Love Island's Josh Goldstein and Shannon St. Clair thanked fans for their support days after leaving the series upon learning of the shocking death of his sister, who the couple credits with helping them find each other.
The couple got together on the current third season of the CBS reality show and recently exited the show together after competing for a month. On an episode that aired Thursday, Aug. 5, Josh, 24, told their villa housemates that he was just informed that his sister, Lindsey Goldstein, had died. One day before that episode aired, the 27-year-old passed away unexpectedly after being stricken ill suddenly at her home, according to her obituary. Her memorial is scheduled for this week.
"My sister was the reason that I was on the show," Josh said, hugging Shannon, in a video posted on his Instagram page on Saturday, Aug. 7. "She was one of my best friends and the reason that I met this beautiful lady right here."
Josh, Lindsey's only sibling, continued, "It's just been an unbelievable experience. I know that it brought my sister joy to watch us grow our relationship and really take it to the outside world so I appreciate everybody for supporting us throughout the last couple of weeks and we just wanted to let you know we made it back to Massachusetts and we're going to be OK. It's been a long journey but we're going to be OK."
Shannon, 25, also paid tribute to Josh's sister. "I also wanted to say we love you guys and Lindsey was a huge fan of the show and would always watch her little brother and support him and us as a couple," she said in the video. "She's the reason why we are together where we are right now. She's the one who signed Josh up for the show. We always feel like everything happens for a reason and we owe that all to Lindsey."
She continued, "We wanted to say thank you so much for all the messages and posts and just the amazing love and support that we've gotten from all of you guys. It does not go unnoticed."