Did insulting article about Caroline Flack appear in teen magazine? Fact Check

A page from what appears to be a magazine aimed at young teenagers featuring late TV presenter Caroline Flack is spreading online, in which Flack is portrayed as a voodoo doll, surrounded by a number of insulting comments.

TRUE

The title of the page simply reads “Go Away!” and features a number of comments about Flack, including a comment in which she is compared to a goat, another that claims “no one wants to be with her” and another criticizing her for dating a guy “who isn’t half her age”.

It’s real. While some social media users have mistakenly attributed it to a recent magazine publication, it actually dates back to 2012, published by an American magazine called “One Direction & Friends” (other articles claim the magazine was called “A Girl’s Guide to One Direction” though we cannot confirm this) which was published by a company called Topix Media Labs and is aimed at fans of the UK boy band One Direction.

At the time, a spokesperson for Caroline Flack had said “it is pretty indicative of what she has had to put up with.” Flack had also acknowledged the article in a tweet.

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The magazine itself appears to have been short-lived and is no longer in production. Topix Media Lab appears to be a subsidiary (of sorts) to the company Media Lab Books. It claims to be the “best in class mass market consumer magazines”. Its editor-in-chief is identified as Jeff Ashworth.

The article did attract some controversy in 2012 when it had been originally published. It was published shortly after Flack had been romantically linked to one of the members of the One Direction boy band, Harry Styles, a relationship that subsequently resulted in Flack receiving a negative backlash from the band’s fan base.