Love Island’s Kady McDermott admits “I never understood my anxiety”

Kady shares her personal battles to mark Mental Health Awareness week

kady mcdermott

by heatworld |
Updated on

She was catapulted into the limelight on the second season of Love Island in 2016, and while she’s been offered countless opportunities on the back of her popularity – and amassed 1.2m followers on Instagram – Kady McDermott understands better than anyone the darker side of fame.

And while many reality stars admit to struggling to cope with online trolls, 23-year-old Kady – who temporarily joined the TOWIE cast in September alongside boyfriend Myles Barnett – reveals that it was the pressure of attending glitzy celebrity parties that impacted her most.

Swipe to check out which Love Island couples are still together...

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Love Island couples1 of 25
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Hannah Elizabeth and Jonathan Clark (2015): SPLIT

Remember when they, like, got engaged on the show? That one didn't quite last...

Love Island couples2 of 25
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Katie Salmon and Adam Maxwell (2016): SPLIT

Adam claimed he was '100 percent single' shortly after leaving the villa and, um, that was that. #Kadam; gone but never forgotten.

Love Island couples3 of 25
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Gabby Allen and Marcel Somerville (2017): SPLIT

Gabby dumped Marcel after he was spotted cheating as they holidayed TOGETHER. Blimey.

Love Island couples4 of 25
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Scott Thomas and Kady McDermott (2016): SPLIT

Scott and Kady managed a year before splitting in 2017.

Love Island couples5 of 25
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Nathan Massey and Cara de da Hoyde (2016): STILL TOGETHER

They've got their little Love Island baby and everything.

Love Island couples6 of 25
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Jamie Jewitt and Camilla Thurlow (2017): STILL TOGETHER

An absolute success story of Love Island 2017, Jamie and Camilla and Jamie are still the CUTEST of couples.

Love Island couples7 of 25
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Sam Gowland and Georgia Harrison (2017): SPLIT

Sam seems to be doing alright for himself on Geordie Shore, so we don't think he's too gutted.

Love Island couples8 of 25
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Olivia Attwood and Chris Hughes (2017): SPLIT

The couple were plagued with cheating rumours throughout their relationship (who can forget that whole Chris Hughes and Katie Price debacle?). Since their ITVBe show Crackin' On ended, Olivia's confirmed she's back with ex-boyfriend Bradley Dack.

Love Island couples9 of 25
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Malin Andersson and Terry Walsh (2016): SPLIT

He did date fellow Love Island-er Emma-Jane Woodhams eight months in actual real life before calling it a day. AH WELL.

Love Island couples10 of 25
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Rykard Jenkins and Rachel Fenton (2016): SPLIT

At least they lasted 18 months. Not bad going...

Love Island couples11 of 25
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Jessica Hayes and Max Morley (2015): SPLIT

Still fancy Max in a huge way, not gonna lie.

Love Island couples12 of 25

Alex Bowen and Olivia Buckland (2016): MARRIED

Alex and Olivia are married and literally as strong as ever. We like to live vicariously through them, to be honest.

Love Island couples13 of 25
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Jordan Ring and Zoe Brown (2015): SPLIT

Absolutely DID NOT work IRL. Neeext.

Love Island couples14 of 25
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Luis Morrison and Cally Jane Beech (2015): SPLIT

They had the first ever Love Island baby, but things later took a sour turn, with Cally accusing Luis of 'cheating' on her whilst she was pregnant with their daughter. (Oh dear).

Love Island couples15 of 25
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Tyla Carr and Jonny Mitchell (2017): SPLIT

Oh it was never gonna last, was it?

Love Island couples16 of 25
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Kem Cetinay and Amber Davies (2017): SPLIT

The Love Island 2017 winners split in December 2017; five months after the finale.

Love Island couples17 of 25
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Montana Brown and Alex Beattie (2017): SPLIT

These two split just weeks after returning to the UK. Sad times.

Love Island couples18 of 25
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Dom Lever and Jess Shears (2017): MARRIE

Jess and Dom are so together, in fact, they got 'married' on Good Morning Britain on Valentine's Day 2017. They then got, y'know, properly married.

Love Island couples19 of 25
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Sam Bird and Georgia Steel: SPLIT

You know how this one went. Sam accused Georgia of cheating on him with her ex, which she denied. It's safe to say they didn't split on the best of terms.

Love Island couples20 of 25
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Zara McDermott and Adam Collard: SPLIT

Zara and Adam have called it quits. WAH.

Love Island couples21 of 25
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Megan Barton-Hanson and Wes Nelson: SPLIT

Megan and Wes did move in together, but announced their split in January 2019 following rumours Wes was getting close to Dancing on Ice partner Vanessa Bauer. Uh oh.

Love Island couples22 of 25
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Josh Denzel and Kaz Crossley: SPLIT

Josh and Kaz announced their split in February 2019, with Kaz saying: "Sometimes things don't go the way you planned, but you have to be grateful for the journey. Thank you for everything especially showing me how to love myself again."

Love Island couples23 of 25
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Samira Mighty and Frankie Foster: SPLIT

Frankie reportedly cheated on Samira and that was that. Done. Over. thank u, next.

Love Island couples24 of 25
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Laura Anderson and Paul Knops: SPLIT

There's no bad blood between Laura and Paul, but they split months after making it to the final of the show.

Love Island couples25 of 25
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Jack Fincham and Dani Dyer: SPLIT

Although they briefly split in 2018, in April 2019, Jack Fincham announced he was no longer in a relationship with Dani, just hours before her book launch. (OUCH).

She says, "Before Love Island, I didn’t understand what mental health issues were. After the show ended, I’d get invited to a lot of showbiz events and parties, but I’d go into a complete panic about it.

"I couldn’t explain why, or the feelings I was having. I didn’t realise I was suffering from anxiety, because I didn’t know very much about it.

"Nobody in my family has struggled with their mental health – it was other people who told me about [anxiety], and I thought, that’s what I’ve got."

"When I was younger, I was always out doing things, whereas now I’m more paranoid. I don’t know where it has stemmed from.

"Everyone thinks I’m really outgoing, but I’m actually quite the opposite."

WATCH: Megan Barton-Hanson: ‘I didn’t want to be here anymore'

Kady has previously revealed how exercise helped her through her break-up with Love Island co-star Scott Thomas and anxiety struggles, revealing after their split in September 2017, "For the first month, I literally couldn’t get out of the house.

"I lost so much motivation. I couldn’t deal with it, and I was turning down events as I didn’t want to answer questions [about Scott].

"There was a lot of change, and I guess I did shut myself off. I have always suffered with anxiety, I just never mentioned it. Once I was back in the gym, it really helped me, but it was the initial returning that was hard."

kady mcdermott
kady mcdermott ©ITV

Now, following the death of former Love Island star Mike Thalassitis, who tragically took his own life in March, Kady believes an important conversation around men and mental health has opened up.

She says, "Of course, the circumstances around why we’re all speaking about [mental health] isn’t good, but mercifully, it’s making more people get help.

"There have been a lot more men talking about their struggles, like Love Island’s Chris Hughes and TOWIE’s Tommy Mallet. I feel that men in general aren’t good at discussing their feelings, so celebs doing it encourages others to follow suit."

To get help on mental health issues and find out how you can support our campaign so that mental and physical health are given equal treatment in the workplace, please go to Wheresyourheadat.org.

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