Sam Thompson & Zara McDermott
Sam Thompson has admitted he saw his girlfriend, Zara McDermott's leaked private images before they met.
He made the revelation during a chat on her new BBC documentary Revenge Porn.
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In the film, Zara opens up about her two traumatising experiences with revenge porn.
The first happened when she sent a boy at school a private photo when she was just 14.
It was shared around her school, and she ended up getting suspended.
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The second incident happened while she was in the Love Island villa.
As she was preparing to fly home following her stint on the ITV series, she found out an ex had leaked her photos to the world.
The Love Islander hopes her stories will help other victims of image based sexual abuse realise they aren't alone.
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Meeting Sam
In the documentary, as reported by MailOnline, Zara admits she was was very reserved on her first date with Sam.
"Every time I walk into a room and met someone new, I wondered have they seen the images?"
"This happened when I first met Sam," she said.
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During a chat on the documentary, he remembered how she, "had [her] arms crossed and didn't want to speak."
Zara admitted to thinking, "does he know? Does he think less of me?"
"I'd already seen photos without knowing it was Zara, it had surfaced on a WhatsApp group I was on," Sam admitted.
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Sam had seen the photos
"I didn't know it was her until she mentioned it," he insisted.
Zara confessed, "It bugs me that his friends were forwarding images of me to his group chat."
"I don't actually know who it was. I don't want to think about it."
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Sam continued, "I saw the photo and no one actually thinks, wow I wonder what it's like to be in that person's shoes."
"I feel so bad, no one's that empathetic."
The couple later discussed her decision to send the images in the first place.
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Zara said some people might question why she'd send photos again in her 20s, when she had such a traumatic experience at 14.
"My response is it's not a mistake sending an image is not a mistake it's my body," she said.
"I'm not breaking the law by sending an image."
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"Yes, you're totally correct but I thought you'd have been more wised up," Sam said.
"Yes I know it's your body and I can do what I will but you know what the consequences could be."
Zara pointed out that most the time it happens to those, "in really long term relationships."
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"Yeah that's different," Sam said, "I'm talking about two dates down the line with a bloke you hardly really know..."
"If you're not aware enough to know there are people like that in the world then you're the one that loses out and it's not fair and it's not right and it is against the law."
The Love Island star responded, "Well we'll agree to disagree on that one."
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Zara McDermott: Revenge Porn is out now.
