‘Not for the weak’: Love Island USA’s Beatriz Hatz opens up about living with prosthetic leg
'Being different is beautiful'
Beatriz Hatz is joining the new cast of Love Island USA, and has been really open about living with a prosthetic leg. She was born without a fibula in her right leg and had the limb amputated below the knee when she was just ten months old, and had 11 surgeries to walk.
She was diagnosed with a rare congenital condition known as Fibular Hemimelia, and underwent surgery to straighten her knees. Since then, Beatriz has become a Paralympian, who competes in long jump and sprinting events at international track and field competitions.
Beatriz is now making history as the first US islander with a physical impairment. She told Living With Amplitude: “The kid in the lane next to me will kind of make a face like, ‘Oh, it’s the kid with one leg. I don’t have to worry about her.’ I have to gain respect.”
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She’s been really open about her leg and wrote in April 2025: “It’s been such a long journey for me. Growing up with a limb difference is not for the weak. I went from being young, happy, and innocent to such a sad, depressed, and angry little girl. School was rough.
“Kids were mean and I got bullied for something I couldn’t change. It lead me to hate myself and my disability. Adults were just as bad when they stared at me not thinking about how I felt being looked at with pity or disgust. I’ve finally learned being different is beautiful.”
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She was “ashamed of her disability” and wouldn’t wear shorts in public until she was 17. “Having this disability awareness and having us come out here and show the world that people with disabilities still are elite athletes, we’re athletes, period,” Beatriz told Togethxr.
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