A woman in the UK has been arrested for allegedly bombarding ‘Love Island UK’ star Joey Essex with thousands of harassing messages, including some seriously messed-up threats aimed at his ex, Jessy Potts.
The woman in her 40s reportedly sent Joey over 10,000 horrible messages, including threats to “shoot the s**t” out of Jessy and calling her a “fat s**g” and a “b***h.”
Some of these were even dropped under his social media posts, which pushed him to contact Cheshire Police last August.
According to Daily Mail UK, cops raided the woman’s home in Stockport and seized her phone and laptop. She’s now out on bail but has been slapped with conditions - no contacting Joey or his family, and no trips to London or Essex.
It’s concerningly similar behaviour to what Richard Gadd experienced in his telling of the stalking experience he faced in the Netflix show ‘Baby Reindeer’.
A source close to Joey claimed that in recent months the messages he has received from one person in particular have become “increasingly frightening”.
Joey - at the time of going to police - told The Sun: “We have had to take the decision to report the stalker to the police because the messages have started to become more threatening.”
I love my fans and want to be able to talk to them online but there has to be a line somewhere and sadly this is it.
Another source close to the ‘Love Island’ star told the outlet that Joey feels “relieved” now that the woman’s been found and is grateful to Cheshire Police for stepping in.
They added that while Joey’s no stranger to online trolls, his team clocked an increase of nasty messages from one particular user while he was in the ‘Love Island’ villa, and it was enough to raise serious red flags.
ICYMI - Joey met Jessy on ‘Love Island’ last year, and while they didn’t make it to the final, they kept things going for a bit after the show. They eventually called it quits in September, blaming their busy schedules for their split.
Neither Joey nor Jessy has directly addressed this situation, but honestly, who could blame them?
Reality TV stars face plenty of negativity once they leave the villa, but something this relentless is on another level.
It’s a harsh reminder that hiding behind a keyboard doesn’t make you untouchable - your words DO have real-world consequences.
