Love Island: All Stars’ Grace Jackson has opened up about her brief fling with footballer Marcus Rashford, opening up to her co-stars about why the couple couldn’t make things work

Love Island’s Grace Jackson has broken her silence on the romance rumours with footballer Marcus Rashford, opening up about why the didn’t make it as a couple.

The 26-year-old, who appeared on the last series of Love Island and previously dated Joey Essex, is one of the singles on All Stars this year. She recently coupled up with Luca Bish after choosing the 2022 contestant in the recent re-coupling.

Opening up to co-stars Liv Hawkins and Catherine Agbaje about her romantic history, Grace spoke about her fling with England player Marcus, 27. “We weren’t dating but we were chatting a little bit,” she said.

Grace spoke about her romance with Marcus Rashford on All Stars ( 
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ITV/REX/Shutterstock)
When Liv asked if they “fancied each other”, Grace continued: “Yeah, but it’s difficult because he can’t go out and just go on a normal date. All these f*****g United fans were commenting thousands of comments on my pictures because they loved me.”

She added that when their romance hit the press, Manchester United fans saw her as Marcus’ lucky charm. “When the article came out, he scored two goals and he hadn’t scored for ages sop they were like, ‘You fixed him! Thank you so much, you’re our queen,'” she laughed.

“And then it kind of drifted. I think it went a bit weird when all the articles came out. But I’ve known his brother since I was 17 so he was like, ‘Nah, don’t worry about it. He knows it’s not you.’ But I think it went a bit, it just changed the vibe a bit. Because everyone knew and there wasn’t anything to know.”

Grace was rumoured to have dated Marcus Rashford shortly before appearing on Love Island: All Stars ( 
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Getty Images)
Catherine sympathised, saying that it’s “difficult” when romances go public, while Olivia added: “It’s the same as if you and Joey had worked out. That would have been really bait for you.”

Grace went onto reveal that she met up with ex Joey Essex after their time in the Love Island villa last year. “He reached out to me, we didn’t speak for four months. Then he texted me and was just like, ‘Can we speak?'” adding that it was “When I saw his name on my phone, I was like [gasps]. I really liked him and I think I’ll awlays have a soft spot for him. I’ll always care about him.”