When Love Island's Molly-Mae Hague and Tommy Fury split last summer, speculation ran rife about what went wrong. And now, after a New Year’s Eve kiss had fans scratching their heads about the state of their relationship, the Love Island 2019 stars, both 25, are both finally having their say.
Days before the first three episodes of Molly-Mae’s tell-all Prime Video documentary, Behind It All, launched, her former fiancé got ahead of the rumours in an interview with Men’s Health. There, boxer Tommy said that it was his ‘problem’ with alcohol – and not the cheating rumours that were swirling after the split – that had caused the end of their relationship.
And when the documentary dropped on Friday, mum-of-one Molly-Mae – who has been supported by fellow Islander and BFF Maura Higgins since the split – verified this. ‘He wanted to have a family life but then also have the life of a 25-year-old boy with no responsibilities, and the two don’t go hand in hand,’ she said.
And in a no-holds barred chat with Closer, Molly-Mae opens up on everything, including rumours that their split was a publicity stunt and that controversial New Year’s kiss.
Hi, Molly-Mae! What made you want to open your life up to a documentary?
The director and myself sat down and had a long conversation over a Chinese, ‘Do we do it, do we not do it?’ It was a huge decision for me because I’ve not done any TV really since doing Love Island, so it needed to feel right.
Is it a break-up documentary?
It’s definitely so much more than a break-up documentary. Obviously we do talk about the break-up, but it focuses on parts of my life that I haven’t really delved into before – motherhood, body confidence, running my two businesses and doing all of that while having a two-year-old [the couple’s baby daughter, Bambi]. Going into this, it wasn’t because of the break-up, it was more so because I knew that it was the start of my clothing brand Maebe’s journey.
Some people have suggested the split was a publicity stunt to promote the show – what do you say to that?
I think that for me, above everything, has been the most frustrating part. I actually say in the documentary, ‘I wish it was a publicity stunt because it would be a lot easier.’ Going through all this with the turmoil of the break-up, it has been incredibly hard to hear those comments. People saying ‘this has obviously all been done as a publicity stunt’ – that is very painful for me because it’s real life.
You and Tommy were seen kissing on New Year’s Eve. How are things between you now?
We are navigating a really complicated time in both of our lives in the public eye and this is a whole new territory for me. It is complicated, and the reason I don’t comment about it on YouTube or publicly is simply because we are both navigating it and ultimately figuring it out as adults and as parents. We’re doing the best we can, but I don’t want anyone to feel confused by things that are going on. We’ve tried to explain things the best we can.
You’re impressively honest on screen…
I agreed to do this documentary and I’m doing it fully – the highs and lows, the good days and bad days. It’s all got to be in there.
How do you feel now the first three episodes are finally out?
I have mixed emotions. Some days I’m feeling slightly more anxious, sometimes I’m like, you know what, I’m really proud of what we’ve created. It’s definitely been challenging at times, but I think I have to let go and trust that I need to just show my honest self. I’m ready for it to be out there now and to see what everybody thinks. I’ve been reading the comments already, and I think it’s going to be a time for me to get my thick skin into play. There’s a massive mix of opinions already about certain things, but I’m owning it. These three episodes are what they are.
You seem to be in a much happier place with motherhood too…
It’s not a secret that I did struggle at the start of my motherhood journey and it’s been ongoing, but at the minute I’m in such a brilliant place with being a mum. This is how I dreamt it would look, but the newborn stage was just mental!
