Leslie Golden Says She Left 'Love Island' Due to Personal Reasons — What's the Truth?

It's the end of the journey for one Love Island contestant.

Leslie Golden, a model from Redwater, Tex., entered the Love Island villa during the Casa Amor twist. She coupled up with Korey Gandy while also maintaining that she would be open to getting to know another contestant, Melvin "Cinco" Holland Jr.

But none of Leslie's affairs will come to fruition, as she mysteriously disappeared from Love Island after only a few days. So, why did she leave?

Leslie isn't the first Love Island contestant to abruptly leave the villa. Slade Parker left Season 3, citing "personal reasons." Noah Purvis, a star on Season 2, got eliminated from the show. Sherif Lanre, a star appearing on Season 5 of Love Island U.K., had to depart after "breaking the rules." But what happened to Leslie?

Unfortunately for fans, Leslie didn't get to announce her departure from the show. Matthew Hoffman, the narrator of Love Island delivered a quick briefing during the episode airing on Sunday, Aug. 1, 2021, but he didn't elaborate on what led Leslie to leave. Needless to add, the unexpected developments gave rise to rampant fan speculation.

Perhaps to deescalate the rumors, Leslie posted an Instagram story shedding some light on what had happened. In it, she wrote that she left for "personal reasons." As she added, the decision didn't have anything to do with the social dynamics of the villa (or her and Genevieve Shawcross' apparent conflict with Shannon St. Clair).

"One of the best experiences of my life. Although my person wasn't in there, I'm still so grateful I got to connect with everyone. I have no regrets, but I am very happy to be home," she wrote. "I was forming a connection that I wish would have had more of a chance to flourish in its own time."

As she also wrote in the Instagram story, she didn't get "fired for doing porn." As a rumor has it, however, she may have been told to leave after she posted about Love Island on OnlyFans.

"On her Instagram, she said she left for personal reasons. Apparently, she was kicked off for promoting Love Island on her OnlyFans. Slade left for personal reasons, and he's still on the Love Island Instagram page, but Leslie's been completely taken off of it. Suspicious," tweeted @donalcervin.

Leslie was among the few Casa Amor contestants who managed to develop a bond with an islander, thereby securing the opportunity to spend more time in the villa beyond the few-day-long twist.

Only Leslie and Genevieve Shawcross, who coupled up with Jeremy Hershberg, pulled off the trick. Leslie walked away. Genevieve then got dumped in the same episode as Cinco.