Love Island's Jacques shares emotional statement addressing bullying claims

As the Love Island contestants' lives return to normality, a number of unsettling bullying claims have been made against Jacques O'Neill.

The rugby player, 23, has now issued an emotional statement responding to the allegations which have seen him slammed on social media. Jacques was accused of mocking Tasha (the clip contains strong language):

Taking to Instagram stories to address the claims, the former Islander said he wanted to 'apologise if my behaviour has caused offence or been misinterpreted over the last few weeks.'

He explained: "I genuinely have no bad feelings towards anyone and I've not meant for anything to come across that way at all. It was not my intention and I'm sorry if it has.

"Life has been very overwhelming recently and admittedly I've probably not handled myself in the best possible way.

"I take full responsibility for my actions. I'm aware I'm far from perfect and that there is work that needs to be done on myself."

The Islander, who left the show early because he felt like he wasn't being his best self, explained that he is now having therapy.

This comes after his family revealed that he has ADHD after he was criticised for his behaviour - particularly towards Paige - in the villa itself.

Instagram / jacques9oneill_

He continued: "I had my first therapy session on Monday which really took me out of my comfort zone, I know I have needed this for years but it's only now I have decided to get help. I know it's a step in the right direction for me even after just one session.

"I'm not asking for sympathy, I just want to acknowledge the situation and move forward as positively as I can."

He then described the situation was an 'important lesson' and apologised to 'anyone that I have let down'.

Some of the recent accusations against Jacques came from Remi Lambert, who said that he was bullied by him both inside and outside the villa.

ITV.

Sharing a video where Jacques and Luca appear to mock his rapping, Remi explained that he didn't understand why Jacques and Luca weren't thrown out the villa.

He wrote: "Don't know why they wasn’t kicked out for their behaviour to be honest. It's not banter, it's clear signs of bullying.

"I wish everyone could see all of the crap I went through. There's 24 hours in a day and yous only seen like about 3-5 10 second clips of me out of the whole day, so you could never tell what was truly happening.

"Jacques said bad things about my appearance and the way I speak, whilst Luca was encouraging it."

Tasha Ghouri, who Jacques has also been accused of bullying, proceeded to like Remi's post before she and her Love Island boyfriend Andrew Le Page unfollowed the Islander.

Luca has yet to respond to the claims made against him.