I’m constantly trolled for being skinny but I’d never call someone fat, says Maura Higgins as she rules out boob job
IMAGINE receiving hundreds of messages every day telling you that you “need a boob job” to look sexy or that you “need to eat” because you are “too thin”. It would leave any woman’s self-esteem in tatters. So it says a lot about Maura Higgins’ confidence that she manages to brush them off. “I get it […]
IMAGINE receiving hundreds of messages every day telling you that you “need a boob job” to look sexy or that you “need to eat” because you are “too thin”.
It would leave any woman’s self-esteem in tatters. So it says a lot about Maura Higgins’ confidence that she manages to brush them off.
“I get it all the time,” she says with a sigh. “I get it so much. People writing: ‘Go and get a boob job’ or, ‘You’re too skinny.’”
It seems Maura, who appeared in the 2019 series of Love Island, has had to develop a protective barrier early on in her career. But when you consider the well-documented mental health struggles that many of the stars have experienced in the aftermath of leaving the ITV2 reality show, it’s sobering to hear the kinds of battles women in the public eye still face.
Thankfully, Maura has Sharon, her “Irish mammy”, to remind her to ignore social media trolls.
“I can be bad for [reading the comments]. But I’ve got better. Now I’m a bit like: ‘I’m 31 – whatever.’ Mammies do have the best advice. I tell mine everything, and I mean everything. There’s nothing I don’t tell her.
“I’ve always spoken to my mammy about it and asked: ‘Why is it OK for people to turn around to your face and say: ‘God, you’re too skinny’? Would you ever say to somebody: ‘God, you’re too fat’? No, you wouldn’t.”
But do the comments about her body ever play into her insecurities?
“I don’t need a boob job, because I feel sexy with the size of my boobs. I’m not going to get one to suit what some random person tells me. [Though] if it’s going to help somebody else feel more confident [to have surgery], then work away. I would be petrified of the boob surgery anyway. I watch that [E!] TV show Botched all the time, which puts me off.”
If anything, being in the public eye seems to have made her more comfortable with her body.
“I’ve not had my lips done in two years. I’m past it now – maybe because I’m older. I don’t need help with my confidence. I don’t feel like [big] boobs make you feel sexy. I think confidence comes from within.”
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The last three years have been a blur for Maura after she arrived like a hurricane into the Love Island villa. She finished fourth on the show, then went on to appear on Dancing On Ice with professional partner Alex Demetriou in 2020.
“I do feel like I just got lucky. It’s crazy looking back at it. I never expected to come out [of Love Island] and do as well as I did. I was thinking I’d be out in a week. I was quite wild in there, wasn’t I?
“But if I were to go back into the villa, I wouldn’t change anything, because that was me and I said going in there: ‘I’m going to be 100% myself,’ so there are no regrets.
“And it’s thanks to Love Island that I am where I am today. But if people ask me questions about Love Island on a night out, I don’t want to talk about it because it’s so long ago now. I’ve come so far.”
It’s not just her time on the show that people want to talk to her about. Fans are convinced that Maura could succeed current presenter Laura Whitmore. Laura, 36, has been at the helm for two series after taking over from the late Caroline Flack.
“We’ve had some exciting TV conversations,” Maura says. “I did Glow Up Ireland and the biggest fear for me doing that was learning my lines. I had to memorise everything and I was s**ting myself. But I took to it so well. I can learn a whole film off by heart, like I know every line in Titanic. I swear I could act out the whole movie!
“But these [Love Island] rumours have been going on for years. There are always so many people on Twitter saying: ‘Oh, I’d love Maura to be the presenter,’ but people don’t understand that they loved me on Love Island because I was so outrageous – the stuff that I would come out with was so vile.
“If I’m presenting, I can’t do that. I would have a script. I’m not going in there as ‘Outrageous Maura’ and to start ranting and raving. I’d be going in there to be a professional presenter and it would be completely different. I do think people are a bit shocked when they meet me because I do actually have a soft side.”
But has there ever been a conversation about her potentially getting the job? “No.”
And would she take it if it were offered to her? “That is a hard one, because I see Laura getting s**t online. I don’t agree with people saying: ‘It’s not Caroline.’ She’s a different person and she’s very good at her job. I don’t feel it’s fair to come online and say all that s**t. She’s a lovely person and nobody deserves that.”
Maura takes her rising profile in her stride, which is perhaps the secret of her success, but she is keen not to forget where she’s come from and how hard she has worked to get where she is.
“I didn’t have anything handed to me growing up. I worked as a hairdresser for 10 years because I left school early. Hairdressing is a tough job.
“I remember cleaning the floor and making the coffee and getting €50 [£42] a week. I saved all of that money and bought my first car. I just wanted to be independent. I moved out when I was 17 and got everything myself.”
Maura’s finances are a world away from that now after entering Fabulous’ Reality Rich List at the end of last year with a reported fortune of £2.5m.
‘I COULDN’T AFFORD HEATING’
Reflecting on how her circumstances have changed, she says: “I remember when I was renting by myself, I had to go to sleep with three dressing gowns on me and three pairs of fluffy socks because I couldn’t afford heating. I was freezing.
“I had to basically choose food over my heating. So now that I’m financially stable, I can appreciate everything. There are days I sit at home [in Essex] and think: ‘I’m so lucky that I can have my heating on,’ because I can look back at when I was struggling.”
It’s this fight for more that has taken Maura on to the next step of her career. Following a successful brand partnership with Ann Summers, which she signed after leaving the villa in 2019, she’s recently been snapped up by top modelling agency Elite Models, which has Kendall Jenner on its books and previously represented legendary supermodels Gisele Bündchen, Cindy Crawford, Naomi Campbell and Claudia Schiffer.
“I felt like I needed a change and to be out of my comfort zone,” she explains. “You can get very comfortable. I wanted to open new doors and there are a lot of things in the pipeline. It’s exciting.”
These days, Maura, who is fronting the cover of our Style Issue, can afford to buy pretty much whatever she wants, admitting that she is “very lucky” to own a lot of designer clothes. But she is currently on the hunt for some new boots. And not just any boots – “lucky boots”. Forget a pair of pulling pants, Maura puts her success with men down to some special footwear.
“I do [have a lucky outfit]. I had a pair of boots and I always called them my ‘lucky boots’ because when I wore them out, I always seemed to get a guy. They were knee-high, sparkly, pointy boots. I got them from an Ann Summers photo shoot. But I don’t have them any more and I’m really upset about that. I need them back.”
Recently, the winner of her series of Love Island, Greg O’Shea, said: “If anyone says they’re going on the show just to find love, they’re full of crap. A lot of business opportunities come off the back of the show.” So is Maura on the lookout for love, and was that really what she went into the villa for?
“You know what, I actually did go in to find love. I actually did!” she insists. “I thought I would last a week! What would that have done for my career? [People in] Ireland couldn’t even vote. I did want to go in and meet all those men.”
And it worked for a while, as she fell for Curtis Pritchard, 26, in the villa and after finishing the show together they dated for seven months before splitting. Then friendship turned to love for Maura and fellow Islander Chris Taylor, 31, before they mutually agreed to end things in May 2021 after almost six months together.
Maura wasn’t single for long though, falling for Strictly professional Giovanni Pernice, 31, last July, before things ended abruptly in October.
Relationships are off the table for discussion on the day of our interview, but a recent Instagram post captioned: “Cute coffee dates that didn’t end too cute,” showing snaps of her drinking coffee and ending up with foam on her nose suggests she might be seeing someone new. So who is the lucky man?
‘PRIVATE PERSON’
“That could be with my mam!” she laughs. “I can be quite a private person. If I don’t want to share something, I’m not gonna share it.”
While she might not have found lasting love in the villa, Maura did find a best friend in Molly-Mae Hague. The pair were love rivals, both going after Tommy Fury, before they formed a friendship instead.
“We’re very close, she’s like a sister. We talk most days and always discuss what we’re up to,” Maura says. “I feel like there are so many people that just don’t understand the world we live in now. I have some really close friends at home and I can talk to them about many things, but then when I go home, I actually like to just not talk about it and have some ‘normal’ time. I feel like a lot of people don’t know how hard we work. We don’t just get everything handed to us. You still have to graft.”
Maura recently had Molly-Mae’s back following the backlash the 22-year-old faced for saying that she had “worked [her] absolute arse off to get where [she is] now” and “everyone has the same 24 hours” to push their careers. It led to comments being posted saying she was ignorant about poverty. Then, when former Islander Shaughna Phillips waded in with her own views, Maura leapt to her friend’s defence.
In a Twitter message directed at Shaughna, she said: “Surely you know as someone in this industry how lonely and scary it can be when the whole internet is slamming you. You’re entitled to your opinion, yes, but I’m really surprised [at] you commenting on this at all.”
Maybe Maura is the online voice of reason we all need in a digital world crying out for more regulation.
“You’re always gonna get trolling and you’re always gonna get negatives, but you kind of just have to pass it off, because at the end of the day, not everyone’s gonna like you.
“I don’t mind it, but I’ve got friends that would never do a show like Love Island because they know that side of it would affect them. I just don’t care, because strangers’ opinions don’t matter to me. All I care about are my friends and my family.”
Seems like Maura is one woman you want firmly on your side.
In the chair with Maura
How would you describe your style?
It varies. I love to look sexy, but then I like feeling comfortable too. I love a bit of masculine style as well.
Where is your favourite place to shop?
I love Farfetch because it’s got a range of stuff, but I also love Zara and Bershka. I always shop online because I hate going into shops.
What was your biggest splurge?
A Chanel handbag that I got before Love Island. I won £15k on a blackjack table in Las Vegas and nearly had a heart attack! I used the money to buy my first Chanel bag for £5.5k.
I still use it every single day.
What’s your favourite red-carpet outfit?
I loved my Pride of Britain outfit, because it was so different. It was an Albina Dyla halterneck dress and was very Hollywood glam.
Who is your celeb style icon?
Rihanna – she just always looks insane! I’ve been obsessed with that woman since a very young age.