Maura Higgins admits her mental health was ‘pretty dark’ after Love Island
Maura Higgins has opened up for the first time about her difficulties with mental health.
The reality star initially found fame on Love Island in 2019, when she completed the series in fourth place with her co-star Curtis Pritchard.
However, despite skyrocketing into stardom, Maura has now admitted that her schedule after Love Island took a serious toll on her mental health.
Speaking on the We Need To Talk podcast with Paul C. Brunson, the 33-year-old reflected on it being a “very, very hard time” in her life.
“I’ve never spoken about it. It was like someone had just picked me up, dropped me to the UK and I was in the public eye. I had nowhere to live, I had no friends, no family, nobody I could trust,” she recalled, stating it was “pretty dark”.
“A lot of times, I was faking a smile. Work was so busy. I was getting barely any sleep, I was chased by the paps everywhere I went. I had no clothes – I had a suitcase with just Love Island bikinis,” Maura confessed, adding: “I was obviously just not mentally okay. I think I was just so overworked. I’ll never forget it.”
Admitting that she had a “breakdown” with “very dark thoughts”, the TV star went on to note candidly: “I didn’t want to be here anymore. I thought that that was going to be the best thing. I felt like there was so much expected of me, and because I was there on my own, I had nobody to help.”
Maura later praised ITV producers for checking in on her regularly, as she detailed: “They were incredible. I know a lot of people have their own things to say. I had someone call me on my phone every single day from the care team, making sure I was okay. But to me, because I had so much going on, I looked at that as like, ‘That’s just another thing to do that I don’t have time for.’"
