LOVE Island’s Laura Whitmore has revealed that she ditches her phone if she feels stressed as she opened up about her mental health.
The 34-year-old star shared some of the self-care techniques she practices when things get tough.
Speaking at the inaugural BrightList Awards the Irish beauty explained that it is important for everybody to identify what can “trigger” their negative thoughts so that they don’t end up “spiralling into darkness”.
Listing her phone as one of her own triggers, Laura shared: “I think we’re still trying to get to grips with what mental health is, and you know it was always such a taboo subject, and you could have up days and down days.
“Our mental health is always constantly in flux and changing, and its identifying and finding those triggers that cause you pain or cause you happiness and work around them.
“That’s why I feel self-care is so important, if you’re having a really tough day or you know something suddenly causes you to spiral into a darkness.”
The star continued: “Trying to find that trigger and spin it around and do something you really like. So for me it’s doing simple things, like when I get stressed at work or different things I’ll just take myself off to for an hour and a half and not be on my phone, because my phone could be a trigger, so little things like that everyone’s self-care is different.
“Some people meditate, some people find it really hard to meditate because they get distracted so it could be having a bath, watching an episode of Friends, eating ice cream whatever it is.
“Just find those things that cause you happiness.”
Laura previously admitted that she first saw the news of pal Caroline Flack’s tragic suicide on her phone last month – and she initially dismissed the reports because she thought it was “fake news”.
The TV star said that social media was “the worst way” to find out about her close friend’s passing, adding: “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”
In December it was announced that Laura would be replacing Caroline as the host of Love Island after the TV favourite stepped down following assault charges.
Caroline had been due in court this month for assaulting boyfriend Lewis Burton, having always insisted her innocence.
Lewis also denied the prosecution and made a public declaration of his love for the star in a heartfelt Valentine’s Day post – just one day before her tragic death.
At the weekend, The Sun Online revealed that Laura had negotiated a big-money deal to become the permanent face of Love Island after she impressed as the host during the winter series.
Laura’s team have been working to get her a £1million package to keep her in the role after she impressed bosses and viewers on screen.
A source told us: “Laura joined the show under exceptionally difficult circumstances, and had to carry on through her own grief after Caroline passed away.
“But she has handled everything with professionalism and grace, and at times really held things together.
“There is no one else they want to take on this role and Laura’s team know that so they have made sure the package is very generous.”
- If you are affected by any of the issues raised in this article, please call the Samaritans for free on 16123
