Last years Love Island contestants open up
The 2018 Love Island contestants have opened up about the struggles they've faced outside the villa.
Laura Anderson, Samira Mighty, Adam Collard, Zara McDermott and more open up in a candid interview with Cosmopolitan this week.
Samira Mighty
Samira explains how the sudden fame and attention made her self conscious leaving the house.
"You get followers, you get more attention, people are stalking you and you get loads of likes."
"You’ll be getting money out of the cash machine and people come up to you."
"I used to not go out... I used to not get on the tube, because I was scared that people were always looking at me."
Adam Collard
Mike Thalassitis took his own life after a short stint on the show and Adam sees similarities between himself and Mike.
"Mike was portrayed as a similar 'character' to me on the show – macho, a bit of a bad boy."
"Feeling like you have to live up to that can make it difficult to ask for help."
"When you come out, doing 120 nightclub PAs and eating service station food… I’m not going to look the same. That got me really down..."
Zara McDermott
Zara was coupled up with Adam on last years show. However, their relationship ended a couple months after they left the villa.
"Being a reality star, you’re almost at the bottom of the rankings... You don’t go from being a normal person to being an A list celebrity."
"You go from being a normal person to having a decent amount of exposure, but not necessarily the respect in the industry that you maybe deserve."
Dr. Alex
Dr. Alex says mental health issues can occur after a life changing event, "Mental health issues aren't isolated to reality shows – any life-changing event or disruption can be a trigger."
"If you’re doing it for fame, I’d really advise that you don’t go on the show... I was happy before the show and I’m just as happy afterwards."
Laura Anderson
One of Laura's biggest struggles was learning to accept herself for who she is.
"I've always been confident and happy with my appearance, but now I sometimes think, 'Should I put make-up on to walk the dog?' which is ridiculous."
"Luckily, I have good friends who keep me grounded."
Josh Denzel
Josh says, "You feel that you almost have a duty to live your best life, or to be seen living your best life."
The islander was coupled up with Kaz Crossley on the show however, they called it quits earlier this year.
"I sat in my room for two whole days just wondering, ‘What the f*ck is going to happen?’ Even now, I walk down the street and people ask, 'Why are you not with Kaz?’"
Sam Bird
Sam admits he didn't have any work when he got home and it made him feel, "low."
"There was that massive high, but when I got home and I didn’t have any work for three or four days, it made me feel low."
"I felt alone. My friends were all back home so I couldn’t see them and I didn’t have many friends from London."
"You overthink. You get… upset and you feel a little bit lost."
There's been quite a lot of controversy surrounding the after care system on the series.
Caroline Flack opens up about it in a recent interview.
Read more on that here.
