Zara McDermott considered suicide after her naked photos were leaked.
Zara McDermott
The 'Love Island' star thought about ending her life after a boy sent her naked picture around their school when she was just 14 years old.
She told The Sun: “There were a few occasions when I seriously considered ending everything, and I looked into ways I could do it.
"My life was unbearable. The idea of not living any more was better than having to deal with the pain I was going through every day. But something stopped me - something told me, ‘This will get better’.”
Zara sent the picture to a boy after he claimed it would make him like her more, but she walked into school the next day to find her classmates sniggering at her.
After the image was revealed to Zara's teachers, she was suspended from school while the boy went unpunished.
She explained: “My drama teacher saw it and said, ‘I didn’t think she was that kind of girl’. That still hurts. I could barely look her in the eye for the following four years.
“You want people who are older and more experienced, like teachers, to be compassionate. There was no compassion for me. They were so embarrassed by my behaviour that they didn’t want me in school. Do you know what that does to a young girl?”
The school has since apologised to the 24-year-old star but Zara wishes the school was more supportive and understanding at the time.
She explained: “I wish someone had told me it wasn’t my fault, because that would have changed everything.
“I didn’t feel I had anyone who understood what I was going through. I never want to go back to that place - because it is the most lonely place in the world.”
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