‘I was taught that food is the enemy'

Love Island’s Shaughna Phillips on the moment she “snapped out of” diet culture and finally began embracing her true self

- AYLA SOGUKSU

Talking to Shaughna Phillips, she’s all about body confidence and embracing “what you’ve got”, but the road to self acceptance hasn’t been a simple one for the former Love Islander.

In an honest and frank chat, Shaughna reveals how she was suffering with body dysmorphia during her time on the hit ITV show back in 2020 and that she’s only just ditched the diet she’s been on since she was a teen.

“From the age of 14 or so, I don’t think I’ve ever been off a diet,” the 28-year-old exclusively tells new. “From a very young age I was taught that food is the enemy.”

Shaughna reveals how the “holiday diet tips” she used to read, such as eating a handful of almonds to “keep you going until dinner”, changed the way she saw food.

“For me, the less I ate, the better. If I had hardly anything, that was a really good day. I would go on the treadmill and if I’d lost 500 calories, I was like, ‘Oh my god, I’m back to zero because that’s all I’ve eaten today.’”