Love Island’s Montana Brown regrets not replying to Mike Thalassitis' last text

'He thought this celebrity life isn't what it’s cracked up to be'

Former Love Island contestant Montana Brown regrets not responding to a text message from friend Mike Thalassitis days before his death.

On Saturday, it was reported that Thalassitis, who appeared on the 2017 series of the ITV programme, had been found dead at the age of 26. Police have confirmed his death isn't being treated as suspicious.

Speaking on ITV’s This Morning on Monday, 23-year-old Brown admitted she received a message from Thalassitis before his death but failed to reply.

“[I last heard from him] Two days before,” Brown revealed. “I'm actually kicking myself. He text me, and I didn't actually reply just because I'm really bad on my phone.”

“And I think you just overthink everything, like what you do. I just wish I had replied. He just said, 'How's it going, how are you?' And I didn't reply.”

During the programme, Brown said she was aware Thalassitis was going through a “really rough time” amid a “lack of work and a big tax bill”, prior to his death.

“He had a big tax bill to pay, and he thought this celebrity life isn't what it’s cracked up to be,” Brown told the show’s co-hosts Holly Willoughby and Philip Schofield.

“[But] he had this cafe that he was going to open, and it was like why now.'

Brown added that her fellow Love Island contestant was visiting a therapist before his death and that she recently gave him Rhonda Byrne’s self-help and spirituality book The Magic.

“I was kind of at my wits end,” she noted. And I thought, 'Something really terrible is going to happen if I don't do something’.”

The contestant admitted she was “shocked” to hear about Thalassitis’ passing.

Montana Brown discusses Mike Thalassitis' death on 'This Morning'

Brown said: “He didn't really know what to do for work and he wanted to be his own boss and he didn't know how to do that and I know he had a massive tax bill to be paid and I think the stress really got to him, and he kind of thought this fame wasn't what it was cracked up to be, where do I go now?”

Reflecting on Thalassitis’ mental health in recent months, Brown said she “could have seen his death coming”.

She added: “I don't know if it was a spur of the moment reason. I don't know if he had these demons he had to deal with.”

On Sunday, Brown took to Instagram to post a tribute addressing the late reality star’s death.

“I am absolutely heartbroken that I couldn’t help you,” she wrote in a post which captioned a series of photographs of the pair.

Brown went on to explain her frustrations that Thalassitis was “so misunderstood” in the public eye.

In the hours following Thalassitis’ death, several Love Island contestants have urged the ITV programme to provide better mental health support for its contestants.

Dom Lever, who took part in Love Island in the same year as Thalassitis, claimed that the wellbeing of some contestants is prioritised above others once the series has ended.

"You get a psychological evaluation before and after you go on the show but hands down once you are done on the show you don’t get any support unless you’re number one," he tweeted.

Malin Andersson, who participated in the show in 2016, criticised the support she received from Love Island producers when her one-month-old daughter, Consy, passed away in January.

"I got flowers from the producers when my daughter died. No f****** phone call. No support, or help," she tweeted.

For confidential support on mental health call Samaritans free from any phone, at any time, on 116 123 (UK & ROI) or email jo@samaritans.org. In the US call 1-800-273-TALK or chat online.