Nick Grimshaw spent a lot of time thinking about what he "could have done" to help his friend Caroline Flack after her death.
The BBC Radio 1 DJ had been friends for 13 years with the ‘Love Island’ host and she was a regular guest on his shows and he was rocked by her suicide at the of 40.
Nick had spoken to Caroline just a few days before she took her own life in February shortly after finding out the Crown Prosecution Service would be pursuing a case of assault against her following a row with her boyfriend Lewis Burton at her home in December.
He admits he did some soul searching in the wake of her passing wondering if there was something more he could have done to have prevented this tragedy.
In an interview with The Guardian newspaper, he said: "I knew she was very loved. She was so funny, engaging and open. And also really vulnerable. I think a lot of people, me included, saw her in themselves. And it was the most horrible, shocking news
"It’s really hard to take. We weren’t best friends, but we were close and we’d speak all the time. We’d spoken earlier that week. We had plans to hang out, and I’d been messaging her when all the s**t had gone down.
"It could have been avoided. I know that always happens when someone dies young, and when I’ve had friends who have passed away before they should have. You always play a bit of, ‘What could I have done?’ "
Grimmy first met Caroline at the Hawley Arms pub – a hangout for celebrities such as Amy Winehouse, Mark Ronson and Noel Fielding in the mid-2000s – in Camden in 2007 when he was completing an internship at MTV, whose offices were also in the north London borough.
They went on to work together in 2015 when Grimmy became a judge on ‘The X Factor’ and Caroline co-hosted the ITV talent show with Olly Murs for one series.
Nick insists he will only ever have fond memories of Caroline, who he describes as a joyous and fun person.
He said: "My experience of Caroline was nothing but joy and fun. She was always one of those people who, if you were having a fine night out, would make it a brilliant night out."