Cipriani shares final message before taking social media break

Danny Cipriani has shown his gratitude for the “kind messages” and “lovely response” he has received after sharing a personal video last week.

The 32-year-old posted a message on Instagram opening up about the death of his former girlfriend Caroline Flack.

He shared another post on Wednesday which he said was part of his “grieving process”. He included a WhatsApp message from Flack and describing her as “kind beyond belief”.

The video Cipriani shared last week in the wake of the former Love Island host taking her life on February 15 has been viewed by 674,000 people and there has been a monumental wave of support for the Gloucester fly-half since then.

He has thanked everyone for the reaction to the video, including the “bad response”, and has said he is taking a break from social media for Lent. However, he reassured his followers that he will be back, saying that this is him “navigating (his) way through life”.

View this post on Instagram

Black dot. Before i start. This is my grieving process. Which is talking. A lot. Which my friends and family and teammates have had to take this last 10 days because I’m grieving. And I’m grieving hard. Hence I’m talking a lot. I’m not sure I’d be strong enough if I didn’t understand or see myself in her. Pain is pain. It doesn’t matter if you’ve lost a cat. Or been called a name. No ones pain is worse or less. Because it is individual to them and how they take it. So… Black dot. If you judge the first pic you see a black dot. But i didn’t really know what she meant when she called me black dot. Until her best friend told me on Sunday last week. ‘She used to call you black dot, now i know, your WhatsApp pic is a black dot’ – so i changed my WhatsApp pic to a black dot about 5 months ago because i felt there were people who had my number who i couldn’t trust. Ultimately i would have let them into my life. So ultimately i would have to ask myself why. Anyway. This story is about the beauty she found in a situation i found uncomfortable. ‘I’m just talking to black dot’ she would say. She was kind beyond belief. And she would think i am crazy doing all this. But i know she would be proud. I’m taking lent off social media. Thank you all for the kind messages. And all the lovely response. Thank you for the bad response. It’s my story. And i did it for me. Then her – she wasn’t allowed to talk to her BF throughout the case because of the law. He wanted the charges dropped. They wanted to pursue. I am not pointing fingers. The CPS and police do a good job. Just saying we can’t always do a good job. This is my grieving process. Our greatest strength is our greatest weakness ?? ps – I was shown how to disable comments. So I’m going to do so on this post. Because it’s for me and my grieving process. But in a month i will be back on social because that’s 2020 and this is me navigating my way through life

A post shared by Daniel Cipriani (@dannycipriani87) on Feb 25, 2020 at 10:27pm PST

Cipriani also addressed the court case that was in the message he received from Flack. He said: “She wasn’t allowed to talk to her (boyfriend) throughout the case because of the law.

“He wanted the charges dropped. They wanted to pursue. I’m not pointing fingers. The (Crown Prosecution Service) and police do a good job. Just saying we can’t always do a good job.”

Danny Cipriani has released a video message today following the death of his ex-girlfriend Caroline Flack last Saturday.https://t.co/OnF3esijFG

— RugbyPass (@RugbyPass) February 21, 2020

Despite “grieving hard”, the England international has continued to play for Gloucester, playing his first game last Saturday since Flack’s death.

He is likely to play again this Friday against Sale Sharks, a match that will be dedicated to raising awareness for mental health and promoting kindness through the #BeKind campaign which is a fight against trolling and online abuse.

WATCH: The Rugby Pod rounds up all last weekend’s Guinness Six Nations and Gallagher Premiership action