Experiencing Your Partner Leaving You for Love Island: What It’s Like by Lisa
Despite the recent challenges, 23-year-old Charlie Frederick maintains a positive attitude during our phone conversation. His usually glamorous lifestyle has taken a hit in the past few weeks.
“It was quite a setback,” he shares, “they obviously noticed her because of my Instagram. They must have seen my posts about her, tagging her, all that,” he adds. “It’s a bit audacious, isn’t it?”
Charlie Frederick, a former participant of Love Island 2018, has spent the past year engaging in club appearances, modelling, and sponsored Instagram posts, a common source of income for many ex-cast members. Despite his life being largely separate from the show that catapulted him to fame, he has successfully established himself as an influencer. However, his life was once again intertwined with Love Island when his ex-girlfriend was cast on the show in June.
“A tabloid contacted me,” he reveals, referring to the moment he found out his ex, Lucie Donlan, was joining this year’s cast. “I received three or four emails asking, ‘Do you want to discuss it? Lucie’s joining’ and I was like, ‘I actually had no idea.’”
Charlie and Lucie became a couple shortly after the previous season ended, and their relationship lasted until December 2018. Lucie has been a contentious figure on the show, quickly moving on from her original partner, Joe Garratt, who was later eliminated.
Watching an ex-partner become a household name and move on with someone new would be enough to unsettle anyone. “But honestly, it wasn’t really that bad with Lucie,” Charlie admits. “It was [Arabella] that really affected me.”
Just a few weeks after learning about Lucie’s participation in the show, Charlie found out that his most recent ex, Arabella Chi, was also joining. The on-and-off relationship between Charlie and Arabella has already made national news. Charlie had been posting screenshots of their messages on his Instagram Story in an attempt to prove they were romantically involved just days before she entered the villa. Arabella, however, denies they were in a relationship when she joined the show, claiming they broke up about a month before she left for Mallorca.