Love Island's Amy Hart has revealed that she 'had to be reminded to eat' by ITV after her break-up with Curtis Pritchard.
The former air hostess has spoken about her issues surrounding food - which began when she started her flying career with British Airways at 18 - ahead of World Mental Health Day on Thursday.
Over the summer, viewers of the ITV2 dating show were left shocked when dancer Curtis, 23, brutally dumped Amy, 26, after his head was turned during Casa Amor.
Concerns for Amy’s welfare were sparked due to how visibly heartbroken she was - and today Amy candidly went back to her time in the villa to discuss how her ordeal affected her.
In an exclusive interview with Heat magazine, Amy discusses the impact the split had on her mental health, how much aftercare she’s had from the show and her experiences of trolling.
“I have had mental health issues in the past but I was reluctant to accept it,” she said. “I didn’t admit that I had anxiety until a couple of years after I first started my job flying at British Airways.
“I lost a stone in my first six months in BA and when Curtis finished with me I wasn’t hungry and wanted to control my [diet] again, but ITV stepped in and made me eat as the psyche was watching me all the time.”
Amy, who has pledged her support to mental health campaign Where’s Your Head At?, discussed how her anxiety affected her relationship with food.
She said: “My previous anxiety issues manifested within food. I would order the biggest dinner you’ve ever seen and take one bite and start shaking, crying and saying I can’t eat this anymore.
“I felt like wasn’t in control of the rest of my life - I was convinced I was going to get sacked, so food was my control thing.”
Amy, who admits to having had a boob job, said she became almost ‘obsessed’ with getting onto the Caroline Flack-fronted dating show.
She said: “[I had a] borderline obsession I would say with getting on Love Island, because I thought it would solve all of my problems.”
Since appearing on the show, Amy has had her share of abuse from trolls, and said it has led to her blocking words on social media comments.
Describing the abuse, she said: “It’s like someone pushing down on you all the time. I just try and block a lot of words on my comments so I don’t see them – [words like] fat and ugly.
“I was going to block ‘teeth’ as well as I got a lot of [stick] about my teeth… I had my veneers done when I was 17.
“I was fine with them before I went onto Love Island but now I’m thinking ‘well if I have my teeth done that’s one less thing they can troll me about’ but they will just find something else.”
Describing Love Island’s aftercare as “thorough”, Amy explained that she still chats to a member of the team twice a week.
“The welfare girl came in every single lunchtime apart from one day a week to check how much water we were having, how much we’d eaten and how we were.
“When it all went t**s-up for me and I was lying in bed crying at lunchtime, she would get into bed with me and just stroke my head and talk to me and now I speak to her on the phone twice a week to check how I am.”
To get help on mental health issues and find out how you can support the campaign so that mental and physical health are given equal treatment in the workplace please go to www.wheresyourheadat.org .
