'IT HELPS OTHERS'
MONTANA Brown has defended sharing her grief on social media following Mike Thalassitis' tragic death earlier this year.
The 24-year-old star insisted she helped a lot of people battling anxiety and depression with her emotional online messages - and that she didn't go public with her pain for attention.
The former Love Island favourite appeared on Good Morning Britain earlier today to debate sadfishing, a term used to describe the behaviour of someone making exaggerated claims about their emotional problems to gain sympathy.
Speaking out, Montana said: "I shared about my friend Mike and how upsetting that was for me, and how I felt after losing someone in that way.
"Of course you get negativity along the way, but to be honest it doesn't really bother me because I know that helped a lot of people as well.
Remaining defiant, the brunette beauty continued: "I don't get the harm of people in the public eye sharing their own problems to help other people.
"People don't go on social media to talk about their anxiety or depression or any other mental health problems that they have - a lot of the time they don't do it for attention.
"They do it because they genuinely want to help people and it's something positive that they can do with their platform."
Montana went on to reveal that she is training to be a crisis counsellor because she wants to help young people who struggle to speak about their problems with family and friends.
She shared: "I feel like some people don't have the confidence and don't want to share their problems with close people around them, so why not share online if it will make them feel better?
"I personally share my problems online because I like people to see what I am doing and think: 'She's got anxiety, I've got anxiety, that makes me feel better - I'm not alone'."
Montana added: "It's easier for them to write about it online than it is to talk about in person.
"I have enrolled to be a crisis counsellor to help young kids, and they feel much better about texting in than they do about speaking to people about it.
"That's the world we live in at the minute."
Montana formed a close friendship with tragic star Mike when they appeared on the 2017 series of Love Island together.
The beauty was left devastated when Mike took his own life in March of this year, penning a lengthy Instagram post about her grief at the time.
Days later, Montana appeared on This Morning and broke down in tears as she revealed that she didn't reply to Mike's final text, sharing: "I spoke to him two days before. But I’m kicking myself because he text me but I didn’t actually reply. I’m really bad on my phone. I wish I had replied."
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She wept: "He just said: 'How is it going girl, how are you?' I didn’t reply."
The star later revealed that she was forced to look into counselling after being trolled by cruel followers online for "looking happy" on Instagram in the weeks after Mike's death.
Montana also gave a moving eulogy at Mike's funeral in April, urging mourners "to be kinder and more genuine" in the tearful speech.
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