Being grabbed and heckled out in public, the women of Love Island face abuse every day

Love Island is a series that creates superstars and even if you’re on the show for a matter of days, your life changes dramatically from what it once was. A lot of Islanders become famous overnight and step out into the public world and experience something like never before. With fame comes a lot of negative attention, and a lot of Islanders have shared their experiences of receiving hate messages and threats online from faceless people. However, some trolls have taken it an extra step further and have verbally attacked Love Island women in person.

A number of women from various Love Island seasons have shared with their fans times they have encountered vile abuse in person, whether they have just been walking to the shops or simply walking their dogs. This is happening at an increasing rate, and something needs to change. Regardless if they have been on television or have two million followers, they are still people and deserve to be respected.

Olivia Attwood was called a ‘psycho’ when she was walking her dog

In November 2022, Love Island 2017 alum Olivia Attwood was verbally attacked by a complete stranger while walking her dog. Olivia recalled being called a number of names by a dog walker in an unprovoked tirade. In an Instagram story, Olivia said she was called a “b**ch” and a “psycho”, all while she was walking her dog.

Olivia was at the park when her dog went over to greet another dog, and at first there was no issue. She explained that the owner of the other dog “lunged in” and “picked up her dog for no reason.” Olivia’s dog, Lola, began to get “freaked out” and barked to which the stranger began yelling at Olivia. She said: “Lola obviously gives it a bit of a bark but didn’t bite, didn’t make any contact with the dog or the woman.

“She turns around to me and is like ‘you’re a f***ing crazy b**ch. I know who you are, you’re that f***ing b**ch off the telly. You’re that f***ing s**g who come off Love Island.'” After that altercation, Olivia faced yet another verbal attack from a stranger who called her dogs “f***ing disgusting”. Due to Olivia being in the influencing industry, she felt that she couldn’t defend herself.

Liberty Poole was mocked by a group of men on holiday

Love Island 2021 star Liberty Poole revealed back in November 2022 that she was verbally abused by a group of boys who called her a “catfish” while she was at the airport. Opening up about the ordeal, she said: “I was on my way to Tenerife with my friends and these people were on a messy stag do and they were shouting it through the airport in front of other people and said, ‘What’s happened to her since Love Island?’ And shouting that I was a catfish through the airport.”

Liberty said she was at the airport “with no makeup and I got penalised for it by a couple people.” The men then got onto the same plane as her and they began telling the air hostess what they had said about her, “like it was something to be proud of,” she added. Liberty then said a group of girls asked for a photo with her and she agreed and they told her not to worry about the photo as they’d put an Instagram filter on her.

“I won’t lie, I did get upset and was left in tears as I’m a human being with feelings but in the end, I powered through it and thought I could sit here and let this eat me up and believe what these people say, or I can go out there and make a change and use my platform for the good,” Liberty said.

Faye Winter was called a ‘sarcastic bitch’ when she took her dog on a walk

Faye Winter, who was on the same season as Liberty also recently shared with her followers that she was verbally abused by a stranger while she was walking her dog. At the beginning of 2023, Faye explained how she was told to keep her dog away from another person’s dog who then proceeded to call her a “sarcastic b**ch”. Faye said: “We were at the gate and she is like 50 yards from us, quite a distance. Then we go through the gate and her dog keeps turning around looking at Bonnie and she says, ‘Can you keep your dog away from my dog?’ And I said ‘Pardon?’ and she said, ‘Can you keep your dog away from my dog – you are clearly distracting my dog.”

Faye told the dog walker she would wait at the gate to get ahead of her but then the stranger had become aggressive and began to call her a “sarcastic b**ch”. The dog walker then told Faye: “There’s no need to get funny with me – I do feel like you’re very intimidating follow me,” despite Faye offering her an alternative.

Tyne-Lexy Clarson was told she was dumped from the villa because of her stretch marks

Tyne-Lexy Clarson, who was a bombshell on Love Island in 2017, revealed in 2019 that she received verbal abuse from a stranger at a airport about her weight. Speaking about the ordeal, Tyne-Lexy said: “When I left the Love Island villa I was taken through the airport by one of the ITV team and a man shouted across the airport to me, ‘You’ve been chucked out already because you’ve got too many stretch marks.’ He was a middle aged man with his wife and young children at the time and I was so shocked that he could say something like that to someone he didn’t know, especially a young girl.”

Tyne-Lexy said it dented her confidence at the time as it was hard for her “to cope with this sort of abuse”. The former Islander said the incident led to her putting less pressure on herself and realising that nobody is perfect.

Maura Higgins was grabbed by a man after leaving an event

Maura Higgins, who was a breakout star on Love Island 2019, called out people for harassing women after she was grabbed by a random man. After attending the National Television Awards in 2021, the Love Island star recalled being grabbed by a stranger who attempted to pull her towards his car.

She said: “For people that think this does not happen. I can assure you it does! Here is an image of me leaving a venue after the NTAs – this guy that I have never met in my life grabbed hold of my arm and tried to pull me back towards his car. Luckily I had two girls walk with me to my car and I would never leave a venue alone at night because of this reason. It’s actively predatory, repeatedly violating women’s personal space and boundaries. His behaviour is completely inappropriate and it’s crucial that we address the issue of street harassment.”

Love Island 2023 continues at 9pm on ITV2 and ITVX. 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.

Related stories recommended by this writer:

• Olivia Attwood says she was called ‘that s**g off Love Island’ while walking her dog

• Love Island’s Liberty says she was followed by a stranger to her car after going shopping

• Love Island’s Faye Winter says she was called a ‘sarcastic b**ch’ while walking her dog

Featured image credit via Instagram @libertypoolex, @maurahiggins and @oliviajade_attwood.