Montana Brown is "kicking herself" for not replying to Mike Thalassitis' last message before his death.
Montana Brown
The former 'Love Island' contestant is distraught she didn't text the reality TV star back when he messaged her two days before he was found dead in woodland near his home in Essex on Friday (15.03.19).
Speaking on 'This Morning' on Monday (18.03.19) about when she last spoke to Mike, who was 26, she said: "Two days before. 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."
The brunette beauty reached out to him at the end of last year, when she knew he was "going through a really rough time" and even leant him a book in a bid to lift his spirits.
She said: "He did go through a really rough time, in November/ December time. And I know he was really, really struggling. And that's when I thought, 'Oh my goodness, I feel like something bad is going to happen.'
"And then I gave him the 'The Magic', which is obviously a spiritual book. I was kind of at my wits end. And I thought, 'Something really terrible is going to happen if I don't do something.' "
But Montana was "shocked" to hear about his recent death because she thought he had picked himself up, and knew he was busy launching a new brunch café.
She said: "I kind of felt like he was coming out of it which is why it's come as such a shock, because he was doing so well and I think at the point, the work wasn't coming in. He had finished 'Celebs Go Dating' and the buzz had kind of gone.
"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?
"But obviously he just started this brunch café which is nearly finished and it's just like, 'Why now?' "
Montana had the family blessing to speak about Mike on TV, and admitted his relatives have been left "shocked" by his passing.
She said: "I spoke to Mike dad's yesterday because I wanted to respect their wishes in coming here and speaking.
"They're as shocked as I am because I think they feel the same."
Tagged in Montana Brown