Love Islanders struggling

All the Love Islanders who’ve admitted they have struggled since the villa

Mary Bedford from season seven said she thought her life was ruined after Love Island

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Love Island may seem like the golden ticket to fame for a lot of people, however there is a lot that happens behind the scenes that takes a toll on those who go onto the show. With five former contestants saying they completely regret going on Love Island due to the toll it took on their mental health, many have spoken out about just how much they struggled once the camera stopped rolling and they were no longer in the villa. From past winners to Casa Amor bombshells, here are the Love Islanders who have admitted they have been struggling since appearing on the show.

Faye Winter

Love Island 2021 star Faye Winter has spoken candidly about her struggles with mental health after leaving the villa. In July 2022, Faye spoke with Sharon Gaffka on a podcast about how life after Love Island took a toll on her mental health due to the constant trolling from viewers.

Faye revealed that while she was in the villa, her sister had to block specific words on her Instagram due to all the hate messages she was receiving and it was from that Faye fell into a “dark place”. She said: “When I go on the words that my sister had to block on my Instagram and you look. When you get told enough that your life isn’t worth it and that you shouldn’t be here, that takes its toll and I was in such a dark place and I’ve only recently been able to talk about it.”

It has been well over a year since Faye was on Love Island and she said she still has “dark days” she feels she will “never get away from”. Faye said: “I feel so lonely. I’ve moved my whole life to be with Teddy because it’s what I wanted to do. He nips out to see his family and I sit at home completely on my own. And that’s in your own thoughts and it’s so hard. When you’re having a down day it’s so hard to see the positives.”

Mary Bedford

Mary Bedford entered the villa as a Casa Amor bombshell, however her time on Love Island was short lived as she was quickly dumped. Mary has recently revealed in an episode of her new podcast that she went into a “really dark place” and was “really sad” because she felt like she had ruined her life by going on Love Island.

She said: “It was a really difficult thing to deal with. It’s like, ‘How can I be feeling this way? I’ve been given one of the biggest opportunities in our generation. Going on Love Island is a massive opportunity, but I regret it so much.’ So that is something I struggled with at first, for quite a few months.”

Samira Mighty

Samira Mighty appeared on Love Island as an OG Islander on season four of the show. In 2019, Samira opened up about how she struggled to adjust to life after Love Island. She said: “On my down days, I lay in bed until 3pm thinking, ‘What am I doing? I hate my life. I miss having a routine.’ But talking helps – you often find other people are feeling the same way.”

Georgia Steel

Georgia Steel was on the same season as Samira Mighty and she also revealed she was suffering from loneliness and struggled with her mental health after the show. Speaking with The Sun, Georgia said “money doesn’t buy happiness” and the last few weeks after leaving Love Island left her being “the lowest” she had ever been”. She said: “Your highs are high but your lows are very low. It’s a different lifestyle. I could be filming for the day and surrounded by people saying my name but then I go back to my empty flat on my own and it hits me.”

Laura Anderson

Laura Anderson admitted she went through a “rollercoaster of mixed emotions” after starring on Love Island. Laura echoed the thoughts of other Islanders about having serious highs and lows after the show. She said: “You want to continue to succeed. You have highs and lows. You’ve come off a massive show and you’ve done really well but what’s next? It’s almost like a drug and that’s where I think people have to be careful.”

“I can sometimes feel down and lonely and it’s difficult to cope with the massive ups and downs that come with fame. In this industry, you can work from home so you are by yourself quite a lot and not going into a workplace to be sociable. The highs and lows are huge. It’s a rollercoaster and you have to be prepared,” she added.

Paige Thorne

Love Island 2022 star Paige Thorne recently revealed she has been struggling with who she is since Love Island and said she hasn’t been in a good place.

Speaking with The Sun, Paige revealed she has stopped drinking alcohol and plans to keep doing so until she feels she is in “a safe and happy place again”. Paige was an OG girl on Love Island 2022 and was coupled up with Jacques O’Neill for the most part before he left and she then coupled up with Adam Collard.

While at the Whitney Houston: I Wanna Dance With Somebody premiere, Paige said: “I’ve been struggling lately, really struggling with who I am and have not been in a good place. I have given up alcohol, it’s been three weeks now, because I’ve realised that I don’t like the person I become when I drink. So until I’m in a safe and happy place I want to stop drinking.”

Adam Collard

Adam Collard revealed it was his TV persona that took a toll on his mental health. Adam opened up about his struggled on the Where’s Your Head At? campaign, and said his portrayal negatively affected him. He said: “Alpha men who have a reputation on TV as strong characters might feel like they can’t speak out about their mental health. Me and Mike Thalassitis both portrayed this persona on Love Island, even though that’s not what we’re like in real life.

“I think this made it hard for me to speak about my mental health because people assumed I wasn’t ever bothered about anything. You think, ‘I can’t come out and say I’m upset about something because it’s just not really the done thing’.

“There are definitely things that impact negatively on my mental health, like body image. The pressure for me to stay in shape and keep up my appearance for social media is high. I’m also quite self-critical – I’ll take a picture and think, well I don’t look as good as I did in the Love Island villa, so I can’t post this picture on my Instagram. My friends think it’s ridiculous!”

Jake Cornish

Jake Cornish, who was on Love Island in 2021, has recently opened up about his struggles with fame since being on the show. Jake was coupled up with Liberty for most of his time on Love Island before they left the villa together after an incredibly rocky relationship.

Speaking to The Sun, Jake said: “It’s nice being in the limelight and people speaking to you and that kind of thing but sometimes you do think, ‘I wish people would just not know me’ so you could just relax.”

Greg O’Shea

Greg O’Shea won Love Island 2019 but in recent years he has opened up about the mental health struggles he faced after his appearance. While on the show, Greg found out his grandmother had passed away and told Ryan Tubridy on The Late Late Show,  he was “pulled out of the villa” and his mother broke the news of his grandmother’s death to him over a Zoom call. He said he felt like a “fool and an idiot” when his grandmother passed away while he was on Love Island. After he left the villa, Greg said he was told a by a friend he was being cancelled and at the time, he didn’t know what it meant.

“I really struggled that I felt like I lost my identity. All I did was go in and train for the guys and when you’re a professional everything is done for you,” he explained.

“I’ve lost all that and lost all my mates that I saw everyday. I went on the biggest show in the UK and won it and I’ve been cancelled for the last two years and I haven’t allowed myself to process that.”

He continued: “In those two years I’ve been getting abused with death threats, losing thousands of followers every day. And then they start texting my mum, sending messages to my parents and my sisters and my teammates. I remember one teammate got a message saying ‘when you get to training you should stab Greg in the back.'”

The former Love Island winner said he began to process what he was dealing with after he retired from spot. Greg O’Shea said he “lost the reason to get up in the morning” when he was living in London. “On the face of it I had everything and what they say to do is talk to people, but we don’t and it’s such an issue. Men don’t speak to each other”, he added.

Danny Williams

Danny has become a mental health coach since appearing on Love Island following struggles he faced after appearing on the show in 2019.

After leaving the villa, Danny received a wave of scrutiny as a result of how he handled situations in the villa, especially with Yewande and Arabella. Speaking about experience on the show, Danny told the BBC: “There has been a lot of growing in the past few years, a lot of developing.

“Mental health wasn’t really something I thought about before my experience of Love Island. And then having seen the highs and lows of it it was kind of brought to the forefront of my attention and I had to address it.

For all the latest Love Island news and gossip and for the best memes and quizzes, like The Holy Church of Love Island on Facebook.

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Featured image credit via Instagram @gregoshea, @paigethornex and @faye__winter.