'Friends got messages saying I deserved bullets to the head' - Love Island's Greg O'Shea on online abuse

The rugby player revealed that his family and friends also received abusive and threatening messages after the high-profile couple parted ways.

Speaking with Lucy Kennedy on Virgin Media’s Lodging With Lucy, the Limerick man disclosed how people told him to take his own life and was called “every name under the sun.”

“I was getting death threats, people messaged me step by step telling me how to go kill myself, very dark stuff. Calling me every name under the sun.

Greg (25) said even his mother wasn’t spared by the online trolls.

“They were telling her, ‘You gave birth to a piece of s**t’, to my mother like.

“My mates were getting messages like: ‘I think your friend deserves bullets to the head’.

“I threw myself into that world so grand, yeah, but no one in my family deserved it.”

Greg was also on the receiving end of a social media witch hunt, with #UnfollowGreg trending on Twitter, which caused 500,000 people to unfollow him on social media.

"Think of 500,000 people; that’s five and a half full Croke Parks saying ‘unfollow Greg’. Because of something they don’t even know the real story.

The rugby union star said that despite sparks flying in the Love Island villa, he knew their romance wouldn't work on the outside world because of their hectic schedules.

“I’d training starting in the middle of August and I’d just got out of Love Island, I’ve to get back for training, I’m trying to get to the Olympics.

“And then I got home, I was like: ‘Look Amber, honestly, how do you see this playing out?’

“In my head, I just knew this relationship isn’t going to happen, it just can’t, it’s not going to function..

“She was like: ‘Yeah but we should be going out, we won Love Island’. I said: ‘Look I don’t know how we can do this. I think we should just stop now before it gets too deep’.”

Greg also discussed the death of former Love Island host Caroline Flack with Lucy, saying: “You can see how people can get caught up in all that stuff if you’re inclined that way. Very sad.

“Social media is a dangerous place but it’s also a great place to connect with people, but it’s killing people.”

• Lodge With Lucy is on at 9pm Monday night on Virgin One