‘I didn’t go on to find love’: Molly-Mae finally admits Love Island was just a career move

She’s spoken about ditching the ‘Islander’ label, saying ‘the things I’ve done now are not because of Love Island, they’re because of me’

2 years ago

Hayley Soen

Trash
UK

Molly-Mae Hague is the most successful Love Island contestant the UK has ever had, when it comes to a career after the show. She’s got the most Instagram followers of any contestant of all time, has had constant brand deals and is now the Creative Director of PrettyLittleThing and a multi-millionaire.

But, the show is about finding love. And whilst Molly-Mae is still with Tommy Fury, who she met on the show, she has finally admitted that her relationship with him was more of an added bonus that she didn’t expect, and she went on the show to elevate her career and for the experience. Molly-Mae was one of the first Islanders to ditch the typical Love Island promo pic as her Instagram picture and remove any trace of the show from her bios, crediting everything she’s done in her career to her own hard work.

Speaking on The Diary of a CEO podcast with Steven Bartlett, Molly-Mae has spoken about what it was like to become a Creative Director aged just 22.

Molly-Mae Hague talks about how Love Island for her was a business move to boost her influencer career

via Instagram @mollymae

‘Put it this way, I didn’t go on that show to find love’

Molly-Mae began by addressing whether or not she went on Love Island for its main purpose, to find a relationship. “It is tricky for me to say the right thing without upsetting people but, put it this way, I didn’t go on that show to find love,” Molly-Mae said. “No one does! People go on it for the experience, people go on it for a laugh. And I think, because I went on there with a completely probably incorrect mindset, that’s why I did come out with a boyfriend. You know when you’re not expecting something it happens?”

Speaking of her time before the show, she says when she approached by producers her influencing was going “really well” and she did think she could have launched her career without the show at all. “I thought I can actually do this without going on this show, like I know I’ll be fine,” she said. “My following was growing rapidly, I think I was on about 170k followers at that point and that was all organic growth – there were no TV shows or anything. I hadn’t had any friends with large followings who had posted me, it was all very natural growth. So I’d say, I know now if I hadn’t gone on the show I’d probably be, I’d like to say I’d be hitting a million followers. I had that really good work ethic with my Instagram.”

via ITV

‘The things I’ve done now are not because of Love Island, they’re because of me’

Right now, if you joined Molly-Mae’s 6.2million followers on Instagram and had never heard of Love Island or watched her series, you wouldn’t know she’s been on the show. She doesn’t post throwbacks to it, nor relive memories, and there certainly isn’t a “Love Island 2019” in her bio like most Islanders.

via Instagram @mollymae

Molly-Mae is sure that all her hard work and career success is down to her, and definitely not Love Island. “But, the show just sort of, it elevated me,” she said. “One thing I always says is, when you come off that show you’re all on a level playing field and it’s totally up to you where you go with it, and I just knew that I wanted to go to levels that nobody had ever gone to – and that’s why I never speak about it. I feel like I don’t owe, that’s not the reason where I am where I am now. Yeah, it gave me a platform, yeah it elevated me but the things I’ve done now are not because of Love Island, they’re because of me and what I decided to do and my work ethic.”