saying: "Listen, you can't possibly, possibly know. And as you said yourself, you thought he was in a better place. You thought he was getting there. So you couldn't know."
Brown called Thalassitis a "loyal", "thoughtful", and "lovely" friend, as she raised awareness of mental health issues.
"He really was quite sensitive, and it's a shame that more people didn't get to see that side of him," she said.
"I spoke to [his family] yesterday. I spoke to Mike's dad yesterday, just to make sure that I respect their wishes.
"They're as shocked as I am because I think they feel the same in the sense that, at the end of the year potentially it could have been, 'I could have seen that coming'. But now he's been booking trips, he booked a trip to California with his best friend for a couple of weeks, he wanted to go to Sweden, he's about to open this cafe, he's been going to the gym.
"I don't know if it was a spur-of-the-moment spontaneous decision where he had a moment of weakness, but it just makes me so sad that he obviously had so many demons that he went through on his own."
We would encourage anyone who identifies with the topics raised in this article to reach out. Organisations who can offer support include Samaritans on 116 123 (www.samaritans.org), and Mind on 0300 123 3393 (www.mind.org.uk). Readers in the US are encouraged to contact the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline on 1-800-273-8255 or visit the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention.
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