Love Island’s Jacques O’Neill breaks silence on his exit: ‘The worst decision of my life’

Jacques O’Neill has spoken out about his exit from Love Island 2022.

Jacques quit the villa last week, saying he was no longer able to be himself in the villa and was not enjoying his time on the show.

Now he has opened up about his departure, declaring that “Doing Love Island was the worst decision of my life”.

In an interview with The sun newspaper, Jacques said he was “ready to break down”.

“I was feeling so mentally drained, I just wanted to go home and get myself right,” he shared.

Opening up about his mental health struggles with ADHD, Jacques added: “Any little thing in the villa, in the end, started bothering me and I was just getting in so much of a rut.

“I know the way I spoke to Paige was wrong. I tried to apologise and she kept asking why I did it. ADHD isn’t just about not being able to concentrate. It’s also about feeling anxious quite a lot, being on edge a lot.”

Elsewhere, in a post on social media, Jacques spoke of his time in the villa: “The first 2 weeks of my experience was probably the happiest I’ve been in a very long time. On the other hand the last 2 weeks was definitely the worst I’ve ever felt in my life.

“I was finding myself feeling worse and worse every day and if I didn’t leave when I did I was scared I would never have got back to my normal self!”

He continued: “I’ve watched back the episodes that I got the most hate for and listen I understand why I did. I’ve got a lot of work to do for myself to become a better person. I know my family come out and said about my ADHD while I was in the villa but that is no excuse for me.

“Yes, I might find certain things a lot more difficult than others but at the end of the day I need to take responsibility for my own actions and I’ll hold my hands up.

“I sometimes couldn’t watch how I was speaking and acting in certain situations but I’m actually glad I’ve watched it because now it’s really opened my eyes up and it’s time to work on myself for myself..”

Jacques added to his followers: “I want to finish off and just say how overwhelming it is to see how much support Im getting from you people. If it wasn’t for yous I would be in such a worse head space than I am right now so thank you so much for that.

“You people that have had my back and messaging I have been reading them every night laid in bed overthinking everything and thinking the worst about everything but you people got me through it. I do really appreciate the love, honestly thank you so much.”

A Love Island spokesperson said: “We cannot comment on any individual’s medical records.

“However, we have rigorous and extensive checks in place to assess Islanders’ physical and mental health in advance of being cleared to enter the Villa. This is something we take extremely seriously.

“Jacques made the decision to leave and we respected that decision. We would never put pressure on someone to stay in the Villa.”

The series continues nightly on ITV2 at 9PM on ITV2 and ITV Hub.