Love Island’s Montana Brown opens up about difficult year in emotional post

Former Love Island star Montana Brown has opened up about her emotions in a candid message shared to her Instagram story.

Montana has had a tough year after her close friend and former Love Island co-star Mike Thalassitis tragically commited suicide in March.

Since Mike's devastating death, Montana has been influential in encouraging men to open up about their emotions and pushing for the ITV2 dating show to have stricter aftercare.

After her 24th birthday last weekend, the Love Island babe got reflective as she took to Instagram with an emotional message.

She shared with her 1.4 million followers: "I have to say I am having a look through pictures from my birthday and I'm feeling pretty lucky to 1. Be alive.

"2. Have some of the most supportive positive people around me and 3. That all my friends are some of the most genuine people I know. Feeling so blessed and lucky."

She continued: "I'm in a weird hungover/anxious mood and looking through pictures of all my nearest and dearest is making me feel a whole lot better. Maybe I need to have another festival for my birthday next year that's half public."

Montana appeared heartbroken as she revealed she felt lucky to "be alive" and praised her loved ones for their constant support.

The 'hungover' star clearly felt emotional as she cherished the birthday snaps and explained her feelings to her followers.

Montana was left devastated when the news broke that her friend Mike had passed away in March. During an emotional appearance on This Morning, the distraught star revealed she had received a text message from Mike two days before his death.

She said: "I'm really kicking myself but he texted me and I didn't reply. When he was going through a really rough time I was checking up on him every day."

Explaining that Mike was seeing a therapist before his death, Montana added: "He just wanted someone to tell him how to get out of this dark place."

Montana has also recently opened up after suffering a 'mental breakdown' over social Instagram trolls

Speaking candidly about her struggles with social media, she revealed abusive comments from followers left her in tears and called for Instagram and Twitter to be policed better.

For great music and incredible competitions tune into Forth 1 on 97.3, DAB, online, on the Rayo app, or say ‘Play FORTH 1’ to your Smart Speaker. You’ll find new favourites every day and hear the songs you've missed from the last few years. From Boogie In The Morning, to Garry and Steven getting you home after work, we play you the biggest hits from the world's hottest artists.