Ekin-su Cülcüloğlu: ‘I lost every friend I had after winning Love Island’

You’d think winning Love Island would make you the most popular woman on the planet but Ekin-su Cülcüloğlu lost all her friends when she returned from the villa.

The actress, 28, and her man Davide Sanclimenti, 27, left Love Island as one of the most cherished couples from the show of all time, winning 67.3% of the public vote, but Ekin-su has told Cosmopolitan UK that fame and fans came at a cost – her friendships.

‘I’ve lost every friend I had,’ she said. ‘I don’t have any friends. I have one friend and that’s it.

‘Unfortunately, with the fame, you see people’s true colours. People just want to be your friend because of your status, and it’s a hard industry to trust.

‘No, I don’t actually have friends left.

‘People I’d known for 10 years who were in my life… Selling stories is not very nice. I wouldn’t do that to someone.

‘If they were happy, I would support them. Unfortunately, I had that coming out of the villa, I had to delete people out of my life.

‘But I am happier this way,’ she insisted.

‘Sometimes keeping your circle small is the best, and you don’t always need friends. So long as you know who you are, that’s fine.’

Ekin-su also recalled suffering with her mental health at the beginning of 2023 while competing on Dancing on Ice where she pretended everything was a-ok on camera, but she was unravelling behind the scenes.

She did, however, stress that had nothing to do with her relationship.

‘I couldn’t say anything. It was mentally draining. That was one of the tough times,’ she said.

‘It took me a while to get back out of it… Your mental health is your priority.

‘After my trip to the Maldives with Davide, we turned off our phones, we didn’t check the internet. He was helping me forget things (and) the stuff online.’

Read the full interview with Ekin-Su on the Cosmopolitan UK website.

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