Caroline Flack’s boyfriend Lewis Burton doesn’t feature in Disney+’s new documentary about the TV star’s death.
The two-part series hears from Caroline’s mother Christine, her best friend Mollie Grosberg, her agent Louise Booth and even legal representatives.
But although Lewis was dating Caroline at the time of her tragic death, he is noticeably absent from the show.
Just two months before Caroline took her own life, she and Lewis had been involved in a drunken argument. It led to Caroline being arrested for allegedly assaulting him.
Here’s where Lewis is now and what has happened to him since Caroline died.
Who is Lewis Burton?
Lewis Burton is a former professional tennis player. He now works as an influencer and owns the lifestyle and concierge service, Twenty3 Club. The company says it strives to “create memories that last a lifetime”.
Lewis has 218,000 followers on Instagram.
How did he meet Caroline?
Lewis and Caroline met through mutual friends and started dating in the summer of 2019.
In an appearance on ITV, Caroline told Alison Hammond in June of that year: “I’ve got a huge crush on someone at the minute. We message quite a lot but I can’t seem to take it from friendship to the next level.”
But within weeks, she had. In Caroline Flack: Search For The Truth, the late star’s agent Louise Booth recalls: “I remember when Caroline told me she’d met this guy. She was really, really besotted with him.”
Her best pal Mollie Grosberg explains how they moved in together quickly, too. She recalls: “Lewis was a tennis player, very good-looking. They were in the early stages of their relationship and had been going out for six months.
“But they definitely had an emotional connection and a sexual connection.”
Lewis was in his late 20s at the time, while Caroline was about to turn 40. Mollie adds: “They had a really nice night together… until they didn’t.”
What happened between Lewis and Caroline?
On December 12, 2019, Caroline and Lewis became embroiled in a drunken argument. Disney+ viewers will hear how Caroline discovered a text from a woman on Lewis’ mobile phone and confronted him.
Caroline’s mum Christine says in the documentary: “She said Lewis fell asleep but then his phone went. She picked the phone up and discovered texts on it from another woman.”
Mollie says Caroline had tired to wake Lewis, saying: “She hit him with her phone, he stood up, she was shouting, he was screaming and his head was bleeding.”
Caroline then self-harmed herself. She was taken to hospital but Lewis did not require any treatment to his head. Although “upset and remorseful”, Caroline was then taken to the police station.
Did Lewis want Caroline to be charged?
Caroline was later charged with attacking Lewis. But, according to the Disney+ documentary, he did not want her to be prosecuted.
Mollie says: “On the first day, immediately after the argument had happened, Lewis said, ‘This was a really bad argument gone wrong’. I know he really, really regretted calling the police and he kept asking for the case to be dropped’.
Paul Morris, Caroline’s solicitor, adds: “In 27 years of practice, I have never seen a case of a victim asking not to prosecute, but still the prosecution in scant, cursory, short responses, brushed it back and said, ‘We’ve reviewed it and we’re proceeding’.”
Caroline was under bail conditions that stopped her from seeing Lewis.
The Crown Prosecution Service has since told Disney+: “All decisions in this case were made on the basis of medical opinion available to us at the time. A person’s celebrity status never influences whether a case is taken forward.
“We are satisfied that the prosecution was correctly brought.”
Caroline’s death
Caroline died on February 15, 2020. She had found out the previous day that the prosecution was going ahead. An inquest later ruled Caroline had died by suicide.
Lewis has never spoken out in depth about Caroline’s death. But at the time, he wrote on social media: “My heart is broken, we had something so special.
“I am so lost for words I am in so much pain I miss you so much I know you felt safe with me you always said I don’t think about anything else when I am with you and I was not allowed to be there this time I kept asking and asking.
“I will be your voice baby I promise I will ask all the questions you wanted and I will get all the answers nothing will bring you back but I will try make you proud everyday, I love you with all my heart.”
Lewis added a broken heart emoji to his Instagram post.
View this post on Instagram
Who is Lewis Burton dating now?
Lewis Burton is now in a relationship with Lottie Tomlinson. Lottie is the sister of One Direction star, Louis Tomlinson. The pair began dating in August 2020 – six months after Caroline’s death.
Lewis and Lottie are now engaged and have two children together. Their youngest child, Flossy, was born in January this year.
Lottie recently wrote in her autobiography, Lucky Girl: “Because of the difficulty of Lewis’ personal situation when we were first getting to know each other, the pressure would get to us. In fact, we had a few conversations around how much easier it would be to go our separate ways.
‘Every time we agreed not to speak to each other anymore, that magnetism between us always brought us back together. We couldn’t keep away from each other, and in the end, we thought, let’s just be together and make a go of it.”
Lewis Burton ‘declines’ to appear in Caroline Flack documentary
Fans will notice that Lewis is not in Disney+’s documentary about Caroline Flack. However, it was approached by show producers when it was being filmed.
Speaking at a screening for the show, Sophie Clayton-Payne said he was “contacted right from the beginning”. Lewis was asked if he would speak off-record for “research purposes”.
Sophie added: “We also invited him to take part in the series, on camera. He declined to take part.”
Read more: Caroline Flack: Search For The Truth documentary – Did Caroline date Harry Styles?
If you or anyone you know needs help dealing with mental health struggles, you can call the Samaritans free on 116 123, email them at [email protected], or visit samaritans.org to find your nearest branch.
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