Nick Cave Pens Letter About Grief and His Favorite Contestant on Love Island

Nick Cave has opened up on his personal website about his surprise connection to a contestant on Love Island and how the young man’s parents helped him and his family grieve the 2015 death of his son, Arthur.

The story was the result of two fairly innocuous inquires from a pair of fans named Maisie and Sharon, who wrote in to The Red Hand Files to ask A) who he wanted to win the current season of the British dating show and B) what the main difference is between him and his wife, Susie Bick.

“At the moment, the defining difference between Susie and me is that she watches Love Island, and I don’t,” Cave began. “Susie watches Love Island because we know one of the contestants, Luca. Luca was a school friend of our twins, Arthur and Earl. As a consequence, Susie and I became friends with Luca’s parents, Maria and Michael. Maria is an antique dealer. Michael is a fishmonger. Luca is a fishmonger too.”

His note continued: “After Arthur died, in the early days of that terrible, chaotic first week, Maria turned up on our doorstep with a tray of lasagne and basically looked after us. She barely said anything to us. She made us cups of tea. She cooked for us. She was just there. She was the one constant through a time of horror and confusion, when scores of despairing and commiserating people came and went. We will never forget her kindness. Even in the first week, when the world seemed suddenly and shockingly defined by an unspeakable and distorting cruelty, Maria reminded us that there was good in the world. She also served as a lesson in how to deal with grieving people – you don’t need to say anything, just do something; make them a cup of tea, cook them dinner.”

Cave went on to add, “To this day Michael brings fresh fish around to our house, drops it off and leaves without a word. He pretends to charge us for it, but we know that he doesn’t. These people, Luca’s parents, are as good as people get, and they love their son, Luca. So, Susie watches Love Island and cheers him on, and hopes that he will win. I also hope that Luca wins, and wins soon, because then I can get the fucking TV back.”

Tragically, the singer’s aforementioned son passed away at the age of just fifteen after falling from a cliff. The accident fueled much of Cave’s musical output in the following years, including 2016’s Skeleton Tree and 2019’s Ghosteen. Earlier this year, Cave’s older son Jethro Lazenby also died after a stint in an Australian jail for attacking his mother, model Beau Lazenby.

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