The intense media scrutiny Caroline Flack faced before her suicide this past weekend has sparked public outcry and calls for a law to stop the U.K.’s tabloids from relentlessly digging into celebrities’ private lives, the New York Times has reported.

Caroline Flack, the former star of the wildly popular reality TV show, “Love Island,” died by Saturday in her London flat.

Flack, 40, was a longtime fixture of the tabloids, because of her TV gigs on “Love Island” and “The X factor,” and because of her high-profile romances, including with Prince Harry in 2009 and with 17-year-old Harry Styles when she was 31. In her 2014 memoir, “Storm in a C Cup,” Flack said that intense media scrutiny ended her romance with Prince Harry.

“Once the story got out, that was it,” she wrote, according to the Daily Mail. “I was no longer Caroline Flack, TV presenter, I was Caroline Flack, Prince Harry’s bit of rough.”

Flack had been in the news while awaiting trial for allegedly assaulting her boyfriend in December. The allegations led to her departure from “Love Island.” She also was struggling emotionally, taking anti-depressants and “couldn’t see her way out” before her death — two of those tabloids, The Sun and The Daily Mail, reported.

There are concerns that sensationalist coverage of Flack for the assault allegations contributed to her vulnerable mental state. After the reported altercation with her boyfriend, Lewis Burton, in December, The Sun called her “Caroline Whack.”

These complaints about the harm caused by relentless negative coverage is similar to those made by Harry and Meghan. The Duke and Duchess of Sussex said that the invasive and bullying media was one of the key reasons they decided in January to step away from being senior members of the royal family and move to Canada.

In October, Harry and Meghan announced legal action against several U.K. tabloids, with Harry saying that the tabloid press “wages campaigns against individuals with no thought to the consequences.” The duke said he was particularly alarmed about the “almost daily stories” vilifying his American-born former TV actress wife while she was on maternity leave following the birth of their son, Archie, last March.

“There is a human cost to this relentless propaganda, specifically when it is knowingly false and malicious, and though we have continued to put on a brave face — as so many of you can relate to — I cannot begin to describe how painful it has been,” Harry added.

The duke has not commented on Flack’s death, the Daily Mail said, but many others have. An online petition was launched calling for new and stricter laws “safeguarding celebrities and people in the public eye.” It had garnered 548,000 signatures as of Monday morning.

The New York Times reported that politicians have joined in criticizing the tabloids, including Keir Starmer, the front-runner to become the next leader of Britain’s Labour Party. Starmer told reporters that the press “have to take responsibility” for amplifying hate-filled social media commentary.

Media experts told the Times that they didn’t think efforts to strengthen privacy laws in Britain would go very far. Such efforts didn’t lead to meaningful change following the 1997 death of Harry’s mother, Princess Diana.

Not surprisingly, the reason is that buzzy and salacious stories about the royal family and other celebrities are popular with the public.

Roy Greenslade, a media columnist for The Guardian, told the New York Times: “This is one of those great hypocrisies of the British public, that they indulge in reading, and often writing, about these celebrities and then when things go wrong, they turn on the media and say it’s all the media’s fault.”

Some people on Twitter agreed with Greenslade’s assessment. One person opined, “The British media doesn’t exist in a vacuum, it’s a reflection of the British public. If the latter didn’t agree with what the former publishes, then the most rabid publications wouldn’t also be the most successful & popular. Think about it. The Mail/Sun, biggest circulations.”

Another Twitter user added, “Every society gets the media it deserves. The tabloid rags only exist because people like to read about celebrity scandal, and that will never change unless human nature changes.”

The criticism being hurled at the tabloids following Flake’s death has not stopped them from continuing to publish stories about her personal life and supposed state in mind in weeks leading to her death.

In a story headlined, “Caroline’s Struggle,” The Sun reported that the “ambitious” Flack had always been open about her struggles, which coincided with career highs. She was “unapologetic about living them out in the public eye.”

In October, around World Mental Health Day, Flack took to Instagram to tell her fans about reaching out to people to help her cope with “anxiety” and the “pressures of life.”

“I’m lucky to be able to pick myself up when things feel (expletive),” she continued. “Be nice to people. You never know what’s going on.”

The tabloids also have been running stories that quote people close to Flack who are are not inclined to blame the media for her despair, but others. That includes prosecutors who decided to go forward with a trial, even though her boyfriend didn’t want to press charges.

The Daily Mail published a story that said Flack feared “a show trial.” The story also reported on the backlash against the TV company that broadcasts “Love Island.” The Daily Mail said the show’s producers likely will face scrutiny over what, if any, support they provided to Flack after she was charged in the assault case.

The Daily Mail also noted that Flack was the third star associated with the show to die by suicide, and reported that Ofcom, which regulates UK’s communications services, had warned reality TV shows that they have a duty to take care of their stars.