Love Island’s Shaughna Phillips slams lack of body diversity on All Stars series
Former Love Island star Shaughna Phillips has addressed the lack of body diversity on the hit ITV2 dating show, calling for more representation when it comes to different body types.
Mum-of-one Shaughna, 30, appeared on season six of Love Island back in 2020 when the very first winter series aired amid the pandemic. The reality TV star was a huge inspiration to thousands of women as she became one of the first cast members to show off what the public deemed as a ‘real body’.
In previous seasons before Shaughna’s appearance on the show, viewers had become increasingly fed up with the lack of body diversity – as well as racial diversity – with the majority of the islanders showing off gym-honed figures, tiny waists, ample assets, and cosmetic work.
While Shaughna was by no means overweight, it was the first time that female viewers saw a woman who looked like them represented on the reality TV show – something which she is incredibly proud of after her rocky journey. For the first time, women over sizes 6 and 8 felt seen because of Shaughna, but unfortunately, not everyone was pleased to see the newfound body diversity represented.
Shaughna when she appeared on winter Love Island back in 2020
When she ultimately left the villa, after a brief but strong connection with Callum Jones, the London-born reality TV star was hit with a harsh reality as she realised that the public had been berating her due to her to figure.
Opening up about the cruel trolling she faced after leaving the Love Island villa, Shaughna exclusively told The Mirror: “I don’t really know how I had the confidence to go into the villa. Even now, when I go on holiday – the first day when you’re on your holiday – when you’re still a bit pale and you put a bikini on and you’re at the pool.
“It doesn’t matter what you look like; whether you’re really fit and you go to the gym or whether you’re not – it’s always daunting. I’ve always felt like that. So the thought of me going on a national television show, which is actually international really, and having to wear a bikini, it was very daunting
“But I think, because I wasn’t aware of it [the trolling] it made it a lot easier. Had it of been something that I had filmed during the day and then went home at night, I do not think I could have done it. But because you’re so far removed from it – you’re kind of in this secluded bubble, it’s definitely easier to put it to the back of your mind.
“Honestly, I think that came out of being on Love Island for me was that I came out and people were saying that they were happy to finally see a woman on the show who looked like them – a woman with what they considered to have a ‘normal body’.
“People were coming up to me on the street and saying ‘oh you look like me and I look like you’. That was the best thing about it, and that is something I’ll always be proud of from my Love Island journey, 100% hands down. I do think there needs to be more diversity on the show. Every woman should be represented – not just one type of appearance.”
Addressing her body image issues, Shaughna admitted that they started to creep up on her when she was in her early teenage years. “I think I started to become aware of my body when I was 12 or 13. I went to an all-girls school so I don’t know whether that made it better or worse. I don’t know whether it would have been worse had I of been exposed to boys at a younger age.
“I remember going to school and just comparing myself to all these other girls. I have lipedema, so I remember just looking at their legs and thinking to myself that my legs were so much bigger than all the other girls around me. That was probably one of my earliest memories from having body image issues and comparing how my body looked to everyone else.
“I remember even watching TV, shows like Zoey 101, and thinking ‘oh my god, her body is amazing. My body does not look like that’. I reckon when I was growing up, my generation was of the age where we were exposed to the idea that being skinny was the dream – being as skinny as possible. You just can’t help compare yourself when society is shoving it in your face.”
While Shaughna was struggling with body image issues, it was her parents tough love that allowed her to see that her worth reached far beyond the size label on her clothes or how her figure compared to her peers. Opening up about one instance where she broke down in front of her parents amid her body image struggles, Shaughna recalled: “I actually remember crying once to my mum and dad, telling them that I thought I was so fat.
“My parents would tell me to shut up and say that I was being silly, and I think that was the best kind of response for me because it made me realise that the way your body looks isn’t actually the be-all and end-all. If they had pandered to me, it would have made it a huge thing for me. Whereas because they were telling me to get a grip, I realised that I actually did need to and it helped me see that there is so much more to me than the way my body looks.”
Shaugna is happier than ever in her new figure
Shaughna has recently transformed her figure after losing over five and a half stone. The former Love Island star has insisted that she’s made the major life overhaul for her own sake, and not for anyone else as she looks forward to a happy and healthy future with her two-year-old daughter, Lucia.
The reality TV star has launched a fitness and nutrition website – Shaughna’s Shred-It Plan – to share the secrets of her jaw dropping transformation. Lifting the lid on her exciting new venture, she told us: “My followers know I’ve struggled with my weight and body image for years, so when they saw I’d finally found a way of managing my relationship with food and exercise, they started to message me constantly – literally on a daily basis, begging to know how I’d done it.”
Shaughna is also very keen to emphasise that she didn’t lose the weight by taking Ozempic or Munjaro or any other quick fix solution. “I love my food too much and would be terrified by the idea of all those side effects” says Shaughna who recently admitted to suffering from persistent health anxiety. “I did it the safe way by finding an eating and exercise plan that worked. So no drugs, no gastric band, no quick fixes”
Her wake-up call came with a routine body scan and being told that she was clinically obese and had visceral fat around her organs. “It was such a shock and really made me think about what kind of role model I wanted to be for Lucia.” A thought that is especially poignant because Shaughna lost her own father to pancreatic cancer when she was just 21 years old. “I just want to be as healthy as I can so that I’m around to be a mum to Lucia for as long as possible”
Also by this stage Shaughna was feeling so self conscious that she had become virtually agoraphobic. “I felt so ashamed of how I looked that I couldn’t face going out of the house – even to take Lucia out in the pram. And that really made me think “this can’t go on. Lucia’s only a baby now but what about when she’s running around and I still feel like I can’t go to the park with her?”
