On last night’s Love Island, Liam Reardon hit every single cheating cliché. First came playing down the incident(s) to Millie Court, then when she got the chance to speak to Lillie Haynes for her version of events, he brought out the age-old ‘Well, if you want to believe her over me go ahead!’
After attempting to rally support around his behaviour – even telling Kaz Kamwi to help him by not ‘adding fuel to the fire' (the audacity!) – he embarked on a campaign of gaslighting after Millie finally confronted him with all the facts. ‘She told me you didn’t only have one kiss, you had three,’ Millie said. ‘I told you that?’ he responded. ‘Why would I lie about two or three what’s the difference?’.
Yes, Liam, why would you lie? Since, you know… IT’S ALL ON CAMERA. And yet here we are, because apparently men will gaslight you till their blue in the face whether they’re on national television or not. He even pulled out the classic ‘You’re taking this all wrong’ when she told him she wouldn’t settle for him needing to test their bond to realise his feelings for her – which he quite literally said to her was the reason he kissed Lillie seconds prior.
Of course, Millie’s reaction is what saved this disastrous encounter. Demanding accountability, communicating clearly why she was hurt and their relationship needed to end, then setting boundaries of space and respect for her decision. It was a break-up masterclass for anyone whose been cheated on, and judging by the swathes of viewers admitting they would find it hard not to forgive Liam if they were her, it was necessary for the entire public to watch.
But lessons of self-worth and communication aren’t all we received – because Liam’s behaviour proved how crucial it is to account for red flags beyond cheating.
So often, when we’re betrayed or hurt in relationships – platonic or romantic – we focus on that one incident that caused the pain. We wonder what led to it, why it happened and whether it can be fixed. We have countless conversations about it, often with no effort at conflict resolution at all. But while we do that, the person who caused said pain has ample time to manipulate our responses for their own gain – cue gaslighting.
When you’re love blind, you might not even notice it. But watching how Liam downplayed his betrayal and forced Millie to question herself, it’s clear that his propensity to gaslight and manipulate her beyond just betraying her trust also speaks to his behaviour in relationships.
Now, Liam might watch this back and learn, he might have family or friends call him out or even the Love Island therapist explain exactly how that behaviour is harmful to partners – but for viewers at home, it taught a vital lesson that it’s just as important to recognise how your partner responds to conflict as it is what you’re conflicting over.
The moment of betrayal might be the most painful, but the moments after are key to understanding whether a partner is truly toxic or not. Millie clearly has experienced with unfaithful men, likely the source of her strength in walking away, but as viewers noted, it would’ve been very easy for her not to in that situation based purely on how Liam was acting.
Thankfully, she saw the red flags for what they are and hopefully, taught viewers to notice them too – we just hope his decision not to respect her space and instead try and ‘win her back’ doesn’t put a dent in that progress.
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