BEAMING Jessica Hayes had the world at her feet when she was crowned Love Island’s very first winner alongside hunky Max Morley.
But a decade later, the twice-engaged star has now taken a vow of celibacy and given up on romance after repeatedly having her heart broken.
Jessica Hayes won the first Love Island but says reality TV sent her into a downward spiral[/caption]
Jess won alongside Max Morley in 2015[/caption]
Jess and Max split just six weeks after leaving the villa[/caption]
As the hit ITV show celebrates its ten-year anniversary this week, 32-year-old Jess blames reality TV fame for sending her into a downward spiral.
She told The Sun on Sunday: “I’m so done with romance and dating.
I don’t miss sex or hugs or kisses. I don’t miss men at all, to be honest
Jess
“I don’t want to fall in love. I just want peace and I’m down with being celibate.
“I don’t miss sex or hugs or kisses. I don’t miss men at all, to be honest.
“Right now, I don’t know what’s wrong with me. I think I’m traumatised.”
It was a very different story in 2015 when then-host Caroline Flack announced Jess and Max, both 22 at the time, had won Love Island’s first series.
Wearing a figure-hugging red dress, the former bank worker from Gloucester threw her arms around her suited partner and shrieked in delight.
The smitten couple, who chose to share the £50,000 prize, received the most votes from the public after famously romping in the Mallorca villa as cameras rolled.
Max, a professional cricketer from Huddersfield, settled with brunette Jess despite temporarily leaving her to couple up with her arch-rival Naomi Ball.
The win was even more remarkable as Jess was drafted in at the last minute, having previously been told she had not made the cut.
But just six weeks after their triumph, the winners dramatically split when Max was caught spending the night with Geordie Shore reality star Charlotte Crosby.
Jess said: “I had no idea what I was in for.
“It was chaotic. You forget there is an outside world and it’s not normal to be locked in a confined space with a bunch of strangers for six weeks.
“I remember thinking, I wonder if anyone is watching this?
“We didn’t have a clue how big the show was going to be.
“To come out and find people running up to you in a shopping centre asking for a picture, it’s bizarre.
“Your life changes overnight.
“I had genuine feelings for Max, but personal appearances were a big thing back then.
‘I WAS HEARTBROKEN’
“The male Love Island stars would have girls literally throwing themselves at them in nightclubs, so it was never going to work.
“When he was photographed with Charlotte, I was genuinely upset.
“I know some relationships from the show have worked out, but I think they must have a different level of maturity.
“Max wasn’t that kind of guy.
“In my own way, I was heartbroken, and I don’t take heartbreak very well. I never have.”
Now a devoted single mum-of-two, Jess admits she got too caught up in the party lifestyle in her twenties.
A big wake-up call came with the suicides of Love Island stars Sophie Gradon, 32, in 2018, Mike Thalassitis, 26, the following year, and host Caroline, 40, in 2020.
Jess said: “It was awful what happened — just horrendous. This industry can be tough.
“My rock bottom was three years after the show.
“I remember feeling very lost and thinking, what now?
“You go out a lot and party a lot and sometimes it can be to excess and that’s not good for you.
“You come out of a show and you’re a celebrity and no one says, ‘This might only last five minutes’.
Jess said she had I ‘no idea’ what she was in for when she left the villa[/caption]
Jess’ Instagram post in 2023 announcing her miscarriage[/caption]
“I didn’t have good guidance or good management and that didn’t help me take the right path.
“There were points where I thought, what the hell am I doing?
“It’s late nights and drinking a lot. It’s not a normal lifestyle.
“You haven’t got a day job to go to and you’re going to showbusiness parties and film premieres.
“It’s a lot for a young person to handle and it’s a slippery slope.
“It’s not a Love Island thing, it’s just an issue of handling the fame.”
Jess’s love life has proven to be equally turbulent. After splitting with Max, she got engaged to mechanic Dan Lawry six months after they met.
The couple were overjoyed when she gave birth to their son Presley in 2019, but sadly she miscarried their second son Teddy at 19 weeks and they called time on their relationship in 2021.
Jess next found love with a property developer called Zeb — she declines to give his surname — and she suffered another miscarriage in April 2023 before their daughter Zendaya Rose was born in May last year.
The couple separated just before Christmas in 2024.
I don’t feel the need to get involved in relationships and I’m determined not to get back into bad old habits
Jess Hayes
Jess touchingly bounces her daughter on her knee during our interview.
On being a single mum, she said: “I couldn’t ask for more from my children’s dads.
“They are in their lives and they are good with them. Co-parenting is a bag of poop.
“It’s the worst thing ever. Over time, when you are a few years in, it’s more of a breeze.
“But right now, while she’s so little, I find it hard.
“I need a break sometimes because I’m going crazy, but when she’s not with me my anxiety goes through the roof.”
Last week, Jess took part in ITV’s Love Island: Decade Of Love show looking back on the programme’s most unforgettable moments, ahead of its return to our screens tomorrow.
Millie Court, 29, and Liam Reardon, 25 — who won in 2021 and are still a couple — also appeared on the anniversary show, proving that some Islanders have found The One while making millions in the process.
Jess has become a successful social media influencer with 337,000 followers on Instagram, yet admits her fortunes have been more mixed.
She said: “I was so naive when I went on Love Island.
“If I was watching the show now, I would say, ‘No Jess, what are you doing?’ I tolerated a lot in there.
“But I never think with my head and I’ve never made the right decisions in love.
“I’ve been really impulsive and I rush into things too quickly. It gets me nowhere and I get hurt.
“That’s why I want to be independent and focus on me and making money — and things that are long-term for my kids.
“I don’t feel the need to get involved in relationships and I’m determined not to get back into bad old habits.
I’m not materialistic at all now and I think that having children, your priorities change
Jess
“I haven’t made millions of pounds or amassed millions of followers from going on Love Island, but I will never regret my journey.
“It’s given me a steady income for ten years and that makes me one of the lucky ones.
“Part of me wishes I’d had a few more opportunities, whether that be in TV or whatever.
“But if you’re handed a lot of money when you are young, you can be quite careless.
“I’m not materialistic at all now and I think that having children, your priorities change.
“And if my daughter tells me she wants to apply for the show in 20 years time I will tell her, ‘No way — not unless I’m your manager’.”
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