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Félicité Tomlinson was ‘exercise-driven introvert after mum’s death’
Louis Tomlinson’s sister Félicité, 18, became a ‘diet and exercise-driven introvert’ after their mother’s death, says friend following her death from a ‘heart attack’
- Félicité Tomlinson was found dead at her London flat on Wednesday
- She had been struggling since her mother died of Leukaemia two years ago
- Relentless exercise took a toll on Félicité who started to rapidly drop weight
The dead sister of One Direction star Louis Tomlinson had reportedly turned into a diet and exercise-driven introvert and shut out her friends following her mother’s death.
Félicité, a fashion designer and Instagram star who had almost 1.3million followers, collapsed from a suspected heart attack at her fourth-floor studio apartment in Earls Court, West London, on Wednesday lunchtime.
And friends of the 18-year-old, who was known fondly as Fizzy, said that she had been struggling since her mother Johannah Deakin died of Leukaemia two years ago and had turned from a ‘happy, confident and bubbly’ girl into a fitness-obsessive.
Felicite Tomlison, pictured here at a wedding in a photo from her Instagram feed followed by 1.3 million people, has been found dead at her home
‘When her mum died she really went into herself. She was never really the same… I still saw her often but she was closed off. It seemed like she’d shut down her trust,’ a source told the Mirror.
The friend said that relentless exercising took a physical toll on Félicité who started to rapidly drop weight.
They said: ‘She had one of those figures where if she lost weight it was quite noticeable. Because she’s quite an hourglass girl. When she lost the weight it was noticeable.’
The death of Félicité is being treated as ‘unexplained’ at this stage but a full post-mortem examination will take place and toxicology tests will be carried out in due course, according to police.
Lukey Storey, who representatives of Louis Tomlinson said was ‘just a friend’ to Félicité , shared an emotional post alongside a photo of the pair together in which he described Félicité as ‘one of the kindest, sweetest, purist people I’d ever met. A purity too rare for this world. There aren’t words for how painful this is. I’m writing in a state of shock.’
Lukey Storey shared an emotional post alongside a photo of the pair together in which he described Félicité as ‘one of the kindest, sweetest, purist people I’d ever met. A purity too rare for this world’
Félicité left a haunting Instagram post reading: ‘Why write me so many love songs when all I need I is you here,’ just days before she died.
The same day – March 6 – she added another post which read: ‘Be f*****g kind to people.’
Her model and DJ friend said they were ‘pain twins’ who ‘understood each other from the get go’.
He added: ‘I relapsed in my flat with only you there beside me , I saw in you what I carry too, I wish we had spent more time together sober, but we rarely were.
‘Too busy running away from our demons. Keeping each others pain in perfect company: We were pain twins.
‘It feels like it should of been me, and a bad dream I will soon wake up from. I keep crying, not eaten or slept since I heard the news.
‘I wish I could have done something, anything to have not let this happen. The last thing you said to me was calling me ‘bubba’ that you were proud of me for getting clean again.
‘I replied thank you my darling and what I asked of u the next day will haunt me to my grave. Today I wish I was right there with you. It could of been me, or anyone in our circle of maniacs.
‘I think it should of been me. I didn’t know wether I should even post this or make any of my feelings public because it feels too real , raw and personal.’
The tragedy comes after Louis’ mother Johannah died from leukaemia in 2016.
Her Instagram feed has more than 1.3m followers who enjoyed her posts about her lifestyle
Louis has been left ‘devastated and distraught’ and praised his sister as ‘loveable, caring, bright and beautiful’ last night, according to sources.
Fans have today flocked to pay their respects and send condolences to her siblings in the wake of the news.
Louis has pulled out of tonight’s Comic Relief, where he was due to perform his new single live as one of the headline acts.
One neighbour leaving the building this morning said police came round and asked whether they had ‘heard crying’ on the day Félicité died.
Social media reacts to star’s tragic death
Félicité’s last tweet, from February 23
There was an emotional outpouring of grief on social media today in the wake of Félicité’s death.
As news of the tragedy spread across Twitter and Instagram, fans flocked to pay their respects and send condolences to her siblings.
Her last tweet from February 23, pictured above, apologised for her absence from the platform and asked followers how they were.
It has since been retweeted thousands of times with many mourning the loss of the 18-year-old in the comments below.
A person who was with the aspiring fashion designer and social media influencer called 999.
It is understood police found no signs of drugs at the address and officers say they are in the process of informing next of kin.
Neighbours living in the west London terraced apartment building – where Félicité is thought to have lived on one of the upper floors – claim police asked if they ‘heard crying’.
Félicité – who never got over the death of her mother Johanna of cancer in 2016– also had a tattoo celebrating her siblings – Louis, Lottie, Phoebe, Daisy, Doris, Ernest – inked on her arm in January. She also had her mother’s birth year – 1973 – added to her wrist last summer.
Fans had been worried about her weight loss but late last year she told followers: ‘Getting back to eating healthy and exercising using @pumpup app while I’m away.’
She last posted on Instagram, where she has 1.3million followers, on Monday, accompanying a selfie with the caption: ‘Don’t know why I look so shocked.’
One neighbour said today: ‘We had been home for about an hour and the police knocked on our door. They asked if we had heard crying. We didn’t hear anything and I don’t recognise the girl or her name. It’s crazy that happened here.’
At the end of his tribute Lukey Storey said he would miss Félicité ‘forever’ and will look for her ‘on the other side’.
He said: ‘I might even delete this depending on how I feel after posting it. Who the f** knows.
‘I think all I can now say is I’ve never been more aware of how temporary life is and f**king hold on to your loved ones and tell them you love them everyday because once they’re gone they’re gone.
‘I’m f**king angry. I’ve got nothing else. Félicité you graced my life in such a short time and I will now miss you forever.
‘I know you’d want me to stay clean and stay creating so that’s what I’ll do until I come and look for you on the other side.
‘Crying as I write this I have never been confused by so many feelings and I can’t identify what most of them are.
‘My thoughts are with her family , anyone and everyone who knew and loved her. None of this feels real.’
In her last Instagram post to her 1.3 million followers, four days ago, Felicite wrote: ‘Don’t know why I look so shocked’
In May 2015, the teenager uploaded a quote from writer Nikita Gill asking fans to be gentle with their bodies
In this Instagram post five years ago, Louis’ sister spoke about living life to the full because ‘one day I might get hit by a bus’
Felicite was a social media influencer in her own right. This post from last summer received more than 110,000 likes
Louis Tomlinson and his sister Felicite Tomlinson aka ‘Fizzy’ on Belgravia Street last year
A resident downstairs said police knocked on doors for around half an hour and seemed satisfied there were no suspicious circumstances.
Danny Smith said: ‘The police were knocking on our doors. They asked if we had seen anything suspicious.
‘They were only here for about half an hour and they seemed satisfied there were no suspicious circumstances. We are all shocked by what has happened.’
University student Tamara, 21, added: ‘We found out last night. I didn’t know she was living here. I think I have seen her once a few weeks ago with a guy in the foyer.
‘I saw an ambulance outside at about 4pm on Wednesday. We only put together what had happened because we saw an article that said she lived here.’
Resident Pu Yang said police also knocked on his door on Wednesday to ask if he had heard anything. He said: ‘The police came around and asked me if I had heard anything. I didn’t. I wasn’t at home Wednesday afternoon.’
A spokeswoman for the Metropolitan Police said: ‘Police were called by London Ambulance Service at 12:52hrs on Wednesday, 13 March to a residential address in SW5, following reports of a female in cardiac arrest.
‘Officers attended. A female believed to be aged 18 was pronounced dead at the scene.
‘Police are in the process of informing her next of kin. At this stage the death is being treated as unexplained. A post-mortem examination will take place in due course. Enquiries continue.’
Louis Tomlinson and his mother Johannah Deakin. Last night a family source told The Sun: ‘Félicité was an absolutely adored young woman’
A London Ambulance Service spokesperson said: ‘We were called at 12:51pm yesterday to reports of an incident in Earls Court.
‘We sent two ambulance crews, a single responder in a car and an advanced paramedic to the scene.
‘Sadly, despite efforts of our medics, a person died at the scene.’
Louis, 27, was working in London last night when police informed him of his sister’s death. Other family members, in Doncaster, have also been notified.
The X Factor judge was extremely close to his sister. They regularly saw each other in London.
Last night a family source told the paper: ‘Félicité was an absolutely adored young woman who was loved by Louis and her whole family.
‘They are all totally devastated, as you can imagine.
‘She had so many friends and was such a positive happy person. It’s a massive loss to the world.
‘She was a loveable, caring, bright, passionate, popular and beautiful young lady.’
Louis, 27, was working in London last night when police informed him of his sister’s death
The Instagram star was close to her mother, who died in late 2016, and had a motif of the year Johannah she was born, 1973, tattooed on her.
She shared it online where she also spoke about Louis’s song, Two of Us.
Louis’s song, Two Of Us, is a tribute to the pair’s mother Johannah Deakin, who tragically succumbed to leukaemia three years ago, in December 2016.
Asked about it on Instagram, she said: ‘I cried my eyes out in the back of my Uber, but I loved the song filled me with hope.’
She told fans she would be ‘very different’ had her mother not died, writing: ‘Very different, in both good and bad ways, there is collateralized beauty in everything.’
Last month she posted a grab of Christina Aguilera’s song Hurt which is about the loss of a parent. She also retweeted a picture showing her resemblance to her mother.
Louis Tomlinson and mother Johannah Deakin at the Believe In Magic Cinderella Ball, 2015
‘She was a loveable, caring, bright, passionate, popular and beautiful young lady,’ a source said
Felicite was close to her siblings, and recently got their initials tattooed in old English letters, which added to an inking of a red snake on her left middle finger.
Asked if she was proud of her siblings, she said: ‘More than I can express — including the little ones.’
And she used her platform on Instagram to speak out about mental illness, writing on January 12: ‘I think there is a lot of stigma around addiction and the disease of addiction is misunderstood.’
She added: ‘Depression and anxiety is less stigmatised but there is still a lot of stigma around other mental illnesses.’
But asked about rumours she had been battling depression, Felicite wrote: ‘Everyone struggles with things in life especially if they suffer a huge loss or life changing event but I don’t think that’s something rumours should be spread about.
‘It should be up to the person to talk about it when and if they’re ready to.’
Felicite recently reminisced about her favourite moments with her older brother: ‘Car rides home from X Factor auditions, all giving opinions and being so excited and seeing him so excited.’
The Instagram star was close to her mother and had a motif of the year she was born, 1973, tattooed on her
Louis Tomlinson and his sister Felicite Tomlinson, known as Fizzy, have a cigarette on Belgravia Street
Felicite said that she would be ‘very different, in both good and bad ways’ had her mother not died
Louis’s estranged father, Troy Austin – who split from Johanna when Louis was just five, revealed in May 2018 that he was battling cancer just 18 months after his ex-wife died from a ‘very aggressive’ form of the disease.
The then 49-year-old had a four-hour surgery to save his life. Louis took on his stepfather Mark Tomlinson’s surname when his parents split up.
Felicite was one of six children. She leaves behind her older sister Lottie, younger twin sisters Daisy and Phoebe and the youngest, twins Ernest and Doris. She was also an aunt to Louis’ son Freddie.
Scarred by tragedy: Louis Tomlinson’s close-knit family reel for second devastating time soon after death of their mother from blood cancer at 43
The tragic death of Louis Tomlinson’s sister Felicite aged just 18 is the second devastating blow for the family in little over two years, after his mother died of leukaemia in December 2016.
Midwife Johannah Deakin lost her battle with cancer at just 43, leaving behind Louis, Felicite and their five siblings.
Her husband Dan Deakin paid tribute to his late wife saying: ‘Incredibly selfless, she would always look to put other people before herself. She desired nothing more than for everyone around her to be happy and loving.
‘She worked tirelessly on numerous charity campaigns, creating memories for many individuals and their families.’
Louis Tomlinson pictured with his mother Johannah. She spoke often of her pride in her eldest child’s generosity towards his siblings, saying: ‘He always asks me, ‘Tell me what trips they’ve got, where do they want to go? Let me use my money to pay for their trips”
As well as Louis, devoted mother Johannah left behind Lottie, Felicite, twins Daisy and Phoebe, and twins Ernest and Doris, whom she gave birth to prematurely in 2014
‘It wasn’t uncommon for Johannah to hear through the media of an individual in need of assistance, and she would immediately make it her objective to get that person what they often desperately needed, and rarely without success.’
Louis’ former bandmates sent their love in a series of heatrbreaking tweets.
On Twitter Liam Payne wrote: ‘Louis, I’m so sorry for you my brother my heart aches for you, just know I love you the same from a million miles away as i do right next to you. I’m always here for you through everything as you have been for me.
‘My thoughts and prayers are with you and your family at this incredibly sad time I can’t begin to imagine what you are all going through. Rip Johanna you are forever in my thoughts.’
Louis’ bandmates and stars including Cheryl Cole and Simon Cowell sent heartfelt condolences after the death of his mother
Johannah Tomlinson pictured on her wedding day to Dan Deakin. She passed away in December 2016 after a fight with cancer
The death of Felicite Tomlinson aged just 18, on the afternoon of Wednesday March 13, is the second tragic to hit the family in just over two years. Pictured above: Louis and his late mother, Johannah
Two Of Us: The moving tribute to his late mother Louis was due to perform tonight
In a now-cancelled Comic Relief performance on BBC One, Louis Tomlison would have performed his new single Two Of Us, a loving tribute to mother Johannah who died of cancer just over two years ago.
The poignant lyrics speak of the singer’s love and loss:
It’s been a minute since I called you
Just to hear the answerphone
Yeah, I know that you won’t get this
But I’ll leave a message so I’m not alone
This morning I woke up still dreaming
With memories playing through my head
You’ll never know how much I miss you
The day that they took you, I wish it was me instead
But you once told me, ‘Don’t give up
You can do it day by day’
And diamonds, they don’t turn to dust or fade away
So I will keep you day and night, here until the day I die
I’ll be living one life for the two of us
Zayn Malik tweeted: ‘@Louis_Tomlinson love you bro! All of your family is in my prayers. proud of your strength and know your mum is too x’.
Meanwhile, Niall Horan posted: ‘Very sad news . Louis I love you mate and I’m / all of us are here for you all the way. You’re mum was an incredible person.
‘Thinking of you and your family. Love from my family to yours..’
A devoted mother, Johannah said in an interview she couldn’t have been more proud of her eldest child, Louis.
Calling him ‘a really nice lovely brother,’ she went on to say that the 1D star always offered to pay for his sister’s trips at school.
‘He always asks me, ‘Tell me what trips they’ve got, where do they want to go? Let me use my money to pay for their trips’,’ Johannah said.
‘He’s always been like that. he’s not a materialistic person himself, but he likes to give people things. He spoils me and the girls and he’s happiest doing that.’
Born Johannah Poulston on March 25 1973, Louis’ mother grew up in Doncaster in South Yorkshire, and worked as a midwife and a TV assistant.
Johannah gave birth to Louis when she was 18, but split from his biological father Troy Austin, in 1997 when Louis was five.
She and Mark Tomlinson, whom Louis has said he considers his real dad, then had four children: Charlotte, now 20, Felicity, 18, and twins Phoebe and Daisy, both 14.
In 2013, Johannah announced her engagement to doctor Dan Deakin and that the couple were expecting twins.
Their wedding in July 2014 saw her son as best man, while Louis’ band mates, Harry Styles, Liam Payne and Niall Horan all attended.
Twins Ernest and Doris, both now five, arrived prematurely in February 2014.
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