Laura Whitmore felt frightened by Caroline Flack's death.
Laura Whitmore on the cover of Cosmopolitan UK magazine
The 34-year-old presenter - who replaced Caroline as the host of 'Love Island' before her death in February - has admitted she's still struggling to come to terms with her friend's passing, saying "it'll never be right".
Laura shared: "It'll never be OK and it'll never be right.
"It did scare me. She was so strong-willed and feisty and I remember thinking, 'God, I wish I could be as strong as her'.
"I felt like if people said things, it wouldn't bother her. But obviously it did because everyone is human. I don't want to speculate reasons because nobody will ever know. [But] it did frighten me."
Laura also admitted she "couldn't cope" with the interest and speculation surrounding her replacing Caroline - who stepped down from the show in December after being arrested for allegedly assaulting her boyfriend - on 'Love Island'.
Reflecting on the transition, Laura told Cosmopolitan UK magazine: "I love doing live TV. I'd worked with most of the crew doing 'I'm a Celebrity...' and MTV, so it just felt very comfortable.
"The show was the easiest thing. It was everything around it that I couldn't cope with.
"When I got the call I was like, 'I need to talk to [boyfriend and 'Love Island' narrator Iain Stirling], I need to talk to Caroline ...' It's a weird one because you think you should just jump at it.
"Obviously you're delighted that ITV trust you to do such a big show, but a friend of yours is also going through hell ... Caroline had messaged me first to say, 'I hope you get it', which was really nice.
"You're like, 'Oh yay, I get to do this but, no, this isn't how I want to get to do it'. It was a really weird way to get a job."
Read the full interview in the June issue of Cosmopolitan - on sale 30th April 2020.
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